Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #14819 - The Works of the Flesh Are Evident - Galatians 5:19-21

Transcript

#14819 - The Works of the Flesh Are Evident - Galatians 5:19-21 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

0:03
Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
0:07
Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
0:11
To learn more about the many resources available through
0:13
Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
0:17
visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
0:22
Calvary Church app. Now.
0:24
Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
0:28
Amen. Open your Bibles, Galatians
0:30
Chapter 5 is where we are a little bit of a challenging
0:34
Bible study today, but we need that from time to time.
0:37
We're going to pick up where we left off in verse 19 and the
0:41
title of our Bible study is the works of the flesh are evident.
0:46
The works of the flesh are evident.
0:49
We've learned that walking in the Spirit will help us, Not
0:54
only help us, but it will make it happen.
0:56
When we walk in the Spirit, we will not, we shall not, we won't
1:02
fulfill the lust of the flesh, you and I.
1:05
We can't be in the flesh and in the Spirit at the same time.
1:09
And yet we have this battle that's ongoing to get us into
1:14
the flesh. And when we hear the word enemy,
1:17
as Christians, we almost always think of our arch adversary.
1:21
When we think of enemy, we think of enemy capital E, the devil.
1:26
And indeed, he is an enemy and he is an arch enemy.
1:30
You'd be right. There is a battle ongoing in the
1:33
spiritual realm between the devil and the demonic realm.
1:37
He is a formidable foe, but he is not your only enemy.
1:41
He, he is not your only enemy, probably not even your worst
1:46
enemy. It's all too common for
1:48
Christians. Well, for Christians to give the
1:51
devil far too much credit, far more credit than he deserves,
1:55
Blaming him for every evil. You know, there was a joke that
1:58
was passing around for a long time.
1:59
It's still with us. But where you do something and
2:02
somebody, whoa, the devil made me do it.
2:04
Can I just tell you never say that again.
2:08
Never say that again. The devil didn't make you do
2:11
anything. It would be an easy thing to
2:13
where you know the, the the devil made me do it.
2:15
No, no. When you say that you refused to
2:17
take responsibility for your own choice.
2:20
The devil didn't make you do anything.
2:22
He might have tempted you, might have taunted you, but he didn't
2:25
make you. No, no, we actually have a three
2:29
fold enemy. And if you're taking notes, you
2:31
should jot it down so you understand that the devil is
2:34
real as an enemy as he is. We actually have a three fold
2:38
enemy. We battle in our lives the
2:40
world, the flesh and the devil. The world, the flesh and the
2:45
devil, the world number one, We live in a world that is
2:49
Antichrist, not just capital, A Antichrist.
2:53
When we think of Antichrist, we think of that coming world, that
2:58
coming world ruler, that leader who is going to come and turn
3:03
the world against God. Anti.
3:06
But the Bible tells us in first John that many Antichrist has
3:10
already entered into this world in its own culture is
3:14
Antichrist. And I want you to think of it
3:16
two ways. Anti means two things.
3:19
First of all, it means against. And so it's easy to see that
3:23
today's culture is against Christ.
3:26
No, there's there's no question about that.
3:28
I mean, if you still doubt that or you still wonder about that,
3:31
I don't know that your eyes are fully open to the realities in
3:34
our current culture. The culture is Antichrist coming
3:38
against Christ. But the word also, the prefix
3:41
anti also has another definition.
3:43
And that is not only anti but in place of.
3:47
And certainly you can see our culture propose many, many
3:51
things that are in place of the worship of the one true God,
3:56
many theories, many philosophies, many things to
4:00
take our attention away from God.
4:02
The Bible says in first John chapter 2 verse 15, do not love
4:06
the world or the things in the world.
4:09
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
4:12
him. For all that is in the world,
4:15
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
4:19
life is not of the Father, but is of the world.
4:23
And of course, we're talking about the system, the culture,
4:27
the atmosphere of the world in which we live #2 we not only
4:32
battle against the world, but against our own flesh, our own
4:36
sinful habits. They drag us down.
4:39
They're so vital. It's so vital to grasp this that
4:43
later on in chapter 5 of Galatians, in verse 24, it says
4:47
those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its
4:51
passions and desires. You just can't mess around with
4:55
the flesh. You can't.
4:56
You just can't mess around with it because if you don't kill the
4:59
flesh and deal with it, it will grow and overcome you and
5:04
overwhelm you. And then finally, thirdly, we
5:08
have the devil. But let me tell you how it
5:10
works. The devil is a formidable foe,
5:12
but very few of us, if any of us, have ever met him head on
5:16
because this is how he operates. This is how he operates in that
5:20
threefold enemy. The devil uses the world system
5:25
to provoke your flesh into sin. The the devil uses the world
5:30
system to provoke our flesh, keeping us in a perpetual state
5:35
of compromise, or even worse, a perpetual state of disobedience.
5:40
And this holds us back from God's best.
5:43
And so in the world that we're in, it's very attractive.
5:45
There's many things in the world that we would want in our lives.
5:48
The devil uses that brings out temptations and we just go for
5:52
it. And yet in a way that we go for
5:54
it that is contrary to the will of God for our lives.
5:58
Now, my pastor, he taught this over and over and over again.
6:03
It is embedded in my psyche and in my mind and I want it to be
6:06
embedded in you. And he would always tell us to
6:09
be forewarned is to be forearmed.
6:13
So we need to spend some time understanding our flesh because
6:18
when you think of flesh, it would be easy to understand.
6:21
It's like, well, what's your flesh?
6:22
And you go, I know what my flesh is.
6:24
It's right here I have it. It's flesh on my skin and bones.
6:28
It's the flesh that covers all of my internal organs.
