Good morning again. And let me
just also say thank you for the, again, Michelle and I just want
to thank you for how kind you've been and how helpful you've all
been. It's really made the transition here very, very nice and quite
easy for us to come. And especially that little gift
basket that the Bonneviers brought, I think that you all contributed
to, that was really nice. It was a very nice touch and
we appreciate that and enjoyed a good portion of it last night.
Thank you. All right, let's go to 1 Peter,
chapter 2. 1 Peter, chapter 2. We're going
to read the first three verses. 1 Peter, chapter 2, verses 1 through
3. Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies
and envies and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. If so be ye have
tasted that the Lord is gracious. Now we've just been reminded
in 1 Peter chapter 1 how that it's the Lord that saves us.
It's the Lord who purifies us and sanctifies us. It's Christ
that makes us alive to our God so that we worship God now in
spirit and in truth. In short, our God is doing everything
for the sinner. As Peter said in 1 Peter 1.22,
seeing ye have purified your souls and obeying the truth through
the Spirit. And no man by nature comes forth
from his mother's womb having the Spirit of Christ in him,
and we cannot do any spiritual work in our own flesh. We need
the Spirit of Christ to be put in us by the power and the grace
of God. For this work is a work of God,
and it's for the sinner according to his grace. It's unmerited
favor given to us, shown to us by God. And the reason that God
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost does all the work
of salvation for us is because we simply are incapable of doing
it. We can't do anything to please
God in our flesh. As Peter said in verse 24, chapter
124, all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower
of grass. So that man, being nothing more
than a fading, dying piece of grass, is incapable of saving
himself or doing the work that pleases Holy God who is Spirit. And so God will faithfully continue
to teach us this. He shows us this in the first
hour and he faithfully continues to teach us this as he grows
us in his son. So that ultimately, the child
of God lays aside the works of the flesh, right? We begin to
lay those things aside, to lay them down as a worn out, filthy,
dirty garment, and we want nothing more to do with it. But it's
the Lord who works that in us as he shows us all salvation
is of his son, Jesus Christ, done for us, we begin to, by
His power and His Spirit in us and growing us, we lay down those
works of the flesh. We repent of our former works
and our former ways, and we look to our God as our provider, our
defender, and our Savior. In Luke 24, verse 44, After Christ
hath fulfilled all things which were written in the Law of Moses
and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning himself, we
read that he was there with the disciples and he opened their
understanding that they might understand the Scriptures for
the first time. Understand what the Scriptures
are saying, that they're all concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
and glorifying him. And he said unto them, Thus it
is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise
from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem." So that it's by his power, as I'm sent forth
and as we go forth preaching this gospel and sending this
gospel into the world, we preach and declare what Christ has done
for his people. And through that, the Spirit
ministers to us, giving us life. He ministers repentance, so that
that repentance is we are being turned from our former understanding
of how God saves a sinner, the way we used to think God saved
sinners, and now he's turned us to the truth, which is that
the Lord Jesus Christ saves sinners, and that he's provided all of
salvation in Christ. That's that repentance that the
Lord works in us. And our title this morning is
Laying Aside the Works of the Flesh. Laying Aside the Works
of the Flesh. And we'll look at, the first
point will be a little longer, what we lay aside, then more
briefly how we lay aside, and then very briefly we'll close
with continuing to lay aside. All those being the works of
the flesh. Alright, what we lay aside. So being a new creation
in the Lord Jesus Christ, we lay aside the works of the flesh. Peter says in 1 Peter 2, 1, wherefore,
laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies
and all evil speakings. All right, now I want to look
at these words. I preached from this passage
before I think a couple years ago and I didn't really touch
on these words much but this time the Lord laid it on my heart
just to go through and look at these words and what these words
are and we'll see how these are works of the flesh and maybe
not surprisingly at all that the Pharisees practiced these
things. These are things that the Pharisees
did and they're all their religion these are the works that they
did in their flesh this is what what they did and we see it in
our own flesh we see the works of the flesh we know we're not
unaware of its corruption and the things that we do by by nature
we know what it is but it's not just a simple thing in the flesh
so that we can't turn to the law to correct these things because
the Pharisees themselves who were under the law did these
very same things. Alright so I know that many men
would probably look at that and you'd think, oh, here comes the
law. Well, no, here doesn't come the law, because by the law,
the Pharisees did all these same practices. All right, so these
are fruits of the flesh. And these are sins that are produced
and committed by man in his flesh in abundance. So that first word
there is malice, which also means it's to act in a way that you
wish ill upon another. It's to do something where you
desire their injury. You want to see them suffer,
suffer some kind of pain. So the things that you do, you're
acting in a way to cause them ill or to cause them That's to
be malicious towards another person. And it describes what's
in our natural heart. Some of us maybe are more predisposed
to it than others, but that's what we are by nature. In Romans
1, 28 through 21, we read about the natural man whom the Lord
has turned over because they don't love God and they don't
seek God. And it says, even as they, natural men, do not like
to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind to do those things which are not convenient, being filled
with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity. That's what
we're looking at here, malignity, whispers. So we see, you know,
and it goes on describing many other fruits of our flesh. These
are just things that are in us by nature because our flesh is
wicked. Again, it's not improved in any
way. It's not gotten any better. It's
not been sanctified so that we don't think these things or do
these things. These things are very much with us so that we're
always continually looking to the Lord, not just simply for
our justification, but that he has sanctified us. He is our
sanctification in the new man. The new man is perfect. The new
man is holy. This flesh, though, is still corrupt and vile. and
we know our weakness as a result of it and we never think more
highly than we should of ourselves because when we do, the Lord
will remind us what we are, that we're but dust and weak creatures
that are nothing more than grass in the need of his mercy and
his grace. So being, you know, him showing
us what we are by nature, we're made to rejoice in his grace
and mercy because we see, and this isn't just another person
this is talking about, this is talking about me. And I need
His salvation. I need the grace that He's provided
in His Son, Jesus Christ. Now turn over to Titus 3. Titus
3. And we'll pick up in verse 3.
Titus 3, 3. So that's as you're approaching Hebrews there. Paul writes to Titus, he says,
for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful
and hating one another. And that word malice there is
brought up again, how we see, it's not just other people, but
we ourselves were like that in the flesh. That's how we are
in the flesh. But I want to read down to verse
nine because It's not by the works of the law that we're going
to put away and subdue these fleshly works, put away this
fleshy fruit of ours that's nothing more than sin, but rather it's
by Christ himself working his power and grace in us. So Titus
3-4, but after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward
man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done, not by our adherence to the law of Moses, but according
to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou
affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be
careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable
unto men. Now we're looking at 1 Peter
2 verse 1, and it's like Paul says. We're not looking to practice
those things that are evil and unprofitable to men, but we want
to do those things that are actually good and profitable for other
people, especially the brethren. It's not going to come by looking
back to the law of Moses, right? As we'll see when we look in
the scriptures, we'll see that the Pharisees under the law of
Moses did these very things. They were guilty of these very
things. So the law isn't going to produce a goodness and a profitableness
towards other men. I mean, if we could do it, sure,
it would be profitable. But the problem isn't with the
law. The problem is with this flesh. This flesh is what's weak,
and this flesh is what prevents us from being able to keep the
law perfectly. Otherwise, there's nothing wrong
with the law in and of itself. It only tells us what to do and
what is righteous, but we can't do it. We're just weak in the
flesh. And he says in verse 9, but avoid
foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings
about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. So we're not going
to get into the law. We're not to do these things, right? In
Titus 3.3, he lists those things that he says, these are works
of the flesh. We ought not to be doing those
things, but it's not going to come by the law. And we're not
going to battle over it in the law because it's unprofitable.
