The Spiritual Walk
J. Hambleton. Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. I. THE POINT FROM WHICH WE HAVE TO START — "Walk in the Spirit." In every walk there is a place from which we first proceed. The starting-point for every man in the spiritual walk is a state of unrenewed nature, an unconverted, unregenerated condition. II. Let us now proceed to our second part: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." We have seen the point from which, we now consider THE COURSE BY WHICH WE ARE TO WALK — "Walk in the Spirit." But here there must first of all be life in order to our obeying this exhortation. A dead man walks not, moves not, from whence he is. But to walk not only requires life, there must be strength, and willingness to exert strength. The sick man often cannot walk, the slothful man often will not; the spiritually diseased and slothful walk not in the Spirit; but the Holy Ghost infuses an energy into the soul of man. But in walking beside life, strength, and willingness, there must likewise be a constraining motive to induce man to walk in the road marked out for his path. The constraining motive in the spiritual walk is the love of the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Redeemer. But still there must be a road marked out for walking. There is one marked out for each of you by the Holy Spirit; there is a way, little trodden indeed by the multitude, but well known to all who have gone, and who are going to heaven. It is a straight and a narrow way; it has its difficulties. III. Our third part yet waits. A walk, we have seen, has a point whence, a way by which, and now A PLACE WHITHER MEN ARE WALKING. The point to which the spiritual walk is intended to lead is perfect holiness, meetness for heaven, yea, heaven itself. (J. Hambleton.) Parallel Verses KJV: This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. WEB: But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh.