| Back | Contents | Next |
{Sermons on John 1:47
The Doctrine Confirmed
Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy
Walking in the Spirit
What Is Meant by Walking in the Spirit}
What is meant by “walking in the Spirit”? There are some who understand “Spirit” to mean the doctrine of Christianity. Accordingly, they think that this walking in the Spirit is nothing more than embracing the Christian religion. But if this were so, then what is to be understood by “flesh,” which in the passage above is said to oppose the Spirit? Why, by “flesh,” they tell us we are to understand Judaism. But then let me ask:
First, what is meant by the lusting of this flesh, which was now dead, against the Spirit? Is the meaning of it that Judaism lusts against Christianity?
Second, how can this dead flesh have such numerous offspring as this: “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19–21 NASB)? Must all of these brats be laid at the door of the synagogue? Are these the brood of the ceremonial law of the carnal commandments? Or are they not manifestly the fruits of that corrupt law of strong carnal desires? I do not know with what shadow of reason we can understand “the flesh” to mean anything except lust or strong carnal desire. Therefore, by “the Spirit” we must understand grace or the Spirit of grace; these declare war against the flesh and are contrary to it. Let us further consider what is meant by the expression “led by the Spirit” in Romans 8:14. Why, possibly the same people will tell us that there is no more in this than in the other passages. It implies nothing more than the Spirit’s leading us into all truth, the truth of the Gospel, as the star led the wise men of the East to the Messiah. If this assertion is granted to be all there is, than we have still gotten something: the Spirit of God is acknowledged to be our leader. But let us consider one more Scripture: “And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:27). What are the statutes of God if not the whole will and Word of God? I will mention a few of them: “Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me’” (Luke 9:23 NKJV). “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19). “Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15 NKJV). Are not these and many more like them found unrepealed in this great statute book? What is it to walk in these statutes other than to live in sincere obedience to the whole will of God? Now, the Lord says He will give His Spirit and the Spirit will cause them to walk in His statutes and to live a holy life. Let these things be considered and see if they will not help us to a better interpretation of those words, “walk in the Spirit,” in “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16 ESV). So then, what is the meaning of them? I will give you the judgment of one who was no fanatic, Cornelius a Lapide,198 who in his Commentary on Galatians 5:16, interprets “walk in the Spirit” as follows: “Establish your life, actions, and morals according to command, and by inspiration given by the Spirit. God sent and endowed grace to us by the Holy Spirit, who persuades and admonishes us that we may live spiritually.”
To walk in the Spirit signifies three things: to live under the direction of the Spirit; to live in the power of the Spirit; and to live a spiritual life.
Live under the Direction of the Spirit
{Sermons on John 1:47
The Doctrine Confirmed
Duties and Comforts of Godliness are Not Fantasy
Walking in the Spirit
What Is Meant by Walking in the Spirit
Live under the Direction of the Spirit}
To walk in the Spirit includes living under the direction and guidance of the Spirit. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14 NKJV). There is a double guide by which the Lord leads His people. There is the guide of His Word: “You guide me with your counsel” (Psalm 73:24 ESV). There is also the guide of His Spirit: “He will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13 ESV). There are two things that the Spirit does in leading His people.
First, He enlightens their eyes and opens their understandings that they may understand the Scriptures, which point out to us our way. “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45 NKJV).
Second, He takes them by the hand, as it were, and leads them. “He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young” (Isaiah 40:11 NKJV).
Live in the Power of the Spirit
{Sermons on John 1:47
The Doctrine Confirmed
Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy
Walking in the Spirit
What Is Meant by Walking in the Spirit
Live in the Power of the Spirit}
To walk in the Spirit includes living by the power of the Spirit. This power is the abiding internal and assisting grace that we receive from Him so that we may be carried on in a holy course of life and in all the duties of it. This power is from both the intrinsic power of the life of God begotten in us and from the simultaneous influence and assistance by the Holy Spirit, whom God has given us to help our infirmities. As in the duty of prayer (Romans 8:26), it is so also in all other Christian duties. “Without Me,” says Christ, that is, without the assistance of His Spirit, “you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Therefore the psalmist resolves: “I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only” (Psalm 71:16 NKJV). And this living in the power of the Spirit is exactly what we mean by the common expressions that we use: “by the grace of God,” or “by the Help of God” we will do this or that. This does assume that we understand what we say. What the apostle says about himself as a minister is applicable to Christians generally: “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10 ESV).
Thus, to walk in the Spirit is to follow the directions and communications of the will of God that He gives us from the Word and that He gives us by impulses of the Spirit on our hearts. By these, like a gale of wind filling our sails, He moves and helps us on. There may be times when you find clear light breaking in from the Word to shine upon your consciences. This produces stirrings in your heart that check and restrain you, calling you back from some unlawful or disorderly walking. Or these stirrings may enliven you and encourage you in a way of duty. These you may safely take to be from the Spirit.199 When you welcome this light, obey these checks, and follow these holy impulses, this is your walking in the Spirit.
{Sermons on John 1:47
The Doctrine Confirmed
Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy
Walking in the Spirit
What Is Meant by Walking in the Spirit
Live a Spiritual Life}
To walk in the Spirit also means living a spiritual life. The Holy Spirit leads on in another kind of life those people in whom He has begotten another heart. A person who is born of the Spirit is a spiritual person. Those who are led by the Spirit walk on in a spiritual course; that is, they live a more noble and raised life than the rest of the world. Carnal people who are governed and ruled by that evil spirit that is in the world live an evil and carnal life. Worldly spirited people live a worldly life; sensual people live a sensual life. “You once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (Ephesians 2:2–3 NKJV). While we were in the common state, we took the common road. While we were in the flesh, fleshly people, we lived a fleshly life. We lived to serve our bellies, appetites, pride, covetousness, and other lusts; this was our life. This life was suitable to that spirit that is inside carnal people and suitable to that evil spirit, the prince of this world, that is external to them, which spirit governed and steered their course. Similarly, the saints have a new heart inside them and a new leader external to them; they thus lead a new life. The flesh and the devil carry evil men on a course suitable to their leaders. Similarly, the Spirit and grace of God carry the saints on a course suitable to their Leader: a holy, spiritual, and heavenly life. This then is to walk in the Spirit: to live holily and spiritually. This is that life that is called “the life of God” (Ephesians 4:18) and “our citizenship in Heaven” (Philippians 3:20). There are three reasons that the saints’ lives are called spiritual and heavenly:
Their dealings are about spiritual and heavenly things.
Their delights are spiritual and heavenly.
By these spiritual dealings and delights, they daily become more spiritual.
Their Dealings Are about Heavenly Things
{Sermons on John 1:47
The Doctrine Confirmed
Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy
Walking in the Spirit
What Is Meant by Walking in the Spirit
Live a Spiritual Life
Dealings Are about Heavenly Things}
Their dealings are about spiritual and heavenly things: God, Christ, Heaven, everlasting glory, and those spiritual exercises through Christ by which God is served and glorified. These are matters about which this life is spent. They live with God; they hold daily conference with Heaven; they are much in contemplating, admiring, and adoring the infinite beauty and incomprehensible perfections of God and His unspeakable love, grace, and goodness toward them. They are searching into the mysteries of Christ and studying the riches of the glory of the mystery of the Gospel. They live among the angels; their hearts and their eyes are daily in that general assembly and Church of the Firstborn. When they sleep, they lie down under the wings of their Lord. No sooner are they awake than they go up to the top of Pisgah to get a view of the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 3:27; 34:1). “When I awake, I am still with you” (Psalm 139:18), says the psalmist. When the covetous man awakes, he is with his god. When the Epicurean200 awakes, he is with his god. When the adulterer awakes, he is with his goddess. Meanwhile, Christians are above the clouds and the stars, falling down before the throne of the Almighty. Their work is to seek, serve, praise, and please the Lord; to carry themselves so that they may be accepted by God; to be washing their robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb; to be minding their souls, consciences, emotions, and thoughts so that these may all, in their different capacities, exalt and enjoy the Lord. Their trading is for the Pearl (Matthew 13:45–46), while the merchants of the earth are trading for gold, silver, and spices. While the muckworms201 of the world are dealing in corn, sheep, oxen, and donkeys, and while the wantons of the earth are dealing about fashions, feasts, sports, toys, feathers, apes, and peacocks, Christians are trading in promises, prayer, faith, repentance, patience, humility, mercy, and charity. By these they “make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:10–11). These are the businesses of Christian lives; their dealings are about spiritual things.202