Just as Paul said to the Galatians, are you so foolish having begun
in the spirit? Are you now made perfect by the
flesh? No, we're not. We're not. Christ
is our justification. Christ is our sanctification.
So we continue and stay in the Lord Jesus Christ. So in Peter
we have an exhortation from these blessedly works, declaring that
these are not the works of the spirit, but they're the works
of the flesh. Ephesians 4.31, let all bitterness
and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away
from you with all malice. So even in malice, all those
things, put those things away. We don't see anywhere in the
scriptures that just because we're in Christ, Now we just
do those things that come natural to the flesh because it doesn't
matter. The apostles never give us that liberty to use our righteousness
in Christ as a cloak for unrighteousness, to use our liberty, rather, as
a cloak for unrighteousness. He says, put those things away.
Don't do those things. And in Colossians 3, he says,
now you also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,
filthy communication out of your mouth. Because the thing is that when
we do those things, just like when you take up the law and
try to serve God by following the law, you're doing, that's
a work of the flesh. So in the same manner, when you
do those things, like speaking filthy communication and being,
you know, acting in a way that harms and hurts your brethren,
that's a work of the flesh. That's not the spirit teaching
you to do those things, that's a work of the flesh, and I just
want us to understand that. But notice how when we do that,
when we are envious, when we're malicious, when we are hypocrites,
when we're doing things that are hypocrisy, you ever notice
how when you think about it, it really is, you have a self-righteous,
a self-vindicating, a self-justifying spirit about you. Because you're
saying, I can't believe you're doing that. And you're coming
down on that person when you yourself are guilty of the same
thing. And you know you are. And so it always involves that
self-righteousness when we're acting in a malicious way, because
we're justifying our behavior toward this other person. We
justify it. We feel right to do it, because
they've done something wrong to us, and now it's right for
us to do something evil back to them. You can see this actually,
turn over to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 5. And we'll look in verse 1. and you'll see this. All right,
1 Corinthians 5.1, it is reported commonly that there is fornication
among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among
the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. Now this
isn't this man's mother, but rather his father must have remarried
or had another wife or something like that. And this man, who's
a professed believer, is with his father's wife, and he's fornicating
with her. And he says in verse two, and
ye are puffed up. and have not rather mourned that
he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you."
So it sounds as though they knew this father and that this father
was probably a troublesome man to the church and to the believers.
He was a troublesome person and they're puffed up about what
the son is doing to the dad. They're okay with it. There's
a reason why they're okay. They're somehow justifying this
man's behavior with his father's wife. It's likely perhaps that
this fornicator had been speaking the gospel to his father's wife,
and she professed to believe it, and the father didn't, and
the father maybe persecuted the church and wanted nothing to
do with it. And so in the process of this, they began to hook up
or something like that. Somehow this man justified it,
and the church seemed to be okay with what was going on because
they were puffed up about it. But Paul isn't letting the situation
and the things that transpired cloud his view on the matter.
He says in verse 3, For I verily, as absent in body, but present
in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present concerning
him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, when ye are gathered together in my spirit, with the
power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan,
for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus. He says, you're glorying, right?
They're glorying in this. You're glorying is not good.
Know ye not that a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump. Now,
let me just also say, it's a rare thing that the body of Christ
would do something like this. We all sin in numerous ways. We're not taking people up here
and shaming them and publicly humiliating people when we see
sin. This was clearly a grievous sin
that was creating a distraction and bringing reproach on the
name of Christ. And that's why Paul is saying this. But what
I want us to see is that, again, in verse 6, he's saying, you're
glorying. It's not good. They're glorying in what's going
on. And he says, know ye not that
a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Now, leaven in scriptures
is compared to hypocrisy and it's often always tied to the
Pharisees and what the Pharisees would do, right? In Luke 12,
1 we read, Christ began to say unto his disciples, first of
all, be wary of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. So leaven is typically compared
to hypocrisy, which the Pharisees were hypocrites, right? They
said, do this, don't do that. And they themselves did those
things and didn't do those things. They were hypocrites themselves.
So what this man was doing with his father's wife was hypocrisy.
And Paul says, purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be
a new lump as ye are unleavened, right? Christ has put away our
sins. He has purged us of our hypocrisy
and the new man We don't walk and continue in the works of
sin. And as the Lord shows us what we're doing in sin, the
Lord delivers us from it. And you can actually see in the
next letter how that man did repent and was turned from this
sin, right? And brought back under, you know,
to the Lord, like he repented of that. And he, and Paul says,
for even Christ, our Passover is sacrifice for us. So our sin
is put away in Christ and we're not, earning or achieving a greater
level of salvation by our works or by turning away from sin.
What they're teaching us is those works that are just works of
the flesh, don't do those things. Don't just be content with those
things and just do them. It doesn't really matter because
I'm covered by the blood of Christ. Christ died to put away our sin
and to deliver us from that. But this is what I found. most
peculiar here in verse 8, therefore let us keep the feast, continue
to feed upon Christ the Lamb of God, not with old leaven,
don't go back to the works of the flesh, don't go back to the
works of the law, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness. So that's where I say that man
felt justified in what he was doing. And he felt OK to work
malice toward his father and to sleep with his father's wife.
And Paul says, don't practice those works of leaven, the leaven
of malice. That's not how we operate. That's
not the way that we do things. Christ has put away our sin. And we're not going to, therefore,
turn around and deal corruptly and injuriously with others you
know, and justify it. That's just the leaven of malice.
That's just the leaven of hypocrisy, because they're glorying and
they're puffed up. That's just the pharisaical trick.
That's the way the Pharisees did things, because they felt
perfectly justified to put Christ to death, because they hated
him and they acted maliciously toward him. Go to Romans 6 and
we'll see this further. Romans 6, verse 4. We're not
using our liberty as a cloak of unrighteousness, and we don't
look to justify our malice toward others, because it's just nothing
more than a fruit of the flesh. So Romans 6, 4. Therefore we
are buried with Christ by baptism into death, that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be
in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead
is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion
over him. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise,
Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it
in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. These are works of
the flesh, which are common to the flesh. They're very natural
for us to feel. anger, and not that anger itself
is bad, but those thoughts that then follow anger, and what we
want to do to that person in retaliation for what maybe they
did to us, those are just works of the flesh. And you say, don't
yield yourselves to those things. They're going to come up. You'll
feel burning in your flesh. Paul himself said, we burn not. We were offended. People do things
to us wrong. Like in Philippi, they were shamefully
treated. And I'm sure that angered Paul.
And he would have liked to have you know, done something to them,
but he trusted Christ that all these things were working out,
therefore these things will come up in the flesh. But don't, therefore,
just yield yourselves to those things just because they're there
in your flesh. Be aware that they're there in the flesh. We
still have that corruption in us. So let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body, verse 12, that you should obey it in
the lust thereof. Neither yield you 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. For sin shall not have
dominion over you. Christ has saved us from the
dominion of sin. Ye are not under the law, but
under grace. What then, shall we sin because
we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. So Peter also here now in our
text is just saying, wherefore, because we are saved, because
Christ has saved us and put away our sin, lay these works of the
flesh aside. We know that they're there. Lay
them aside. The next word we see is guile.
And I'm not going to be able to go through all these, but
we'll look at guile as well. And to act with guile is to try and
catch with bait, to lure, to put a snare in front of others. It's to use craft and deceit
to get them to do something so that you can accuse them or just
not hear them, therefore, and betray them, the way the Pharisees
tried to deal with Christ. And in fact, in Matthew 26, 3
and 4, we read, then assembled together the chief priests and
the scribes and the elders of the people into the palace of
the high priest who was called Caiaphas and consulted that they
might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. That subtlety is
the word guile. They were trying to bait or lure
or snare Christ. Mark as well says in Mark 14
1, after two days was the feast of the Passover and of unleavened
bread and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might
take him by craft. There's that word, that guile,
that deceit. Take him by craft and put him
to death. And the Lord tells us, that's
a description of what's in all of our own natural hearts. None
of us are any better than anyone else. Mark 7.22, Christ said,
that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For
from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, or that guile, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness, all these evil things come from within and defile the
man. So they're in our flesh. They're there. These works are
just works of the flesh that's the fruit It's dead fruit, but
it's the fruit that the flesh produces. That's why I think
James says, the wrath of man doesn't work the works of God.
It doesn't. It brings about that which is
natural in the flesh, and that's what we work. We might think
or justify, say, well, I was doing them good by telling them
what I told them. But a lot of times, it's just said with, we
want to hurt them. We're not looking to help people.
Usually, we're looking to hurt them and sting them, give them
a little dig. But consider Nathanael, right?
He's a disciple of Christ. And Jesus saw Nathanael coming
to him and saith of him, behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom
is no guile. And consider Nathanael, right?
And if he's an Israelite, that means he's circumcised in the
heart by the Spirit of God, by the operation of God. Because
no man can circumcise his own heart. The Spirit of God alone
can do that. As opposed to what is said of
Elemas, right? I think he's also bar Jesus,
where who's full of subtlety and guile. In Acts 13, 9, then
Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on Elemas and said,
O full of all subtlety, guile, deceit, and all mischief, thou
child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou
not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? So what we do in the flesh is a
testimony to what we believe and what we believe concerning
our Savior. By no means are we looking to justify ourselves,
and by no means are we looking to sanctify ourselves. Only Christ,
His Spirit working in us can do that work. I'm only sharing,
I'm only saying these things because the apostles pointed
out that these are works in the flesh, and they're gonna rise
up. You're gonna feel that, that lust in the flesh to do those
things in retaliation to others. But, you know, are, do we, Do
we look to be like Nathanael, whom the Lord circumcised in
the heart and he had no guile, or is it okay to be like Eleumas,
who Paul called the child of the devil? So it's just to say,
and I don't see this in the brethren, you brethren here, but it's just
to say we don't practice those things. That's not what we go
about. We look to help one another and
to minister to one another and to bear those fruits that are
evidence that the Spirit of God is working in us, that Christ
has put away our sins, that we do love the Lord and don't need
to retaliate and do those things to get back, but rather put away
those sins, cover one another's sins with a cloak of grace and
kindness and forgiveness and faithfulness, trusting that the
Lord does, you know, that He's gathered this people together,
that He's, His Spirit's among us and in us and teaching us
and leading us in the way that we should go. And, you know,
I'm concerned, you know, I'm not unaware of the concern that
you hear maybe when I say these things, you know, or share this
exhortation that Peter says, because I know how men, so-called
pastors, have used these passages to turn you back to the law and
to whip and to beat their congregations and to make them feel ashamed
and how it's an abuse to them, but that amounts to nothing more
than hypocrisy. hypocrisy. So I do get it. But
when we hear the exhortation like Peter saying in 2.1, wherefore
laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies
and all evil speakings, the apostles aren't turning us back to the
law of Moses. Just because they exhort us to
those things, they're just saying, look, these are works of the
flesh. And just because you feel them, don't think that, well,
I guess that's just the way it is. They're just saying, look,
they're works of the flesh. Be aware of them. But that doesn't
mean you have to do them. Right. Which of you would be
okay with your spouse if they, you know, committed adultery
against you. None of them would like that. They wouldn't be okay
with that. And you say, well, I just have
this, you know, burning in my, you know, this passion in my
flesh. I'm going to go do this. None of us would be okay if our
spouses do that. So in the same way, we're not
looking to just, you know, be subdued by the will of the flesh
and to yield our members to unrighteousness, but rather the Lord saved us
from that. Trust him. That's why he's given
you his spirit, and why Paul says in Romans 8, we have the
spirit of Christ, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, because the
passions of the flesh do rise up. They do come up. And rather
than turn back to the law, which isn't going to work, we cry out
to the Lord, Father, have mercy on me. Forgive me for my sin.
and help me, Lord, because only you can help me. Only you can
turn me from this sin. So that's why Paul said that
there in Romans 8. We cry, Abba, Father. We have
the Spirit of Christ, our inheritance. Christ is our inheritance. Trust
Him. He'll grow us. He'll lead us. He'll teach us.
He'll turn us. And he'll enable us to yield
our members to righteousness. We're not looking back to the
law. That's not at all what I'm saying. And it's not what Peter
is saying here as well. And consider how we preach. the
gospel. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul wrote
to them in chapter 2 verses 1 through 8. He says, For yourselves, brethren,
know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain. But
even after that we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated,
as you know at Philippi. We were bold in our God to speak
unto you the gospel of God with much contention. In the midst
of all kinds of chaos, we preached the gospel of our Savior to you. For our exhortation was not of
deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile, But as we were allowed
of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak,
not as pleasing men, but God which trieth our hearts. For
neither at any time used we flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak
of covetousness, God as witness, nor of men sought we glory, neither
of you nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome
as the apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you,
even as a nurse cherished her children, right? A nurse is given
the care of the child for the father, right? In place of the
father or the mother, the nurse cares for the children even as
the pastor cares for the flock of the Lord God. So being affectionately
desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not
the gospel of God only, but also our own souls because you were
dear unto us. And so we declare these things,
we declare the gospel to feed the sheep of God, to be a comfort
to your hearts, to be aware and to know that the flesh, don't
look back to the flesh or look to the works of the law, but
understand that in our heart there's deceit, there's guile,
there's every wicked thing, but we don't need those things, we
don't need those works. We just declare what Christ has
done and we don't need the use of the law because the law isn't
going to save anybody. declaring what Christ has done.
He saves his people. Right? In Revelation 14.5 it
says, In their mouth was found no guile. Those are the ones
where it speaks of the 144,000 who were virgins. It doesn't
mean that they weren't married or never had a spouse or anything
like that, but they were virgins because they didn't submit to
the whore of Babylon. They weren't mixed up with that
false, vain religion. The Lord had delivered them out
of vain religion, whether it was religion that was without
the law of Christ, that is, without the law of faith, and they were
just without law, true antinomians, versus those who were under the
law of Moses and tried to please God by that very thing. The Lord
has delivered us from that, from the whore of Babylon, so that
we look to Christ and Christ alone. And their mouth was found
no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God.
So we don't use the works of the flesh because we're without
fault before the throne of God. There's nothing more to look
to this flesh or depend on this flesh or trust in this flesh
for, whether to take matters into your own hand or to do things
by working the law. We trust in the Lord God alone.
Seeing them, he said, because of what Christ has done for us,
we speak plainly now. We just declare what Christ has
done for the sinner, putting away our sins, entrusting him
that our inheritance isn't here in this place, but it's coming
when Christ returns to redeem his purchased possession. And
Paul says, seeing then that we have such hope, we use great
plainness of speech. In 2 Corinthians 4, 1 through
3, therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received
mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God
deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves
to every man's conscience and the sight of God." Right? If
now me as your pastor, I come down here and I go and I just
start raising all kinds of mischief out and about the town, people
are going to look at you and say, why do you go and hear that
man. Oh, well, he believes in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He can do whatever he wants now because Christ put
away his sin. No, that's not that. You wouldn't appreciate
if I brought shame on our Lord Jesus Christ in that way. And
so on one side, Paul's saying, don't, we don't look to the works
of the flesh to do those things just because Christ put away
our sin. and we certainly don't look to
the law to reign in the works of the flesh. Know that it's
there, but look to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our Passover Lamb.
