So this evening, as we turn again
to the epistle of Paul to the Galatians, and the fifth chapter,
we'll think upon the last three verses this evening. That's verses
24 to 26. And they read as follows. And
they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections
and lusts. If we live in the spirit, let
us also walk in the spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain
glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Well, as most of you know, last
Friday we spoke on the fruits of the Spirit and how necessary
and how important they are to show that we are one of the Lord's
children. and we're told that it's by our
fruit we shall be known and therefore we should always be concerned
that we are fruitful in the things of God which will bring forth
honour and glory to his great and holy name. And as we come
now to verse 24 we're told and they that are Christ's have crucified
the flesh with the affections and lusts. We therefore realize
those who are not Christ's have not crucified the flesh with
the affections and lusts. And it is important to realise
here that the Apostle uses this word crucified, because what
it means is it's the most agonising, most painful death. that anybody
can really undertake. And therefore it's quite clear
in these words and in this verse that the things of the flesh
and the affections and lusts thereof needs to be crucified
and it will be a very painful operation. It's not something
that our flesh will like doing, but yet it's the evidence of
the blessed work of the Holy Spirit within us. When the Apostle
Paul wrote to the Romans, and in the sixth chapter we read
this, knowing this, in the sixth verse in the sixth chapter, knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with him, he's joined to Christ,
and the body of sin might be destroyed and henceforth we should
not serve sin. That clearly means that until
we are converted, we please ourselves and we serve sin. We are not
those who serve the Lord. But when God graciously blesses
us with life in our soul, then there is that desire to do those
things which bring honour and glory to God. So that we don't
go around just pleasing ourselves, but that we are given grace to
put to death those things which are not of God. And of course
we have a list of the works of the flesh. And as we commented
previously, there's 19 items here, and they're very powerful. And to run through them and realise
that we are sinners, deep sinners, and no better than those we read
of in the Word of God, and yet it's so difficult perhaps to
crucify ourselves from all of those things, to put them to
death. What a blessing it is though,
if we have in our heart a desire to do just that, because it's
not of nature, it is through the Spirit of God. And so the
Apostle says, and they that are Christ's, have crucified the
flesh with the affections and lusts. It's the past tense. It's not something they're thinking
about. But if they are Christ's, then they have crucified the
flesh with the affections and lusts. And you and I will know
in our own hearts if we have been given grace so to do, to
turn away perhaps from those things that we very much enjoy
doing naturally. But yet they did not profit our
souls and did not bring honour and glory to our God." And then
the Apostle moves on and he says, if we live in the Spirit, let
us also walk in the Spirit. And of course he's really repeating
what he'd already said in the 16th verse of this epistle, when
he said, the 5th chapter of this epistle, this I say then, walk
in the Spirit. and you shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh. So it's a great blessing for
us today if we are found in this path. If we are living in the
Spirit, if we've been blessed with the life of God in the soul,
which means we're living in the Spirit, then let us also walk
in the Spirit. Let's walk in the way the Word
of God directs us in, and not to turn aside from it. There are many temptations in
the world today. Many temptations because of the
material world in which we live. Years ago, of course, there wasn't
the ability to do certain things or to purchase certain things.
But the day in which we live, especially in the Western world,
is very different. And therefore, we need to understand
the importance of these words. The Apostle again says, we live
in the Spirit, and how important it is to have the evidence that
we do live in the Spirit. But if that is so, the proof
of it will be that we walk in the Spirit. We walk in accordance
with the Word of God. We walk in the right way. We
walk in the narrow way. We don't walk in the broad way
that leads to destruction. but we are thankful to be found
in that narrow way which leads to eternal life. If we live in
the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. And then finally,
the last verse of this chapter, let us not be desirous of vain
glory, provoking one another, envying one another. That's a
word, isn't it, to the whole Church of God, in whatever condition
or situation they really are. to be found like this, not desirous
of vain glory. We read in the Proverbs in the
16th chapter, the 19th verse, these words, better it is to
be of an humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil
with the proud. Now, we need grace to be lowly. We need grace to take the lowest
place. We don't want to be found seeking
the most important place, the highest place, but grace to seek
the lowest place. And also the Lord speaks and
in John's gospel, how can you believe which receive honour
one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? See often we can be found looking
to receive honour and that's fleshly honour. And that will
only do our pride good. It won't benefit our soul. Because that which comes from
God is of the Spirit. And that will be God honouring
and God glorifying. You see, we should desire that
we're not ambitious or being thought wiser and richer and
more valuable than others. A tendency, isn't it, for our
nature? of having the preeminence in
the management of all affairs, and of having honour, esteem
and popular applause from men. By nature, that's what we are. This may well be called vain
glory, since it is only in outward things, as wisdom, riches, strength
and honour, and not in God, the giver of them." How important
it is. we have a realization that it
is God that has given us ability to do things. God has given us
ability to obtain things. It's not of our own skill, because
the skill that we receive is that which we received from Almighty
God. So let us not therefore be desirous
of vain glory, but let us be desirous of glorifying God for
what he's done, how he's blessed us, has helped us. Let us not
claim anything ourselves and to be able to come and realise
that it's God who is the giver of all these things and who can
easily take them away. Very simply God can remove things
from us, we must remember that and therefore is but for a time
and quickly gone and lies only in the opinion and breath of
men." Well, what a blessing then, if God gives us that grace to
not be desirous of vain glory. And also not to provoke one another. We should not try, or we should
not do those things. It's not a question of trying,
it's a question of avoiding such things, such attitude, such words,
which might provoke others. We should do all to live peaceably
one with another and live for the honour and glory of God and
not to provoke one another and then finally envying one another. We should not envy. No, we should
be thankful for what the Lord has given us and not envy others. It's a sin, it's covetousness
to seek those things which we do not possess. in envy and it's
easy so to do and think well I wish I could do that or I wish
I had that. No we should be content with
such things as we have for he hath said I would never leave
thee nor forsake thee therefore we may boldly say the Lord is
my helper and we shall not fear then what man can do unto us. Well, there we are. We've had
a few comments this evening. We're thankful indeed for this
fifth chapter in the Galatians, which instructs us in so many
details as how we should endeavour by the grace of God to live our
lives for his honour and for his glory.