Their Delights Are in Spiritual Things
{Sermons on John 1:47
The Doctrine Confirmed
Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy
Walking in the Spirit
What Is Meant by Walking in the Spirit
Live a Spiritual Life
Their Delights Are in Spiritual Things}
Their delights are in spiritual things. The Lord is the delight of their hearts. “Delight yourself in the Lord,” says the psalmist (Psalm 37:4). And what he bids other do, he does himself: “I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope” (Psalm 16:8–9 NKJV). The thoughts of God are dear and precious to them. The Word and law of God is their delight. “His delight is in the law of the Lord” (Psalm 1:2). The courts of the Lord and His ordinances, worship, and Sabbaths are their delight. “How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts!” (Psalm 84:1 NASB). Their work is their delight: “I delight to do your will” (Psalm 40:8). Consider the hardest works of Christians: fasting; watching; wrestling and fighting against sin and temptations; crucifying and mortifying their own flesh; denying themselves; and mourning for sin. Yet, there is much sweetness that they find in their very travails, tears, and sorrows. “As sorrowing,” says the apostle, “yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). Just as Solomon speaks of carnal mirth, “In the midst of laughter, the heart may ache” (Proverbs 14:13), so it may be said of spiritual mourning, that in the midst of sorrow, the heart is joyful. The heart of a saint is never in so sweet a frame as when it is melted in godly sorrow. But especially, Christ is their delight. He is the dwelling place of His beloved Christian. “I sat down in his shade with great delight” (Song of Solomon 2:3). Like the daughters of Jerusalem to the spouse, carnal men are ready to ask Precisians, “What is your beloved more than another beloved?” (Song of Solomon 5:9). What beauty is there in Him that you should desire Him or take so much pleasure in Him? They see no beauty in Him; He has no form or comeliness in their eye (Isaiah 53:2), and therefore they think there is none. Oh sinners, you do not know Christ. You have had no acquaintance with Him. You have not tasted of the fruits of this Tree or of the clusters of this Vine. “With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste” (Song of Solomon 2:3). Saints have tasted the sweetness of Christ and tasted that the Lord is gracious; therefore they can take great delight in Him. The delight they take in Christ is what puts such a delight into every ordinance and duty. Therefore, praying and reading are so pleasant to them because there they meet with their beloved. Christ appears to them in His Word. Christ meets His saints in their praying and fasting; this makes all sweet to their souls. Carnal people think the life of saints is a heavy, sad, and most troublesome life. They think that only they themselves have merry and pleasant lives. They think that their hawks, hounds, card playing, dice games, drinking, dancing, whorehouses, and stage plays are the only Heaven. This is the same thing as to say that God has put more sweetness into creatures than is in Himself. It is to say that the basest and vilest use of creatures yields more true contentment than the soul’s exercising itself in God. It is as if the thorn should yield more sweetness and the bramble more fatness than the fig or olive tree. Where are the understandings of these people? I tell you, sinners, when you have gone from flower to flower, from creature to creature, and from pleasure to pleasure; when you have sucked out all of the fatness and sweetness that these will yield—a poor Christian will get more real pleasure out of one chapter of his Bible, out of an honest sermon, or out of one hour’s conversation with God in prayer, than your whole life will bring to you.203 The Gospel, with its breasts of consolation at which the Christian sucks, yields him sweeter milk than the whole world can give. Those clusters of Canaan (Numbers 13:23) on which he lives yield him richer wine than the whole world can give. The gleanings of a Christian’s joy are better than the vintage of sinners. Sinners cannot slight the glory of the Christian’s sun as much as Christians disdain the glory of the sparks of sinners.