6:31
And when the devil gets all the attention, the, the greater
6:35
difficulty is we start to ignore the flesh, but not the flesh on
6:39
our That's the physical definition.
6:41
When you think of what's the flesh?
6:42
Well, it's skin and bones. That's the physical definition.
6:45
Let's talk about though, the spiritual definition.
6:49
It's very, very important for us to learn because often our own
6:53
worst enemy is not the devil and not the world.
6:56
Our own worst enemy is ourselves.
6:59
It's our flesh. I find myself struggling with my
7:03
own thinking more than I ever struck struggle with the
7:06
thinking of the demonic realm. It's my own flesh.
7:10
The flesh doesn't describe our skin and bones, but rather
7:14
refer. The flesh refers to your own
7:17
human power and desires, your own understanding, the things
7:25
that you have figured out over the years.
7:27
Your flesh. One brother called it our sinful
7:30
habits and our sinful habit patterns.
7:33
Especially for those of us that got saved later in life.
7:36
We developed a lot of bad habits living in this world.
7:39
Just just real quick responses and how to deal with things and
7:43
those things. That thinking is still with us.
7:45
We may be born again and we are new creations in Christ and all
7:49
things are new and through the old things that pass away.
7:52
But here's the thing, we still have the same physical brain and
7:54
the same physical thinking that we're in the process of being
7:58
sanctified. So we really have to deal with
8:00
this. The flesh is the condition of a
8:03
man or a woman is controlled by something other than God.
8:07
So I want you to put this into your thinking.
8:09
The flesh is you are controlled by some other thinking than what
8:14
God's wisdom prescribes. You're, you're doing your own
8:18
thing and not God's thing. It could be that things that are
8:23
obvious, the flesh, that could be when you think of the flesh
8:25
spiritually, it could be things that are very obvious like like
8:29
we see today, like pornography or drugs or drunkenness.
8:33
There's some obvious things that are very clear that are not from
8:37
God. Now you may have justified it
8:39
and you may have made reasons and you may have your reasons,
8:42
but you can't say it's from God. You're you're just aren't able.
8:46
You can't look at pornography and go, this is from God.
8:48
Hey, why are you looking at pornography?
8:49
God told me to. You can never say that ever.
8:52
Why? Because it's the flesh.
8:55
It's not God. Things that are obvious, but
8:58
also things that are not so obvious or what I might call in
9:03
what I might say within the church, the acceptable sins,
9:07
acceptable flesh. You know, your flesh could be
9:09
something like overeating or social media obsession or
9:14
slander or gossip. Or how about this one?
9:18
The little white lies. Little light white lies, huh?
9:22
Can't you just skip the color and just call it a lie?
9:26
It's the flesh. The flesh is a formidable foe.
9:31
Every person. You might want to jot this one
9:34
down. Very, very important.
9:36
Every person has developed his or her flesh life in order to
9:40
get what he wants out of life as much of the time as possible.
9:44
That's the flesh you have in your mind.
9:47
I have in my mind the kind of life that I want to live.
9:50
We're very, very happy when the kind of life I want to live
9:54
squares with the kind of life God has for me to live.
9:57
But when God has something for me that I don't necessarily
10:01
want, I have developed a system to get around it.
10:04
That's my flesh. Instead of yielding, instead of
10:07
repenting, instead of submitting or surrendering, we choose to do
10:13
our own thing. Every person has developed his
10:17
own flesh life in order to get what he wants out of life as
10:20
much of the time as possible. Here's another angle I want you
10:24
to think of. I want you to think of your
10:26
flesh as your own personal techniques for meeting your own
10:31
perceived needs, your own way. Did you hear that?
10:35
Your own, your own, your own. Almost always you can identify
10:40
the flesh in our lives by how much it centers around you and
10:45
your explanations and your opinions, your own, your own.
10:50
These techniques are designed. We've created them and we've
10:54
created them to meet our own needs, our own way apart from
10:57
Christ. Let me give me an example.
11:00
You're watching a football game. You watched the game last night.
11:02
Broncos won. Yay, yay, yay.
11:04
That's fantastic. You're watching it and you're
11:06
seeing and the commercials come on and there is a commercial for
11:09
something you didn't even know existed.
11:11
Now, maybe not the game. Maybe it's on your Instagram or
11:14
on Facebook. You don't even know it existed.
11:16
And there it is. And now that you've seen the 30
11:18
seconds ago, I want that. Not only now do I, I see it
11:21
exists. I want it.
11:22
I don't really need it, but I want it.
11:25
And so you automatically get the number, click the thing.
11:28
And instead of talking to your spouse and praying about it,
11:30
instead of bouncing it off someone just like, hey, I just,
11:32
I want it. I want to get it.
11:34
You don't have the money for it though.
11:36
Like, you're tight on the budget, so you don't have the
11:38
money. And so, you know, if I talk to
11:40
my smouse about it, I mean, I'd rather just, you know, ask for
11:43
forgiveness than ask for permission, you know, And so I'm
11:46
just going to go, I don't have any money, but I do have a
11:49
credit card and I got 30 days to figure it out.
11:53
And this is all happening instantly.
11:56
You don't have a list where you're going down.
11:57
This all happens instantly. I see it.
12:00
I want it. Oh, not going to tell him.
12:02
Oh, I have AI, don't have any money.
12:04
Got a credit card. You swipe the card, it comes and
12:07
you go, come on, pastor. No big deal.
12:10
But in such a small, small decision, it is a big deal.
12:14
Because let's say that's the pattern of your life.
12:17
There's something you should talk to your spouse about.
12:19
But you've created a fleshly decision.
12:21
You don't talk to him at all about that, what you buy, what
12:24
you think, where you go. What do you think that's going
12:27
to lead you? Do you think that's going to
12:28
lead you to a deeper relationship with the Lord?
12:30
Or let's talk about the money there for a second.
12:33
So it's only 100 bucks, but you're going to pay the minimum
12:35
on the credit card. So when you finally pay it off,
12:38
the 100 bucks cost you $10,000. But it's all right.
12:41
It was $3 a month for the rest of my life.
12:44
I really want I've, I got it. It's so great.
12:48
And then you live a life hiding because you're going to hide it
12:55
and now you're deceptive. And then you think deceptive is
12:57
not going to grow. And now you not just deceptive,
13:01
it didn't start innocent. It started innocently.
13:02
But now it's really not that innocent at all because now
13:05
you've lost your credibility. And all for what?
13:09
For a commercial, The devil using the world to provoke your
13:14
flesh into behavior that you even say it's not that big a
13:18
deal. Or if it wasn't a big deal, you
13:20
would have prayed with your spouse.
13:22
And then I know some of you are like, well, I'm single.
13:26
Great. Then you doubly know that it's
13:32
not appropriate, you know, but you've created your own personal
13:37
techniques so you don't have to feel the way to conviction.
13:42
Therefore not making the right decision.
13:44
Walking after the flesh is simply relying on our own
13:48
ability instead of God's resources.
13:51
Our flesh is rebellious against the grace of God.
13:55
That's why it's included in this letter to the Galatians who have
13:58
left grace to go back to the law.
14:01
This sense of our flesh rebels against the grace of God, and
14:06
that's where Paul is. Paul says, you, you got to
14:09
understand this is a serious issue now that we've dealt with
14:12
the theology of grace. Paul says, now I want you to see
14:15
what it's done to you guys. I want you to see when you leave
14:19
grace, how you begin to behave when you no longer lean on the
14:23
Spirit, but now you're just doing your own thing again, like
14:25
you were when you were pagans or before you were Christians.
14:28
I want you to see the damage that it does.
14:30
It does damage to you and to those that you love, and that's
14:34
not the way of the Lord. So notice what he says.
14:36
Now in Galatians 5 verse 19, before we go through each of the
14:40
works of the flesh, I want you to notice it says now the works
14:43
of the flesh are evident. Now notice first of all that the
14:48
works are, is plural. So there are many works of the
14:52
flesh. We've already defined flesh
14:54
practically and spiritually. Now let's look at the word
14:58
evident, very important word evident.
15:02
The works of the flesh are evident.
15:05
That word means to make shine. To make shine.
15:09
Everybody can see that you're in the flesh.
15:12
Everybody knows that you're in the flesh.
15:14
I have found over the years that the only people that don't admit
15:18
that they're in the flesh are the ones that are in the flesh.
15:23
But to everyone else, it's like this dark stage when they do the
15:25
different lights and everything. When it's all dark up here, it's
15:28
dark, but then the light shines and you can see so many more
15:31
things. That's what this word means.
15:34
It's crystal clear. They are evident, but
15:38
unfortunately, people that are in the flesh, it's evident to
15:42
everyone but the person in the flesh.
15:46
And this is a reminder to us. It's a reminder to us to have
15:49
our eyes wide open and our own personal walk with the Lord.
15:54
The things that we're about to learn today are no surprise.
15:58
I know they may be new to some of you because you're new to the
16:01
Bible, and that's great, but they're no surprise.
16:04
Each one of these, you and I are unable to say God told me to do
16:08
this. God told me to do this.
16:10
God told me to do this. I know people say that, but you
16:12
can't really say that it's not true or accurate.
16:16
These things are not easily hidden and when they're
16:19
revealed, when the works of the flesh are revealed, they usually
16:24
bring great embarrassment or even humiliation to the person
16:29
that are in them. They're just things that, like
16:32
man, you've been living in the flesh so long now that it's been
16:34
exposed, it's a very painful process.
16:38
The person that's caught up in the works of the flesh is warned
16:41
to be careful of this life. What Paul's saying here is that
16:44
a person in the flesh will produce these things.
16:48
You will either produce in your life the works of the flesh or
16:52
the fruit of the Spirit, as we'll see in another study.
16:55
Jesus put it this way in Matthew Chapter 7.
16:58
In verse 15 He said beware of false prophets who come to you
17:02
in sheep's clothing, but inwardly their ravenous wolves.
17:06
You will know them by their fruits.
17:10
Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?
17:13
You'll know. You'll know.
17:15
People buy their fruits. So let's get into the works of
17:19
the flesh. There are 4 categories, 4
17:22
categories I want to put them in for if you want to.
17:24
Again, if you're taking notes, 4 things to look out for.
17:27
Category number one is sensual sexual sin, the works of the
17:31
flesh. In the category of sensual or
17:33
sexual #2 we have religious works of the flesh.
17:38
Thirdly, we will learn about social works of the flesh.
17:42
And then finally, we'll end with personal works of the flesh and
17:46
then a stern warning. So let's look at the first
17:49
group, the sexual sensual works of the flesh.
17:54
Now verse 19, the works of the flesh are evident, which are
17:59
adultery. Adultery is a work of the flesh.
18:04
Adultery is sexual sin that breaks the marriage covenant.
18:09
So when there is sex with between a man or woman that's
18:13
married outside of marriage, that is adultery and it is a
18:18
work of the flesh, a very damaging work of the flesh, a
18:23
very penetrating and probing work of the flesh.
18:27
Adultery. God has given to us sex.
18:30
It's our it's his gift to us within marriage.
18:34
That's the proper place for sex. It's given to man and woman to
18:37
enjoy intimacy and closeness. It's given for fun.
18:41
It's given to build a family and create a unit that is filled
18:45
with love that will continue to overflow generation after
18:48
generation after generation. Sex in its proper context is an
18:53
extraordinarily wonderful gift to enjoy from God.
