May I please God to bless his
word as we read it from the epistle of James and chapter three. The epistle of James and reading
chapter three. My brethren, be not many masters,
knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For
in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word,
the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole
body. Behold, we put bits in the horses'
mouths that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole
body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great
and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with
a very small helm. whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so, the tongue is a little
member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a
little fire kindleth. And the tongue is a fire, a world
of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members,
that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course
of nature, and is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts,
and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea is tamed,
and hath been tamed of mankind, but the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full of
deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even
the Father, and therewith curse we men. which are made after
the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth
blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought
not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at
the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my
brethren, bear olive berries, either of vine figs, so can no
fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man
and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good
conversation his works with meekness of wisdom, but if you have bitter
envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against
the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from
above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and
strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the
wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace of them that make peace. May God instruct
us from his holy word. Let us now turn once more to
the epistle of Paul to the Galatians and chapter 5 and tonight we'll
read from verse 19 to 21. The epistle of Paul to the Galatians,
chapter 5, and from 19 to 21. Now, the works of the flesh are
manifest. Which are these? Adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings and such like, of the
which I tell you before, as I've also told you in time past, that
they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Well here we have in these verses
what the Apostle refers to as the works of the flesh. which
are followed of course, which God willing we come on to next
week, the fruit of the Spirit. And the two situations are very
diverse and very different. And the Apostle here speaks to
us about the need to be aware of this situation. He tells us,
as we thought last week in the 18th verse, but if you be led
of the Spirit, you are not under the law. And he goes on then
to commence by saying this, now the works of the flesh. Now,
the Apostle, when he wrote to the Romans, as we've already
referred to on a number of occasions, so very ably speaks to us about
really these situations. And in the 6th chapter of Romans
and the 12th and 13th verses we read, Let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts
thereof. Neither yield your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves
unto God as those that are alive from the dead. and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God. And there the Apostle
is really setting before us the two sides, and that which is
of the flesh, of our mortal body and the lusts thereof. And then
also in Romans 8 verse 5 we referred to last time, we also included
verse 4 then, but it says this, for they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit." Now, the truth is, of course, that
this list, which is comprehensive, but we should not think it is
completely comprehensive, but it does include many things to
consider. It's actually a list of 17 items. If you actually work them out,
the 17 items and some of the words used today we're not really
so familiar with and it's good perhaps just to go through this
list tonight and perhaps you may think well it's perhaps not
very edifying but it may not be so in one sense but I trust
it will be instructive to us to just realize what these words
actually mean. And I have to say that most of
the definitions I've obtained from Dr. John Gill, who is of
course far more able than me to come to a right consideration
of what these words are. But I think it's good for us
to just consider them to get a real balance on the one side
before gobbling next week we come to the fruits of the Spirit.
Well, I hope probably we know what adultery is. And adultery
is really the defilement of the marriage bed. We're told that
marriage is honorable in all things and a bed undefiled in
the 13th chapter of the Hebrews. And it is the sin of uncleanness
committed by two persons, one of which at least is in a married
state is condemned by the law of God and the light of nature. Well of course we live in a very
sad day when adultery is really not considered as very bad and
many people just carry on with it as though it was normal and
there was nothing wrong with it. Well the word of God speaks
very much against it and we should be very careful then how we react
to these things. And again let me just confirm
that All these items have an effect by either physically or
mentally as we might think upon them in our minds. And we should
not therefore think that if we haven't done them physically
that we are exonerated. And then he speaks about fornication. And again, this is a difficult
word probably for us today to understand. Fornication, as John
Gill says, is this, which though by many of the Gentiles we reckon
no sin or a very small one, that stands here among the works of
the flesh, that are manifest and to be avoided. It is the
sin of uncleanness committed by a person in a single state. So we have a real difference
between fornication and adultery. Both, before God, are sinful
and wrong and should not be considered that it is legal or anything. It is, in the sight of God, wrong. And then uncleanness. It is a general name for all
unchastity in thought, word or action, and may here design more
especially all unnatural lusts as sodomy or self-pollution,
etc., which really means homosexuality, which of course is a great curse
in the day and age in which we live. So we can classify uncleanness. That comes under the classification
of uncleanness. And then lasciviousness, again
may be a difficult word for us to understand today. Well, it
really means all wantonness or all lustful dalliance. Everything that leads on to acts
of uncleanness or attends them as impure words, filthy gestures
and the like. Well, I'm sure it's useful for
especially our younger people to understand what that actually
means. And it is relative to us today,
very much so. And then, idolatry. Well, idolatry
of course means bowing down to idols. It can include covetousness,
because sometimes we want things which we don't need and we're
told not to covet. We are told to covet the best
things, the eternal blessings of God, but not natural things. So we're not to covet them and
we're not to bow down to gods. And of course today we live in
a world where there is so much idolatry about people, film stars
and footballers and and such like, and there's so much idolatry,
and yet in the sight of God you see that is sinful and wrong. And then witchcraft, we may not
understand perhaps very much about witchcraft, but again I'm
thankful for this definition, any real or pretended league
and association with the devil. And there are, of course, those
who classify themselves today as Satanists, who worship the
devil, and it's totally wrong and against the Word of God.
Seeking to converse with familiar spirits, to gain unlawful knowledge,
or to do hurt to fellow creatures, which is as if they are doing
honour to Satan. What does it do? It detracts.
from the glory of God, and rightly follows idolatry. And soothsaying,
necromancy, and all kinds of magic are included and condemned
hereby. So when you think of witchcraft,
it's really a reasonably comprehensive word that includes lots of wrong
things that are done today openly and are encouraged by those who
are of the devil. And then hatred. I expect we
understand what hatred means, and perhaps just to think of
it in this way, it can be the internal hatred of any man's
person, even of our very enemies, is forbidden. In the original
text it is enmities, as the carnal mind is nothing else but enmity
against God and Christ, against law and gospel, and all good
men, and everything that is good. That is hatred, and by nature
we have hatred in our hearts. And it's a blessed privilege
if God moves us to try and turn away from that situation. And then variance, which really
means contentions, fighting and quarrelling, by words scandalous
and reproachful. that we commonly call scolding. You see there are those contentions
which we easily can let get a hold of situations. And then emulations or zeals
which are not good but bad are boiling over and rising up of
the spirits and passions at the honour and happiness of another. You see how easy it is to fall
into that trap. And then wrath violent emotions
of the mind, moving to revenge and seeking the hurt and mischief
of others. Well, we have to be very aware
of our own heart in these things and recognize how wrath can be
very wrong and we can find ourselves sometimes in that way. And then
strife, and we read in that chapter in James something about strifes. which can be perpetual contradictions
and cavelings often expressed by words or working of the mind
for this strife may be in a man's heart according as I read together
in James chapter 3 and verse 14. And then we may wonder what
seditions mean. Well seditions really mean divisions,
schisms, factions, dissensions, And that can be in things natural,
but also in things spiritual. And how easy we do find there
are seditions. And then heresies. I expect we're
more familiar with that word heresies. Bad principles and
tenets relating to doctrine which are subversive of the fundamentals
of the gospel and the Christian religion and are the produce
of man's own invention. Envyings, uneasy, distressing
tortures of the mind, grieving the good of others that any should
be in an equal or a better condition than themselves. How easy it
is to envy people and yet you see it is a work of the flesh
and we should desire to turn away from it. Murders, but hopefully
we understand what murders are. And then drunkenness. I expect
we understand what that means. Excess in drinking a wine or
strong drink, whereby it can often cause problems to others. And then finally, revelings. Revelings is a fairly comprehensive
word. And it says excess in feeding,
or in night rioting, in eating, drinking, dancing, singing, chambering,
wantonness. All these things you see are
really revelings. And do they bring us nearer to
God? Or do they take us farther away
from God? Well, I'm sure we'll appreciate
the great truth of these things and how important it is therefore
to be aware that all these things do not profit our soul, and they
are the works of the flesh. And as the apostle goes on to
say in the 21st verse, he says, and such like. He just gives
these as examples. We shouldn't think it's comprehensive.
There are many more things that you and I could consider. And
so he says, and such like. of the which I tell you before,
as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Well, of course,
we probably have all fallen foul of nearly all these, or perhaps
all these items. That doesn't mean to say that
you and I will not inherit the kingdom of God, but we won't
inherit the kingdom of God unless God gives us repentance for such
things. And as we do, think such things,
say such things, do such things. If we are left, and if we're
left for a second in our life, we easily fall into these temptations
which the devil will bring very powerfully into our mind. But
the blessing of salvation is this, the Lord gives to his people
repentance. That means true sorrow, for such
actions and such words. Now if there is not true sorrow
then there is no true evidence that we are those who are born
again of the Spirit and those who will inherit the Kingdom
of God. But may we be found searching
our hearts and desiring that God will give us godly repentance
which will not need to be repented of. Well may God instruct us
from these things.