They Become More and More Spiritual
{Sermons on John 1:47
The Doctrine Confirmed
Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy
Walking in the Spirit
What Is Meant by Walking in the Spirit
Live a Spiritual Life
They Become More and More Spiritual}
By means of their spiritual exercises and delights, Precisians become more and more spiritual themselves. By beholding the face of God, they are changed from glory to glory, into His image and likeness. By living so much in Heaven, the temper and frame of their hearts become more heavenly. People’s ordinary company and activities have such an influence upon them that it is not unusual that they change their disposition. Frothy company and vain activity will leave a frothiness and vanity on people’s spirits. Serious and savory company and activities leave a good savor behind them. Coal miners show the dust of the mines on them. The flies that feed on dung look like the dung they feed on. Carnal people, by being continually conversant about earthly affairs, have nothing but earthiness left on their spirits. Their thoughts, emotions, and souls have become earth, earthly. Their duties are earthly; their prayers and sermon hearing are all earthly. When they go to church or to a private place to pray they must carry their earth along with them or leave their hearts behind them. On the other hand, Christians, by having their dwellings with God and their delights, recreations, and daily business with God, have the Spirit of glory and of God resting on them. By their divine exercises, they are increasingly made partakers of the divine nature. The businesses and delights of worldlings leave an earthliness on their very religion. Likewise, a Christian’s religion spiritualizes204 his earthly affairs. Carnal people’s prayers savor of their fields, oxen, and sports. Carnal people’s Sabbaths do smell of their working days. Similarly, a Christian’s works savor of his prayers; a Christian’s working days have a tincture of his Sabbaths. He eats and drinks, buys and sells, plows and threshes, not as a man, but as a saint. He not only prays and hears sermons like a saint, he plows as a saint and trades as a saint. His heart is in Heaven while his hand is on the plow. He is serving his God while he is serving his own necessities. He seeks, serves, looks to, and enjoys his God in all he has or does. By experience, he senses that God is everywhere. With Him he dwells, feeds, labors, lodges, lives, and dies. And thus you see what it is to walk in the Spirit. To what extent such a Christian lives in the Spirit—to that extent he lives a life such as this.
198Sixteenth/seventeenth-century Roman Catholic scholar.
199This does not apply to just any emotions or stirrings in the heart, but only if they are valid applications of a right understanding of God’s Word and in good conscience.
200Epicurian: strictly, a reference to the philosopher Epicurus (341–270 BC), who taught that philosophy can liberate one from fears of death and the supernatural, and can teach how to find happiness in almost any situation. However, Epicurean has come to mean one for whom personal pleasure is a prime goal of life.
201muckworm: the larva of a dung beetle.
202Alleine does not here teach that worldly occupations and concerns are somehow evil; they are not (Ephesians 4:28; 1 Thessalonians 4:11). Rather we are to do all for Christ (1 Corinthians 8:6), in Christ (John 15:4), in faith (Romans 14:23), and for the glory of God (1 Peter 4:11). Alleine is here pleading for a Christ-centered and -directed life by the power of the Holy Spirit. The critical issue is whether we wrongly and idolatrously serve the things of this world, or use the things of this world for God’s glory in whatever that work is to which God has called us.
203This statement is partly literary hyperbole. Yet, Scripture does make a distinction between the passing pleasures of sin, which pleasures are marred by a guilty conscience, and the deep satisfaction that comes from peace of conscience, bold access to the throne of grace, joy in the midst of sorrow, and so on. More than that, a heartfelt trust in one’s Heavenly Father and His perfectly wise providence and love for His adopted children allow one to roll his or her burdens upon God and obtain the peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:6–7). Alleine will make this clearer in some following passages. Alleine’s statement is completely true eternally due to the vast difference between Heaven and Hell.
204spiritualize: to give a spiritual character or overall purpose to.
| Back | Contents | Next |