Galatians chapter 5. We look in verse, mainly verse 22
through verse 25. Let's begin our reading back
up in verse 16. The apostle said, this I say
then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts
of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary
one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you
would. But if you be led by the Spirit,
you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness,
reveling, and such like. Of the which I tell you before,
as I have told you in time past, they which do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God." But, this is in contrary, this
is in contrast to the lust or the works of the flesh. It is
the fruit of the Spirit. It is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness. faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. If we live in the Spirit, let
us walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain
glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Now, the
title of the message this morning is, The Effect of Inward Grace. The Effect of Inward Grace. Now, the Apostle has been preaching
throughout this book concerning the subject of justification
by grace through the faith that is in Christ. That justification
is not by the deeds of the law or the works of the flesh. Paul
says that everyone who desires that is under the curse of the
law. He said, "...curse is everyone that continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law to do them." But everyone that comes to God
by faith in Christ are justified before God. That's his message. I want you to first of all behold
the victory of Christ. Now this is vitally important
to get a sense of what this grace is. It is the victory of the
work of Christ. See how that He who is God manifest
in the flesh came and represented all the elect of the Father.
Look and see Jesus, He was fulfilling all the righteousness of God
by His own obedience to the law which none of us could
ever do. See how He, being the spotless,
sinless Son of God, was sent to be our Passover Lamb. Look at Calvary. See Him crucified,
hated of men, and yet His death was according to the sovereign
will of God. He was crucified in order to
redeem all that the Father gave him. Now the question is this. Was he successful? Did he accomplish
what God had sent him to accomplish? The redemption of all Israel. Was God pleased? with his offering. The scriptures are very clear
on this point, yes. Absolutely yes, Christ was successful
as perfect offering to redeem his people from their sins. His
blood pleased and satisfied the justice of God forever. Paul
said this, It was not possible for the blood of bulls and goats
to take away sin. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice, and offering thou wouldest not.
But a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will. What is
the will of God? What was the will of God? It
was to save His people from their sins. That was His name. That was what He was called,
why He was called Jesus. That's what it said in Matthew
121, Thou shalt call His name Jehovah Saves, for He shall save
His people from their sins. He came to do the will of God.
And Paul said, by the which will? We are, what? Sanctified. Made holy. Made acceptable unto God. That was the will of God. And
by His obedience to that will, we are sanctified forever. You remember our Lord Jesus Christ
is like the picture of those two goats in the Great Day of
Atonement. They were to take those goats,
and one of those goats was to be slain, was to be killed, and
the blood was to be brought into the holy place, the Holy of Holies,
and sprinkled on the mercy seat. And the other goat, you know,
the scapegoat. It was the sins of the Israel
was to be confessed on the head of that goat. And you remember
a fit man was to be chosen, a strong man, to carry that goat. He was to bear that goat out
into the wilderness where there was no man. There was no one
to ever see it again. He was to leave it in the wilderness
and then return. Can you imagine the people of
Israel at this time as they waited in both instances? Silently waiting. They waited for the priest who
went in and offered the blood. Remember, if he didn't come out,
there was no atonement. There was no acceptance. And
I can imagine also the fit man, as he had carried that away,
they watched him in the distance. They saw his figure and the figure
of that goat go over the hill and then out of sight. And what
were they waiting for? They were waiting for Him to
return. And when He was returning, they saw Him on the horizon.
He was just a shadow, just a dot in the horizon, and then all
of a sudden, the closer He came, what did they notice? The man
was without the goat. Oh listen, this is Christ, isn't
it? Our Lord Jesus Christ, by the offering of Himself, brought
his blood into the presence of God, and God accepted his sacrifice. And the result of that is this.
He, being the fit man, bore our sins away. And as he came out
of the tomb, what did he come out missing? He had no more sin. All the sins of his people were
gone, so that Jeremiah heard this of God in those days, and
at that time, thus saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought for, and there shall be none, the sins of Judah,
and they shall not be found. Why? I will pardon them whom
I have reserved. That's justification, isn't it?
That's justification accomplished by the work of Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ has entered
heaven now and He has sat down after fulfilling this. He was
raised from the dead. He is right now seated at the
right hand of God. And so what then is the result
of this offering? What is the result of it? You
see the success of it. You see the victory of it. Now
what's the result of it? The result of this offering. Simply stated, It will be the
manifest salvation of all the elect by the power of the Holy
Spirit through faith. That is the manifestation of
His victory. That is the manifestation, the
result of His victory, is that everyone that He died for, the
Spirit of God will come to them and save them. Every one of them
shall believe on the Son of God without exception. Jesus plainly told us, all that
the Father giveth me, what will they do? What is the result of
this election of grace? They shall come to me. And when they come, what will
he do? I will in no wise cast them out. Why? For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
We just described what that will is, didn't we? It was the will
to save them. And this is my Father's will
which has sent me, that of all He hath given me I should lose
nothing. That's the result of His victory. That He will lose not one of
His sheep, And seeing now that salvation is clearly by the sovereign
will, the eternal decree of God's election, seeing that salvation
was accomplished by Jesus Christ, the result will be the effectual
calling of these elect from their dead spiritual condition to faith
in Christ. That is always the result. Always
the result. And now I know this, that if
any man were to add his work to it, if any man were to add
his work, his will, or obedience to the perfect will of Christ,
Christ shall profit that man nothing. That's what Paul begins
here in chapter 5. In Galatians, he's saying, look,
if you add circumcision to Christ, then Christ shall profit you
nothing. He's telling them that no work of inward grace has been
in you if that's your your hope. If you've added anything to Christ,
then there is no effectual work of grace in your heart. But to
us, to sinners who have nothing to give, this is the most glorious
gospel ever heard. Free salvation. Free justification
through faith in His blood. Now, in this chapter, the Apostle
will show us the manifest result of everyone that is born of God. That's a question that we must
ask ourselves. Am I born of God? Does not the Apostle tell us,
make your calling and election sure? How many have gone on in
their way like that one in Pilgrim's Progress, ignorance? who went
along assuming, went along just thinking and hoping that he was
one, that he would be accepted, and yet all the while had no
understanding of the gospel. No evidence of grace had been
wrought in his heart. I don't want to be ignorant. May God Himself testify of this
work of grace in our hearts. And there will be marks. There
will be certain marks that God gives concerning those who are
in Christ. Now listen, anyone can confess
to believe in Christ, right? Is it not easy to say with the
lips? Jesus said, many shall say unto
me, Lord, Lord, and they shall not enter into heaven. How many did the Scriptures say
believed on Him, and yet the Lord did not commit Himself to
them? Those men in John chapter 6,
they confessed Him to be Christ, didn't they? They said, that's
the Prophet, that's Christ, and yet they sought Him not because
of the miracles. They sought Him not because of
faith. They sought Him because of some physical thing. They
sought Him because of the bread. They wanted to be fed. And so we must ask ourselves,
are we born of the Spirit of God? Well, listen to what Paul
said. If you are, if you are born of the Spirit of God and
you believe in Jesus Christ, here's one of the marks. Warfare. Warfare. The warfare of the two natures
within is a mark of every true believer in Christ. Look at verse
16. This I say, then, walk in the
Spirit. You shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, for the
flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh,
and these are contrary one to another. so that you cannot do
the things that you would. Everyone that is born of the
Spirit of God, listen, is given a new nature. A new nature. This nature, the Apostle declares
to us in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 24, that this new man is
created. You don't have to be a scholar
to understand that if something is created, it means it wasn't
there before. When God created the heavens
and the earth, He created it from His Word. He spoke it, and it came into
existence. So it is with our new nature.
It is that Word spoken of Christ that He creates in us a new man. And this is the nature of that
new man. He's created after God in true holiness. That new birth creates in us
a holy nature that is as holy as God. I want to show you this. Go to 1 John chapter 3. A couple
places in 1 John. So just stick around here for
a second. In 1 John. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 6. Whosoever abideth in him, what? Sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known Him." Now look over at chapter 5, verse
18. John says, "...we know that whosoever
is born of God..." What? "...sinneth not." But he that
is begotten of God keepeth himself, and the wicked one toucheth him
not. Now listen, when you hear those
verses, are they at first not shocking? To the believer they
are. They are shocking and troubling. If you understand what they mean,
then they're not troubling. Listen, is John contradicting
himself? Now, that's a question you've
got to ask. Is John contradicting himself? Look over in chapter
1 and tell me that it doesn't seem that way. It does. By just
the outward observation and appearance. Look at verse 8, chapter 1. Now, if we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Now, how
can both of those be? The only way those two things
are true is this. You have a new man that is created
after God in true holiness. That, what? Sinneth not. And you have an old nature who
is constantly sitting. That's the only way those are
true. But that's exactly what Paul is saying in our text, isn't
it? The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh, and these two are what? Contrary. They are complete
and utter opposites within the same man. So that you, now both of them
are you. Both of them are you. So that
you cannot do what you would. Now what would the flesh do?
The flesh would sin. only sin, always sin, and rebel
against God. Now what would the Spirit do?
Always that which pleases God. Always that which is righteous.
Always that which is good. Believe God. Trust God. These
fruits of the Spirit, we would always do that. And therefore,
there is a conflict within the soul of every believer. Every believer. There is a conflict in this warfare. So when one is born of God, there
is a real struggle within yourself. Now then, I ask you, believer,
is that not so with you? You know what God said in that
eternal covenant, I believe it's Ezekiel 36, He said this, You
shall loathe yourselves. Is that not an accurate description
of how the inner man, the new heart, feels concerning the old
nature of sin? In the Song of Solomon, he writes
concerning the Shulamite bride, he said, What will I see in thee,
Shulamite? Here's the answer. As it were, the company of two
armies. The flesh and the spirit engaged
in a constant struggle within our own souls. Friends, I am thankful for the
struggle. If there were no struggle, it
is because there is no new nature. But I want you to see it's not
just more, it's more than a struggle. Because this, this is true as
well. that everyone who is born of
the Spirit of God will manifest the fruit of the Spirit. Everyone
who is born of God will manifest the fruit of the Spirit. This
conflict, though it is real in the heart of God's saints, the
inner man longs to be holy, pleasing to God, and we know this can
never be accomplished because of the flesh. So then if any
manifestation of the righteousness be done in us, we confess it
is only by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us that any
good work could be done by us. We confess that. We confess this,
"...in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present
with me. But how to perform that which
is good I find not, O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death?" This is a struggle, it's real.
Every believer has it. But I also know this, Every believer
will manifest the fruits of the Spirit. It's one thing to say
you have a struggle, but it's another thing to never manifest
the fruits of the Spirit. I know men who struggle with
evil conscience, with their conscience. The natural man struggles even
in his conscience because the law of God's written on his heart.
He struggles with that, but that's not the struggle I'm talking
about. Every man struggles with his conscience and morality and
society but we are struggle is much more than that it is a spiritual
struggle and yet I know this that in every believer the fruit
to the spirit will be manifest regardless of the struggle regardless
of the struggle these will be manifest let me ask you this
how do you know an apple tree is an apple tree smiling. Simple question. It
has apples. How do you know an orange tree
is an orange tree? It produces oranges. How do you know a believer
is a true believer? He produces the fruits of righteousness. God will manifest his people
by the fruit Not of themselves, but of the Holy Spirit. Remember,
it is God working in you, both to will and what? Due of His
good pleasure. John also said this in verse
John chapter 3 and verse 7. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. I like what John Gill says about
this. Men are only made righteous by the righteousness of Christ,
which he wrought out, which is gospel revealed, and is received
by faith, which God imputes without works. And he that doeth righteousness
is convinced of the insufficiency of his own righteousness. and
the excellency of Christ's righteousness, renounces his own righteousness
and submits and lays hold to Christ's. That's a man who does
righteous. And in consequence of this, he
lives in a course of holiness and righteousness in opposition
to and distinction from one who commits sin and lives a sinful
course of life. Now listen, there's a lot of
people who confess to believe in Christ but have no change
whatsoever in their life. Look at them. They come, they
confess, they stay, they're baptized, and by and by, they go back like
a dog returning to his vomit. They go back to their life as
though nothing had changed, nothing had happened. Friend, that is
not an effect of inward grace. Inward grace has a real and lasting
effect on the heart of man and, listen, the conduct of man. It
does. It has an effect. Though it does not make him righteous
in the sight of God, yet it shows him to be righteous in the sight
of men, and proves that faith to be right which lays hold of
the righteousness of Christ. So then, it is very evident that
everyone born of God, led by the Spirit of God, are not under
the law, but made righteous by Christ. And the consequence of
our righteous nature will manifest itself in warfare and in the
fruit of the Spirit. Now, in verse 18 through 21,
Paul manifests the lust of the flesh. I'm not going to spend
much time here. The lust of the flesh. This is the nature that
dwells in every believer. Now, the works of the flesh are
manifest. These, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
these are all sins of sexual immorality. Idolatry, which is worshiping
of anything or setting anything above Christ. Witchcraft, hatred,
variance. That means an argumentative spirit. Emulations, that is some kind
of zeal toward the ruin of others. Wrath, violent emotions. Strife,
finding fault or blame assigning. Seditions, divisions, schisms,
both civil and religious. Heresies, you know what the root
word of that is? Opinion. opinion. You want to know what
a heresy is? It's when you give an opinion
without what God says. God says, thus saith the Lord
the gospel, any opinion of man is heresy. That contradicts that true doctrine. Envying, murders, drunkenness,
reveling, the such like. Now, I want you to know this.