18:57
But like fire, sex outside of God's design can be disastrous.
19:03
Right? Fire is good.
19:04
Fire in the right place. It warms you, takes care of you.
19:07
But just like our state right now has got all these wildfires,
19:10
that's not good. Fire out of control and outside
19:14
of its boundaries does great damage.
19:18
And so right here at the beginning, to the churches in
19:21
Galatia, he says, you guys, this is not good.
19:25
Watch out for this work of the flesh.
19:27
It's not good, it's out of control.
19:30
Secondly, notice adultery, fornication.
19:33
So this is a word that's used to describe sexual sin outside with
19:38
without marriage, without the marriage covenant.
19:40
Adultery breaks the marriage covenant.
19:42
But fornication is any other kind of sin for those that are
19:45
not married. So you can say that sexual sin
19:48
applied. Fornication applies to all
19:50
sexual sin, adultery, specifically to marriage.
19:54
Fornication is sin unused in a way that is not given by God.
20:00
It's any type of sexual sin, including homosexuality,
20:03
including beastiality, including all the sin that goes on in the
20:07
mind. Again, some of you may be new to
20:10
the Bible and you're like, well, what is this like, how can I
20:13
understand this? You, you, This Greek word is a
20:16
word that's very familiar to you.
20:18
This Greek word that used to describe fornication is the word
20:21
porneia. Does that sound familiar?
20:24
It's where we get our word. Pornography.
20:26
This is where it hits home to the church.
20:27
Pornography. Pornography is such a
20:30
devastating sin. Pornography, the sin of
20:33
pornography is evident. Nobody needs to tell you that
20:37
that's sin, or a work of the flesh, or unhelpful for you or
20:41
harmful to you. This multibillion dollar
20:44
industry destroys everyone that's touched by it.
20:48
Everyone, it produces nothing good.
20:52
Did I say the word nothing loud enough or strong enough.
20:55
Pornography produces nothing good.
20:59
Well, you know, I know this millionaire guy and this Galan
21:02
only fan. She gives all this money to the
21:04
poor. Nothing good.
21:07
Nothing. It is the destroyer of lives
21:11
that is the most prominent in our culture and this
21:15
multibillion dollar industry that continues to grow ruins
21:20
girls lives, ruins women's lives, ruins marriages, ruins
21:26
boys, ruins men, and ruins anything and everything that it
21:34
touches. It is a work of the flesh and
21:38
you can test it by saying, simply saying this, God told me
21:43
it's OK to watch pornography and just hear how silly that sounds.
21:49
God would never lead you to something that destroys you and
21:53
destroys your family and your marriage.
21:57
Too many Christians are involved in this.
22:01
I'm not naive to think that some of you right now, this is the
22:04
deal. If we you're stuck here, you'll
22:06
be stuck here because now you have a choice.
22:09
You have a choice to respond to the conviction or just continue
22:13
on and say, oh, I can't help it, I can't help it, I can't help
22:16
it, I can't. No, no, no.
22:18
That's your personal technique to get what you want every time
22:21
you want it. And you begin to see these
22:26
simple ways of looking at life. You know victory is right around
22:28
the corner because the way out of a sin like that is repentance
22:32
and godly sorrow. It's coming back to knowing how
22:35
much God loves you and cares for you.
22:38
It's coming back to the heart. What's in your heart because of
22:40
the Spirit. You don't want to ruin a woman's
22:42
life. You don't want to hurt your
22:43
wife. You don't want to hurt your
22:44
husband. You don't want to take advantage
22:46
of these. This all, all of the people that
22:48
are involved in you don't want anything to do with that because
22:51
the Spirit of God dwells in you. You want to be used of God in
22:55
these last days. Fornaia, be careful fornication
23:00
the next one uncleanness, uncleanness the when they use
23:03
this word in the ancient world, in the medical realm, they use
23:07
this word to describe an infected oozing wound.
23:11
So when you think about it, in the sexual realm, this is
23:14
getting involved in an immoral, infected, oozing, sinful sexual
23:20
lifestyle. Just the whole just kind of
23:23
describes your whole life, which goes to the next one,
23:25
Licentiousness. Licentiousness then is all of
23:29
these sins and you living in an unbridled, uncontrolled excess
23:34
because it doesn't just stop with one thing, it begins to
23:37
impact the entirety of who you are.
23:39
But the flesh needs to find an opening.
23:42
It needs just a little opening to get in to show you if you're
23:45
reckless 1 area, you'll be reckless with two, and if you're
23:49
reckless with two, you'll be reckless with three.
23:51
And before you know it, you have a licentiousness about you where
23:54
you're uncontrolled. And what's dangerous for us as
23:57
believers is we show up and go, oh, look at I'm in control and
24:00
now you're hypocritical and you're not close to the people
24:03
that love you. You're not close to God anymore.
24:06
These are important things to pay attention to because this is
24:10
the pathway to victory for so many of you.
24:13
The works of the flesh are evident.
24:16
The essence of these sins is any illicit sexual relationship
24:21
physically or in the mind, the thought life, the heart.
24:25
The heart is the soil by which the seeds of uncleanness will
24:30
grow #2 the religious sins verse 20.
24:34
Now the first listing of these religious sins in verse 20 is
24:39
idolatry. Paul moves on now to show you
24:42
how the flesh not only separates you from others, but separates
24:46
you from God. And one of the 1st works of the
24:48
flesh is idolatry. What is idolatry?
24:52
It is the worship of anything or anyone other than the one true
24:55
God. You, You.
24:57
You can create for yourself your own religion, your own
25:00
philosophy. Why?
25:01
Because it's your personal technique to get whatever you
25:04
want whenever you want it. And so when you think of
25:06
idolatry, don't think of just little statues or pictures on
25:10
the wall. Think of a God that you've
25:12
created in your own image to deal with the reality of
25:16
conviction in your life so you can get what you want.
25:19
You know how it sounds in Christianity?
25:21
It's like the Bible will say something very clear and you
25:24
will say, well, that's not how I read it.
25:26
Well, bro, how else can you read it?
25:28
Like it's couldn't be any. What other language are you
25:30
using? Use that language.
25:31
It says the same thing. Thou shalt not lie.
25:34
Yeah, but I'm not feeling that right now.
25:37
I just, I don't, I don't really see that.
25:39
I was kind of reading the Bible and I watched this YouTube video
25:42
and it said lie doesn't really mean lie.
25:44
And it could be white. It could be like it could be
25:46
purple. It could be all like, what are
25:48
you talking about? You're idolatrous.
25:51
Because instead of receiving the simple teaching of the Word of
25:54
God, you have created something else that you've given your
25:57
devotion to. Why?
25:59
So you can sin. It's like, hey, pastor, we're in
26:03
church right now. We don't think like that.
26:05
Actually, we think about it far more than we admit.
26:09
So we can get away with things. We'd be willing to give up our
26:12
relationship with our parents that way.
26:14
We'd be willing to give up our relationship with our siblings
26:17
that way. You got all these personal
26:19
techniques to do your own thing instead of doing the right thing
26:23
and just working through things, allowing the Lord to work it
26:26
through and show him. Show up and give him the glory.
26:29
Not you the glory, but him the glory.
26:31
Idolatry. It's very, very important you
26:34
don't just worship false gods. I mean, you could worship money,
26:37
you could worship careers, you can worship your kids, you can
26:39
worship sports teams. You can do a lot of things where
26:42
you give your devotion far more than your worship of God.
26:46
Idolatry. Next one another religious sin
26:49
is sorcery, which to many of you right now are going, oh, great.
26:53
I'm glad that one, at least one doesn't apply.
26:56
OK, good. I'm never going to be a witch or
26:59
a warlock. Yes.
27:01
Never even thought about it. Ah, but this is another one of
27:03
those English words that we gain a lot more insight when we look
27:07
at the Greek, the original language.
27:09
You know what this word is? Pharmakeia.
27:12
Does that sound familiar? Pharmacy.
27:14
Yes, this is a reference to drugs, to drugs, mind altering
27:19
drugs. Yes, and this is a reference
27:22
sorcery to the misuse or abuse of drugs, both legal and
27:29
illegal. That's a work of the flesh, I
27:33
think. Illegal drugs, very popular,
27:35
very unfortunate, but very popular.
27:37
You get injured, you get a prescription.
27:39
They give you the prescription and it really helps you get
27:42
through that season after surgery, you get through it, but
27:45
then there comes a point in time where you know you don't need
27:48
it, but you like it. And so you go back to tell the
27:52
doctor and say, well, it still hurts.
27:53
OK, they write another one. And then those behind making
27:57
drugs, they know that they can put something in there.
28:00
I don't quite understand the whole thing, but they could put
28:02
something in there that will make you addicted to them.
28:05
And now you really want them. And before you know it, you're
28:09
living in an other world because you're always on drugs.
28:12
And I hey, man, you're, you're out of your mind.
28:14
You're, you're not even here all the time.
28:16
Well, you know, I'm taking drugs, dude.
28:17
You've been taking this drug and you've been out on this drug for
28:20
two years now. You haven't been the same,
28:24
right? It's evident the work of the
28:25
flesh. It's evident to everyone but the
28:27
person and even to those that are a dicted day.
28:31
And I've just described your scenario and you really are are
28:35
at a loss. It's like I just don't know what
28:37
to do. I'll tell you the very I I don't
28:39
actually know what to do yet as well, except talking to your
28:43
doctor, praying through there's, you know, God's obviously giving
28:46
you the victory, but dealing with the addiction.
28:47
Here's the thing. One thing that you can do is
28:53
choose to obey God and he'll meet you right there.
28:57
Choose to obey God and, and, and see what has happened to you and
29:01
take ownership of your part, right?
29:04
That's what confession of sin is.
29:05
You agree with God, you take ownership until you have godly
29:08
sorrow. They'll never be repentance.
29:11
And just see, I know it didn't start out that way and I know
29:14
you didn't intend that way, but that's what the flesh does.
29:17
Nobody ever, no one ever wants to get to the end of sin.
29:22
They don't start that way because they never think they'll
29:24
get there, but they do. And it's true, I think of
29:29
illegal drugs. Well, not actually, they're not
29:30
legal anymore, but I think it does some, you know, this is a
29:33
work of the flesh. You had a hard day, you have a
29:35
hard job. So what do you do?
29:36
You go home, you smoke a joint. Smoke a joint.
29:39
So it just makes me feel better. I smoke a joint.
29:42
Really. You think it's OK to be out of
29:44
your mind? And you know, like, I want you
29:46
to process this for a second because, you know, think about
29:49
smoking a joint. He's like, do you do you call
29:51
your kids and come on, kids, bring the pot.
29:53
Let's roll up a let's roll up a doobie man and have a let's I
29:56
want you to see your dad smoke pot.
29:58
So I want you to teach you when you're old enough, you can smoke
29:59
pot with your dad. Does that sound like God to you?
30:04
Oh, nobody does it. So, so then let me ask you, why
30:07
don't you do it? Why don't you let your kids
30:09
watch you and see it? And just why?
30:11
Why not? Well, because intrinsically, you
30:13
know, that's horrible. Why would you want to do that?
30:16
And yet toward your kids, you have a higher standard than
30:19
toward God. Toward God inviting like this is
30:23
a work of the flesh that has become all more common because
30:27
things are legal. Who cares if things are legal?
30:30
You don't want to be outside of your mind so that you can gird
30:34
up the wanes of your mind. Paul's Peter said.
30:36
Gird them up, man, Be ready. Be ready to fight the good
30:40
fight. So this one sorcery, and I do
30:43
think they translated as sorcery because drugs and witchcraft are
30:47
often linked together, the occult and paganism and
30:51
hallucinogens. And now what?
30:52
What is being made legal, at least in our state, are now
30:55
mushrooms and how you can be out of your mind with all this
30:58
hallucinogens. And I'm just telling you, it's a
30:59
work of the flesh. It is another personal technique
31:04
that you can develop to get what you want, and maybe it's
31:07
something what you want. You just want peace, but you're
31:10
going after drugs to get peace where you're not really even
31:13
getting peace. You're just being disruptive to
31:15
your own spiritual life. So now you're doubly paying and
31:18
you pay triple and quadruple, and then you just finally give
31:21
up and don't stay sensitive and you harden your heart toward God
31:25
until there's a big crash. Now he goes on to the next
31:29
section, and that is social sins.
31:32
The first one is hatred. So let's just be real about
31:35
that. If today you're listening to me
31:37
and you have hatred in your heart for a brother or sister or
31:39
another person, you're in the flesh.
31:42
It's got to be dealt with. If you hate someone, you hate a
31:46
people group, you hate it. Whatever.
31:49
It is a work of the flesh. It did not come from God.
31:54
It didn't come from God. Again, even saying this out
31:57
loud, you can start to maneuver and you can start to look.
32:00
Well, wait a minute, didn't God hate and wait?
32:02
OK, you're not God. OK, number one, you're not God.
32:07
So stop. This is what you have to repent.
32:09
This is what I have to repent from.
32:11
I can make it so many excuses for my behavior when God is
32:15
really trying to do something in me like I went from as a new
32:19
believer, God change me, shape me.
32:21
I am so messed up. I don't know how to be a man.
32:24
I don't know how to be a dad. I don't know how to be a
32:26
husband. I don't know how.
32:27
Lord, you just tell me I'm all yours too.
32:30
Well, I don't know. I was watching this YouTube
32:33
video and that guy said, and you know, I was listening to the
32:38
radio and they say, you know me, what happened to us?
32:43
We, we, we need to desire to walk in the spirit.
32:45
And when we walk in the spirit, we don't fulfill these things.
32:49
We'll see later that the fruit of the spirit answers every
32:52
single one of these and more as you walk in the spirit.
32:55
Hatred. Next one is contentions.
32:57
This refers and hatred has a progress.
32:59
You see it right here. You go from hating to fighting.
33:02
That's what contentions are, arguments, bitter conflicts,
33:06
deep seated, you know, animosity, resentment toward
33:10
people very, very important to the next one, jealousies.
33:14
Jealousy is a form of anger and hateful resentment caused by
33:18
coveting for oneself that belongs to others.
33:22
I, I deal with this in the book that's coming on in October.
33:24
I deal with a section. I don't develop it, but I deal
33:27
with anger because anger is such a big barrier in dealing with
33:31
your past. Anger, bitterness, resentment,
33:34
these things that are all go together.
33:37
And if you stay there, the Bible says that a root of bitterness
33:40
develops in you and you defile many.
33:42
If you're ever going to make progress in your Christian walk
33:45
and you're ever going to let go of your past, you've got to deal
33:47
with anger, even if you're not an angry person.
33:50
But there's anger inside. Sometimes it's it's outside.
33:54
You know, some of you have, as we'll see in a moment, these
33:56
outbursts of wrath. But many people actually
33:58
internalize their anger and it begins to destroy them on the
34:02
inside, and they begin to dislike and actually hurt and
34:08
harms others. Because notice from jealous
34:11
hatred, contentions, jealousies. The next one is outbursts of
34:15
wrath, outbursts of wrath. This is an important one.
34:18
It refers to those sudden, unrestrained expressions of
34:21
hatred and anger toward others. You know, in the real deep
34:26
throes of our time of grief, Marie and I, especially mine, I
34:30
was reading these books on grief, trying to learn, see what
34:33
the Lord wants to show me. And I learned a principle.
34:35
It was very powerful talking to me about anger because I was
34:39
just so angry that this happened.
34:41
I'm so angry the way it happened.
34:43
It was just, it was hard. And there were two P two ways
34:46
that you deal with anger. This author said.
34:48
One was outbursts of wrath, punching holes in the wall,
34:51
kicking things down. And that used to be me before I
34:54
got saved. Unfortunately, I don't do that
34:55
anymore, but that's how I used to you.
34:57
You'd come to our house for dinner on Saturday and the
35:01
picture would be in one place in the wall.
35:03
And then you come the next Saturday and Marie would move
35:05
the picture down there because she was trying to cover my out
35:09
of control anger. That's just how our marriage was
35:11
before we got saved. And so the outburst of wrath,
35:15
God is really dealt with. But they said the other way.
35:17
There's two ways that you can deal with your sin or your
35:19
anger. Sinfully. 1 Outburst of wrath,
35:22
kicking the door, yelling, screaming.
35:24
The other sinful way is to internalize it.
35:26
And they say there's a word for internalized anger.
35:31
It's depression. You don't know what to do with
35:34
it, and so you take the brunt of it and you punish yourself.
35:40
And then the internal, instead of walking in the light as he is
35:44
in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood
35:48
of Jesus Christ cleanses us, changes us, fills us, overwhelms
35:55
us with a sense of release and peace and newness of life.