He put away our sin. We are justified and sanctified
in Him. Rest in Him. Trust in Him. Serve
Him. Walk in the light that He's given
you in putting away your sins and know that He's called us
to this service, to serve Him and to walk in a way that, as
he says, we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in
the sight of God. We're just doing that which is our reasonable
service, as Paul says in Romans 12. We're just yielding our bodies,
our members, unto the Lord to do with us as he will do in service
to one another and in service to him and his gospel and setting
forth. It's just, Paul said, your reasonable
service. It's what we're called to. So
I'm not going to go through the other words, the hypocrisies,
the enbies, the evil speakings, but know these are all works
of the flesh, right? And the apostles constantly exhorted
us that we're not to do those works, that we are under law,
but not the law of Moses, but rather the law of Christ. As
our Lord himself said, a new commandment I give unto you,
that ye love one another. As I have loved you, that ye
also love one another, and by this shall all men know that
ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." And if
we're loving one another, we're not going to speak deceitfully
and with lies and maliciousness to one another. We're going to
speak honestly and kindly to one another and deal tenderly
with one another. That's what they're saying. That's
why we lay aside those works of the flesh First John, the
Apostle John recorded it this way, Whatsoever we ask, we receive
of him, because we keep his commandments and do those things that are
pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment,
that we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ. We rest in him, having all our
hope. fixed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and love one another
as he gave us commandment. So we're not going to deal with
one another in that hypocritical spirit, the way that the Pharisees
dealt with Christ and the way the Pharisees dealt with the
apostles. We're not going to deal in those
deceitful ways of guile. And so it's not going to come
by the law of Moses, because they were under the law of Moses
when they did all those things. So the law of Moses, because
this flesh can't keep it. So the Law of Moses is fine,
but we can't keep it. We're in this flesh and this
flesh cannot keep the Law of Moses. Paul told the Ephesians,
put off concerning the former conversation, the old man. All
those practices you did before you knew Christ, don't do those
things. Don't continue in those ways. which is corrupt according
to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your
mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness. And again, he wrote to the Colossians
in chapter three, verse nine, but now ye also put off all these
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your
mouth, lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the
old man with his deeds, And I've put on the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."
So, brethren, Christ is our Passover lamb. He's been sacrificed for
us, so that sin no longer has dominion over us. We have the
Spirit of Christ, and we are under His rule and His dominion. Not the law, but He creates in
us a love for him, where we rejoice in him and we hope in him and
rest in him. And that's why we see manifested
in us, worked in us, that kindness toward one another and that willingness
to sacrifice for one another and to lay down our lives for
one another because of what Christ has done. That's how He's taught
us, that's the spirit that is given to us, so that we don't
need those works of the flesh. We can lay them aside. Now, how
do we lay them aside? Peter says, 2-2, as newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. And that milk of the word is
the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's to hear and to rejoice in
what Christ has done for us in putting away our sins that he
is our righteousness. By him we are accepted of the
Lord God. By him we have entrance into
the throne of grace with boldness and confidence that our God hears
us. Because God doesn't look to our
works. He doesn't get turned away by
our sin and he doesn't get impressed by our works of righteousness
under the law. God isn't moved or motivated
by our works that we do. We rest in the Lord Jesus Christ
and we grow there in the Lord Jesus Christ. He keeps us feeding
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, his body, drinking his blood, that
is feeding upon what Christ has done. That's why Christ came
to do that very work that we could never do ourselves in the
flesh. So even Laying aside those works is going
to come by hearing of faith, hearing what Christ has done.