Every believer in Christ, we do confess that we are prone
and tempted by every one of these sins. None of us are exempt from
these sins. In some measure, we have committed
all of these sins of the flesh. And so, believers, we confess
this, but not only this, I want you to understand you're still
prone to them. Because God has given you the new nature does
not mean He has done anything with the old. He has crucified
it, He has made it subject, but He has not changed it in its
character. It is still lusting after these
things. Still. Constantly trying to move us
from God. And yet, one of the marks of
the true believer, the manifest inward grace of the heart, is
that God will never permit us to stay in these sins. Constantly. I'm talking about
living in them. David did. You remember David. I appreciate what God has done
in the Old Testament with His saints. He's not left anything
hidden. David, in envy and lust, looked
out over his kingdom and saw that woman and lusted. He had
lascivious thoughts, unclean thoughts to her, and acted on
them. He committed adultery with her. And when he could not cover it
up, he had her husband murdered. David committed these horrible
sins. And I'll tell you this, God sorely
chastened him. Did he not? Believers, our sins, our sins, God will chasten his children
because of our sins. Sins have consequences, don't
they? Both natural and especially spiritual for us. They're affecting
not just our bodies, but they affect our hearts, our minds,
our souls. It caused David great pain when
he found out, when he had to confess his sin. He was brought
to it and exposed of it and he confessed it. But you know what
God did? He forgave him his sin. Isn't
that what John says? If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And so then what
do we learn from this? God will not allow His children
to live in this as the tenor of their life. Paul says, "...they who commit
such things." And he's talking about those who live in such
things. shall not inherit the kingdom
of God." Now is that plain speech? You tell me of a man who is a
believer in Christ and yet he is content living in adultery.
I'll show you a man who's not saved. If that is going to be
the tenor of his life, if he has no remorse or repentance
of that and turning to God, then that man, there's something wrong
with that man's profession. There's no life in him. They shall not inherit. Paul
said this in 1 Corinthians 6. He said, No, you not, that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived,
neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor coaches, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And listen, such were some of you. But, you cleaned up your
life. Is that what it says? No. You were washed. Now what is
the reason why we are no longer these things? Why is it these
things are no longer our desire to live that way? Because we
were washed. What keeps you? from fulfilling
the desires of your flesh and of your mind. What is it? Is
it not the love of Christ that constraineth you? It is. So every believer, we confess
our sin and seek only to be found in Jesus Christ. And I want you
to see this. Your flesh is not going to change.
You're a true believer. You have the righteousness of
God in you, the new created nature. That old nature will not change.
I have people talking to me that one man had committed adultery
and he was found out, exposed. It was open. Ruined. Wife and children, sad condition. And this man professed to be
a believer and he confessed his sin before Christ. He lamented
his sin. And then some religious nuts
were coming up to him and says, well, you know how to get rid
of that lust? Well, you just need to obey this and do this
and do that. You know what? I told him, I
said, you'll never get rid of that as long as you live. And
the moment you think you have is the moment you fall into it
again. Don't kid yourself. That flesh has not changed. We
should always be on guard against the flesh. And so then, what will be the
manifestation of the inward grace? It is the fruit of the Spirit.
I heard a preacher say this recently, a man may be straight as a gun
barrel in his doctrine, but be just as empty of the grace of
God. Alright? You see, those who are born again
of the Holy Spirit will exhibit the grace of the Holy Spirit. Let's go through these, and I
want to go through them really, I don't, I really don't want
to go through them quickly, but I'm running out of time. So,
love. Every true believer has real
love. Real love. Love that is produced
by the Holy Spirit of God in us, and that love is toward God. We love God. We love God with a real love. We love Him because we are convinced
of this. He first loved us. We are sure that if He had not
loved us, we never would have loved Him. Had He not given us
a new heart to choose Him, we would have never chosen Him.
to a sovereign mercy called me and taught my opening mind. The
world had else enthralled me to heavenly glories blind. My
heart owns none before thee, for thy rich grace I thirst.
Knowing this knowing, if I love thee, thou must have loved me
first." I love Him. I love Him. Do you love Him? God's people do love Him and
their love is not secret. Their love is not secret. Anybody
who secretly loves the Lord doesn't love Him at all. We don't secretly
love the Lord. We love Him. We openly love Him. At times we are like the Shulamite
bride, aren't we? Lazy, lethargic. He knocks at
the door of our hearts and we begin to moan and complain and
gripe and lazily get up and serve Him. But what happens when we
find Him gone? What? Our heart stirs within
us. Is there not anything worse than
His absence? Not to the believer. Why? We
love Him. And we run through the streets
crying, where's my Beloved? Where is my Beloved? We love
Him. Oh, how many claim to love Him, yet they never attend to His
Word. How many claim to love Him and
yet never love His people? You can't love Him unless you
love His people. John says, if a man doesn't love
his brethren, the love of the Father is not in him. We love. We love and we care for one another. May God increase that love. Do we not need more of that fruit? How many times our Lord come
to us, like He did Peter, and ask that question, Lovest thou
me more than these? Lovest thou me more than your
children? Lovest Thou me more than your worldly possessions? Lovest Thou me more than your
profession? Lovest Thou me more than these? In sad humility we confess, I
love Thee. Not like I would. Not like I
should, but I love Thee. Joy. Joy. Every believer in Christ surely
has joy. I'm not talking about this happy-go-lucky
stuff. I'm not talking about excitement
and entertainment. That's not it. God does give
things and we enjoy them. But not, that's not, it's inner
joy. And this joy comes from one source. It is knowing Jesus Christ. It is Him. It is His person that
gives us joy. It is the knowledge of His perfect
work that instills in us that joy unspeakable and full of glory. Do you have joy? How many times
do we walk around and mope around? That's not of God. Don't think that's pious to walk
around with your head down all the time. No, it's not. The fruit of the Spirit is not
moping. It's joy. It's true joy inside. Believe or have that. Peace.
We have peace with God. Peace with God by Jesus Christ.
Therefore, no matter what is tormenting us on the outside,
no matter the turmoil or the stress or the confusion that
surrounds this body, yet we may have peace inside, knowing this,
God does whatsoever He wills. Doesn't that bring you peace?
That whatever this is, it's of God. And it's for my good. Meekness, oh boy, meekness. Temperance. Gentleness. Are these things
not lacking in the church? Are they not lacking in our own
hearts? Meekness. How many believers now are...
I mean, I'm talking true believers are getting divorces that two
believers cannot humble themselves and submit to Christ. How many times we say, well,
I deserve this. You know, that's the flesh. If
you hear that, you mark it down. It's the flesh. Well, I deserve
a break. You know what most people get
a break from? Worship. That's it. They say, you know,
I just deserve to be away. I've been working all week, and
I'll tell you what, I got plenty of things to do. And they take
a break from the only thing that the believer really needs. Worship.
Anything else? We take a break from helping
one another? I mean, you give a man a job and you pay him a
lot of money, he'll do that job to the best of his ability. You
give somebody something to do in the church and they'll do
it if they've got time. Does that sound like meekness or humility
or gentleness? No. It doesn't sound like that
at all. Oh, the fruit of the Spirit humbles
us. Keeps us humble, doesn't it?
Moves us to be gentle. Gentle to our children, gentle
to our wives, our husbands, and everyone around us. And I'll
tell you this, the one that binds all these together is what? Faith.
Faith. Faith worketh by love, doesn't
it? Don't tell me of your faith if you're not meek. Don't boast in your faith if
you're not gentle. Don't boast in your faith if
you don't live in moderation. Faith causes us to do all these
other things. It is the root grace. It is the
foundational grace on which all these others rise. These are the fruits, listen,
I want you to get this. These are the fruits of who?
The Spirit. Now who can do all of these things
in us? Can you work these things up?
Now listen, that's what we want to do right now. We want to rev
ourselves up. We want to get excited about
this. We really want these fruits and we're going to, that's the
flesh. No, we must kneel and bow before God, seeking His grace
and power to produce these things in us. And recognize that if
He doesn't do it, we can't do it in ourselves. No strength.
Except you abide in Me, you can do what? Nothing. Has God worked these graces in
you? Listen, if you believe on Christ,
you love Him. You believe on Christ, you love
His people. You believe on Christ, you have
peace with God. You believe on Christ, you have joy everlasting.
You believe in Christ, this world means little and you'll live
in moderation of it. These are just necessary consequences
of salvation. These are the inward workings
of grace in the heart of every, listen, every believer, every
believer. May God give them to us. I pray
you will.