35:59
God's path for you is not hatred, it's freedom to walk in
36:04
the freedom that God has for you to enjoy him, to enjoy what he's
36:10
given you. The works of the flesh are
36:12
serious. Notice now it says outbursts of
36:16
wrath, selfish ambitions, which is really the essence of the
36:20
flesh to begin with. This is interesting.
36:22
It really means desiring an office or putting yourself
36:25
first. It's the exact opposite of being
36:27
a servant. It's the exact opposite of
36:29
living for Jesus, who he came not to be served, but to serve
36:33
and to give his life a ransom for many.
36:35
Mark chapter 10, verse 45. This, this, this selfish
36:39
ambition is a dangerous one. I mean, they're all dangerous,
36:42
but this is especially dangerous for churches because if you're a
36:46
guy or a gal rolling into this church and you have selfish
36:49
ambitions as a work in your life, then then you're going to
36:52
clamor for title and position. And you want authority and you
36:55
want power and you want recognition and you want
36:58
everybody to see you. And you want to suddenly you
37:00
start to draw people to yourself.
37:02
And then while you're drawing people to yourself, you're like,
37:04
well, you know, I don't like that church and I don't like
37:06
that pastor and I don't why don't we just go do our own
37:08
thing, which is not the right way to plant a church, But many
37:10
people try to do that and then they head off and then it brings
37:14
great pain to the people. Now let me to tell you what that
37:17
looks like in a smaller church, OK, A Church of 500 or so.
37:20
You know, I'm sure you've heard of church splits.
37:22
Have you guys heard of church splits where the nastiness in
37:25
the church gets so much that people just I don't want this
37:27
anymore because this doesn't seem like Jesus to me.
37:30
A church split guy comes in with selfish ambition and and he's
37:34
drawing people after himself, maybe being like an Absalom.
37:37
A church split doesn't split. When you hear of a church split
37:41
of a Church of 500 people, it did not split into two churches
37:45
of 250 strong believers. So now we have 2 churches and
37:49
all. It's really great.
37:50
Look at this. Look what God has done through
37:51
this man with selfish ambition. That's not what happens.
37:54
You know what happens? The man with selfish ambition
37:57
leaves with maybe 20 or 25 people that don't end up staying
38:00
with them for very long. And the other 475 never set foot
38:05
in church again because of the hurt that they felt by being
38:10
misused by the work of the flesh.
38:13
Selfish ambition. So in light of this church, I
38:15
just want you to know there are no positions of, of power here.
38:19
There's nobody's given a position to Lord over or to take
38:22
advantage of people. There are only openings in this
38:25
church for bond servants and servants of the Lord.
38:29
And if that's what you're into, this is the place.
38:32
And if you've been given a position of leadership or
38:34
oversight, you want to know what that means.
38:37
It doesn't mean that you serve less, it means you serve more.
38:41
And what I mean by that is to whom much is given, much is
38:44
required. And so now you have more.
38:46
Why the Bible says this in the church?
38:48
If it's happening in the Spirit, it's what the Bible says.
38:50
God raises up 1 and puts down another.
38:53
So that if God raised you up, why do you think he chose to
38:56
raise you up? Because He saw faithfulness in
38:58
you. So maybe you were faithful with
39:00
two, and now he's giving you 4 and you have 4.
39:02
Now you have 8. Now you're overseeing ministries
39:05
and you're overseeing people. Why?
39:07
Because God saw that in you. He did not give it to you
39:10
because of your selfish ambitions.
39:12
He didn't give it to you. So you're gonna have a title you
39:14
put on your desk, You put on your old card.
39:15
Now you have a card and this is my title.
39:18
You know what my title is? Servant.
39:20
That's how I started. That's how I'll continue.
39:22
And hopefully one day I hope to hear these words.
39:25
Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of
39:32
the Lord. The flesh will stop me from
39:34
that. No positions of power.
39:36
And then you see the rest of them.
39:38
Dissensions. This is another word for arguing
39:42
heresies. False teaching, twisted
39:44
teaching. Envy is jealousy on steroids.
39:48
And now you're wanting to hurt people because of envy.
39:51
I then you have murders and you're like, wow, you see the
39:55
progression. You may not physically murder,
39:57
but in your heart you just write people off.
40:00
You just discard them like they're nobody.
40:03
That is not from the Lord. Never, ever, ever.
40:08
God has put the Church on the earth to be salt and light, but
40:11
more importantly, to be a manifestation of His tangible
40:15
love so that we know how much He loves us and then we go and love
40:21
others. The next one, drunkenness.
40:24
That's an obvious 1. You can never say that God is
40:27
telling you to get drunk. Never, never, ever, ever.
40:30
You're under the control of a influence, under the influence
40:34
and control of an intoxicating drink that's not from the Lord.
40:37
Again, so much damage has been done by this particular work of
40:40
the flesh. How about revelries?
40:43
Revelries is just like a, a troublemaker.
40:46
Like you just become a troublemaker.
40:47
That's a work of the flesh. You just kind of a carouser
40:50
part. Like, you know, I used the word
40:52
carousing and parting, but you know, that may not apply to most
40:54
of you. So the the reality of carousing
40:57
is this troublemaker, you're just always looking for trouble,
40:59
stirring up trouble that you're just always like divisive and
41:03
difficult. That's what this word means.
41:06
You're just on the roam. And so now we're done with the
41:09
list as we're ending into communion and you're like, Oh
41:12
yes, he's done. He's done.
41:16
And he didn't talk about my flesh.
41:21
We got away. Yes, we faced it.
41:24
It's no problem. None of those things apply to me
41:28
really. Well, Paul was thinking of you
41:30
when he said this in verse 21 and the like and the like, guess
41:38
what? That's you too.
41:40
Whatever it is that you have created in your life to get your
41:43
own way instead of God's way and call it God's way.
41:47
The flesh hates the narrow Rd. The flesh hates the narrow Rd.
41:56
That's why it's so tempting to go on the broader Rd.
41:59
It's so tempting to expand it just a little bit, just a little
42:03
bit wider, just a just it was narrow, but I got this thing in
42:06
my life. So if I can make it a little bit
42:07
wider, then I can still be on the narrow Rd.
42:09
No, no, that's the flesh. The flesh hates the narrow Rd.
42:17
And notice it says I'm telling you now in verse 21.
42:21
I told you before, just like I told you in the past, that those
42:26
who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
42:30
This has troubled many people, and for good reason.
42:32
It should trouble you if you're living in the flesh.
42:36
This isn't a reference to stumbling and falling and having
42:39
seasons. That's not what this is.
42:41
We all have those times. We all have those difficulties.
42:45
We all have besetting sins and battling things, for sure.
42:50
But this is referring to an ongoing habitual practice.
42:55
It's referring to the person that loves them, harbors them,
42:57
makes excuses for them. It's exactly what the English
43:01
word implies. You practice is your manner of
43:04
life. If these things are the manner
43:07
of your life, God has given you a pastor today to warn you.
43:12
It is the biggest red flashing light of warning in your life.
43:17
If you think it's OK to live in the flesh, that's not consistent
43:21
with a believer. A believer wants to get away
43:25
from the flesh, even though sometimes it trips us up.
43:27
A believer runs away from the flesh.
43:31
A believer never runs away from God.
43:35
You choose. I don't want this in my life.
43:38
I want to run away from my flesh, not from God.
43:44
And so, Father, I pray right now by the power of your Holy Spirit
43:47
among us, that you would speak to our hearts on a very
43:51
challenging message, but one that speaks to the depth of our
43:55
hearts nonetheless. I think of in my own life and
44:00
areas of my flesh that just keep coming up, I keep dealing with,
44:04
I keep confessing and forsaking and, and I just pray for the
44:08
work of your Holy Spirit. I thank you for how far you've
44:10
brought me, how much progress you've given me, how much you've
44:16
done and what you've promised to do.
44:19
And we yield to you, Lord, by the power of your Spirit today.
44:22
I think of those that are here that have never received you as
44:25
their Savior, that they have never confessed their sin, never
44:30
asked you to forgive. They've never said, please, God,
44:35
see my life. And so I have an invitation for
44:38
anybody that's here today that aren't sure that you're a
44:41
Christian or not. You don't have a certainty that
44:44
Jesus is living in you. You don't have a confidence that
44:47
you're going to be in heaven when you die.
44:50
You're listening to some of these things and it just has
44:52
provoked your thought. Where are you with God?
44:54
It's a good question to ask. But you can change that all
44:58
right now by asking God to forgive you, to change you from
45:03
the inside out. I'm going to extend an
45:06
invitation to you that God has extended through His Son, Jesus
45:10
Christ, an invitation to receive the Lord as your Savior and to
45:15
follow him to confess your sins. And if you need Jesus, why don't
45:21
you do that right now? Say, pastor, I need to follow
45:24
Jesus. I want, I want to, I want to
45:26
change my life. That's what I want.
45:29
I hear you and I'm ready to follow God, receive the
45:33
forgiveness of sin. If that's you, would you stand
45:35
to your feet right now? I want to pray with you just
45:38
anywhere in the room that God is speaking to your heart right
45:40
now. Today is the day and now is the
45:44
time for you to choose to follow Christ.
45:50
And so just stand. I want to pray with you.
45:52
Today is an important day in your life.
45:55
It's going to be your spiritual birthday.
45:57
If you can imagine just an amazing work of God that He
46:01
would anoint this day to be the day where your life has changed.
46:06
Now anyone here, it's so important that you respond for
46:09
you, for you and what God wants to do in your family.
46:13
Generational change starts with a choice and the work of God and
46:19
the power of God, but most importantly the love of God.
46:24
Can you imagine that that God loves you?
46:26
It's so good to remember. God bless you guys in the back.
46:30
I see you, I bless you. Who else would say that's me?
46:34
Today is a day, it is it, now is the time.
46:38
This is it. This is the work of God.
46:40
God bless you guys up front here and right here in the middle,
46:43
just the outpouring of his spirit right now.
46:46
You're going to have people walk up to you right now because
46:48
that's how we follow up with you.
46:50
We don't want you to be alone. And so you can have a pastor or
46:53
one of the leaders come up and just pray with you and encourage
46:56
you as we all pray together. You guys out on the radio right
47:00
now. We don't see you, but we we know
47:02
God is using his word downstairs, watching on ATV
47:06
somewhere. God knows.
47:07
But today's the day. Now is the time.
47:11
This is the moment that God is working your life.
47:15
God bless you in the back. Thank you guys for getting up.
47:19
Anyone else? Today's the day.
47:22
I see you back there. Yeah, I see you.
47:27
There's a young man right in the back.
47:28
JJ Anyone else? So here's what the Bible says.
47:37
The Bible says if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus,
47:41
and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the
47:43
dead, you will be saved. And so today I want to help you
47:46
confess. It's what the Bible calls
47:48
prayer. You can just say God, I ask you
47:50
to forgive me of my sins by the blood of Jesus Christ that I
47:57
believe was shed for me, and I choose to follow you and to give
48:04
my life to you. Help me God to turn away from my
48:08
sin and to live my life for you. And Father, I know anyone
48:14
anywhere that would turn to you that you will hear that prayer
48:19
and won't cast anyone away. And so I pray that over their
48:23
lives, may today be that day of the seed and good soil in Jesus
48:31
name, Amen. We pray that you've been
48:34
encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live from the
48:36
sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
48:42
Grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
48:49
integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
48:53
online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
48:59
Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
49:01
this week.