And the Lord makes Him precious to us so that we are willing
to lay aside those works. Don't leave here thinking, well
now I better stop talking maliciously or foolishly to other people
or lying to people. No, you go home rejoicing what
Christ has done. for us, that he has made us righteous,
and that we are righteous in him, so that we continue walking
in him. For Christ is all. So then, Paul
said, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And he says, now we know that
whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them that are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
may become guilty before God. That's why, you know, so people,
they bring up the law and they try to use the law to correct
sin in the flesh, but the law wasn't given for that purpose,
that we might correct things. It was given to shut our mouths,
that we'd see, wow, I'm guilty. And when we manifest those works
of the flesh, we see, wow, I'm guilty in the flesh. This flesh
is no good. It does no good, profitable thing. And we cry out, Abba, Father,
have mercy on me. Forgive me for Christ's sake.
Keep me, Lord, looking to the Lord and to serving you and serving
my brethren faithfully and in kindness and in forgiveness.
In Romans 3, we see how it's the law that Paul is really turning
them away from. In Romans 3, verse 9, He says,
what then, are we better than they? No and no wise, for we
have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all
under sin. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understand
it. There is none that seek it after God. They are all gone
out of the way. They are together become unprofitable,
right? And they're unprofitable to men
because they became teachers of the law to try and correct
one another by the law. And as soon as we do that, We
are now beginning to speak with poison under our lips, like the
poison of asps, because that poison, you know, you start teaching
the law as though it's something that we need to do or can do,
it works poison in us, and it goes in and corrupts us, and
it turns us that. With the practice of the law
in this flesh, we immediately start pointing out, I don't like
what that brother's doing, you know, and I don't like the glory
that that brother's getting for what he is doing. And so we begin
to do things with craft and deceit to undermine one another, to
point out others, to bring them down so that we can be exalted
and that people put their eyes on us. So that's how you can
see that those works are works that the Pharisees did and what
they practiced. Paul said, there's none that
doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness,
and their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery
are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes. So why was the law
given? It was added because of transgressions
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. Is the law then against the promises
of God? God forbid. For if there had
been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness
would have come by the law. But the scripture hath concluded
us all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe." All right? So, after that faith
has come, we're no longer under a schoolmaster, we're no longer
under that law, for ye are all the children of God by faith,
in Christ Jesus. So when the law is used rightly,
it shuts our mouth, it shows us that we cannot be pleasing
to the Lord. So we cease our boasting, we
cease trying to please God by the works of the flesh, we cease
trying to correct our brethren and tell them how to live, we
stop that poison and that hurtful speak towards one another and
we lay those works of the flesh aside. And then real quickly,
Peter says, if so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is
gracious. If you truly love the Lord Jesus
Christ, you'll stay upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll
continue to feed upon him. If you're not the Lord, you'll
turn back to those works of the law. You'll turn back, whether
it's in the flesh to harm others, or it's in the flesh to look
to the law to do those practices and those works of the law. If
you've tasted that the Lord is gracious, you'll continue in
the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll continue to walk in him and rejoice
in Christ. He won't be light bread to you.
Christ will be sufficient and enough. So sinner, I would ask
each of us, myself included, has Christ been made precious
to you? Is Christ needful and precious
to you? Is he sufficient and you're all? If so, then lay aside these works
of the flesh. You don't need to trust in them
and depend upon them to get you out of circumstances and to deal
with one another. We look to Christ and we deal
with one another as Christ has dealt with us. As he's loved
us, that's how we love one another. As he laid down his life for
us, so we lay down our lives for one another and do that which
is profitable and encouraging and helpful for one another.
Newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may
grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
Amen. We will pray and then we'll close
this in prayer. I mean, close this with a final
hymn. Our gracious Lord, Father, take this word, Lord, which I've
struggled to bring forth clearly, Lord, but lay it to the hearts
of your people. Comfort them in your Son, Jesus
Christ. Assure your people that Christ
has put away their sin, that we don't need to look to the
works of the flesh anymore, that we lay those things aside, whether
it's in retaliation or to protect ourselves or to get ourselves
out of trouble or, Lord, to use the law to correct ourselves
or one another. Lord, we don't need those things.
They're works of the flesh. Lord, teach us that Christ is
all, that Christ is sufficient, and that He alone is our salvation.
It's in Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen.