Galatians chapter 5 and verse
18. But if you be led of 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, sedations, and heresies, and envians, and murderers, and
drunkenness, and revelance, and the 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. But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, and joy, and peace, long-suffering,
and gentleness, and goodness, and faith, and meekness, and
temperance, against such there is no law. And they that are
Christ 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, and envying
one another. The works of the flesh The works
of the flesh. I'm going to give you a short
definition of these. Someone, I don't know who it
was, they put these in four categories. And I guess it makes it somewhat
easy to remember, and I don't know who would want to remember
these. Four categories of these sins,
and most of them we know. Some of them, you know, we're
just not familiar with the meaning of these words. But let me just
look at them quickly with you. And the first category that these
sins have been put into, these first four things, someone's
put them in the category of what they call sensual. Sensual. Sinful pleasures. Things that
gratify the flesh. Adultery. Unfaithfulness within
the marriage. Violation of the marriage bed. We all know what that is, don't
we? Unfaithful to one's spouse. Unfaithful to the promise that
we made. Unfaithful to the God before
whom we made the promise. Adultery. Fornication. We all know what that is. Sex
outside of marriage. That's a work of the flesh. Uncleanness. This includes all kinds of moral
impurity, lewdness. God gave them up to uncleanness
through the lust of their flesh. That's what it is, this lust,
lewdness, to dishonor their bodies. Lusciviousness, and I think there's
probably a phrase that you and I hear so often that probably
best describes this word, lusciviousness, turning loose the reins of the
lust. If it feels good, do it. How
many times have we heard that? That's what this lasciviousness
is. And then the second category that someone has put these in
is false worship. The sins of false worship. Idolatry. Idolatry. Desiring that which
is opposed to God. Covetousness is idolatry. Worshipping contrary to God's
Word. to God's command. When John was
taught of the angel in Revelation 22, he said, I fell down to worship
before the angel and he said to me, see thou do it not. Worship
God. What is idolatry? The worship
of anything or any person other than God. And worship Him in
a way that God has not described in His Word. And witchcraft,
now we very seldom think of witchcraft as worship. But it really has
to do with worship. Idolatry has to do with the false
worship of God. And witchcrafts have to do with
devils. Devils. Now sometimes, sometimes,
you know, we think about witchcraft and we think of it as something
playful, don't we? And it may start out that way,
but witchcraft is not sly of hand. We see these fellows that,
you know, do the little tricks. And we do that ourselves. Todd
Nyberg, you see him around a bunch of kids, he's always pulling
that finger off. Sly of hand. But that's not witchcraft. Witchcraft
has to do with some power taking place outside of you to do magic. That's what witchcraft is, magic.
And when you talk about magic, you're talking about spirits
and you're talking about spells. And you know one thing about
witchcraft, it may start out innocent. It may appear playful. But it always leads to the dark
side. And you notice that about witchcraft.
Witchcraft. The third category, they put
these sins in the attitude towards others. Our attitude towards
others. And he lists these nine things
here. First one is hatred. Of course,
that's simply to despise. To despise somebody. Violence,
we very seldom hear of this word anymore. Violence. It means to
quarrel or argue from a mind of ill will, just argue out of
spite. And emulation, we very seldom
see that word. It's a zeal to harm others, to
do malice. Of course, wrath is a felt need
to revenge. Strife, perpetual contradiction,
a contest. Strife is a contest. Have you
ever seen people enter into a contest to see who was the stronger intellectually? We've seen that, haven't we?
Easy to get in an intellectual strife. And that's what this
means. Sedations, those thieves that
were on the cross, this is what they... One of the things that
they said they got them was for sedation. It's causing unjust
division. unjust divisions in a community,
unjust divisions in a family, unjust divisions in a church,
causing divisions. That's what the Pharisees always
did in the early church, wasn't it? Cause division. Heresies,
perverting established and essential truth, and teaching others to
do the same. Envying, grieving at the good
of others, and murder, destroying life. And then the last category
is this, drunkenness and reveling. And someone put this in the sins
of access, the category of access. Drunkenness is access. It doesn't
hurt, brothers and sisters, to use some alcohol. The church
that we used to go to, we had to, I don't know if we signed
this pledge or we entered into a covenant with them or what,
but we had to sign a pledge that we wouldn't drink alcoholic beverages
for pleasure. Not drinking, I guess it's alright,
you know, take all the pain pills and all the dopes you want, you
know, for your nerves and all of this. And a lot of those people
did. But just don't you take a sip of wine. Don't you dare
drink a beer with your meal or anything like that. But drunkenness
is access. And it's not just access of alcohol,
it's access of food. The scripture talks a lot about
being drunk on the things of this world, doesn't it? and the
cares of this world. And reveling simply means to
have a party-like attitude. A party-like attitude. And here
in verse 21, Paul lists all these things, and then he seems to
realize that the sins of the flesh are so many that you can't
categorize them. You can't number them all. So
he says, and the such lack. and the such lack. He could have
probably went on and give us several volumes of the sins of
the flesh. But he said the such lack. If
the Lord came down and wrote our sins in detail, how many
volumes would He cover? How many sins are we able to
commit? You know what the Scripture says about us? Just listen to
a few things here I jotted down, what the Scripture says about
us. We're said to drink iniquity like dog drinks water. We're
said to be a people laden with iniquity. We're said to be a
seed of evildoers. Our whole head is sick and our
whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot to
the tops of our head, we're full of wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags Our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
There's none righteous, no not one. There's none that doeth
good. Our throat is an open sepulcher.
With our tongues we have used deceit. The poison of asp is
under our lips. Our mouths are full of cursing
and bitterness. Our feet are swift to shed blood. And destruction and misery are
in our ways." Now that's us. That's us that he's talking about.
You know, when sin entered into this world, by one man sin entered.
But boy, when it entered, when it entered, it spread like wildfire. And it not only spread to every
individual without exception, but it spread to all the faculties
of our soul and our bodies. What part is it of us that sin
has not touched? You can't find a part of it,
can you? Sin. The sins of the flesh. Now the works of the flesh are
manifested. Boy, are they ever. We look around us and what do
we see? All kinds of sin. It's a perverted
society. But what do we see when we look
in ourselves? Sin. We see it working in us,
don't we? It's manifested. Sin. In me,
in my flesh dwelleth No good thing. I delight in the law of
God after this new man, after the inner man, but I see another
law in my members too. And it's warring against the
law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin, which is in my members, O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death. Sin. It's manifested. It's manifested. This is why
our Lord said, except a man be born again, he cannot see and
he cannot enter the kingdom of God. You and I are born into
this world, sinners by nature, and if we don't have a higher
birth, if we don't have a spiritual birth, we can't enter the kingdom
of God. We can't be saved. If we live
after the flesh, we shall die. And this tells us why, doesn't
it? How could we live after this flesh and still enter Heaven
and still inherit the Kingdom of God? If we're left to our
natures, if we're left to the natural man, we die. We die. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. This is the works of the flesh.
The works of the flesh. And I tell you, you'll not make
Him any better. All we can hope to do is just keep Him in check. That's why we have the Spirit,
to keep Him in check. Don't give Him a vent. You can't
eradicate this sin that's within you, but you just keep Him crucified,
keep Him down. And look what Paul says in the
last portion of that verse. As I have told you before, I've
told you before, look what he says. As I have also told you
in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit
the kingdom of heaven. Why do we have to stress this? We're always stressing this.
You live after the flesh, you can't inherit the kingdom of
heaven. If you do these things, you'll die. You have no part
in the Kingdom of God and Christ. And Paul said, I told you this
in time past. I've told you this before. I'm
telling you now. Why do we continually have to
stress this? Because people don't believe
it. And those who say they believe it soon forget it. And we have
to always be reminding people, you live after the flesh, you
mind the things of the flesh, and you cannot inherit the kingdom
of heaven. Well, who are you to judge me? Is that what they
say? Who are you to tell me I'm not saved? Who are you to tell
me I'm not going to heaven? I didn't say that. I'm just saying
what Paul said. And he's very emphatic about
it. It's very firm. They which do such things, shall
not inherit the kingdom of heaven. And Paul said, we're always repeating
this thing. We're always worshiping, always
reminding people of these things. But I tell you, brothers and
sisters, I thank God that there's salvation from these things.
Look over here with me just to your left, just a little bit,
in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. I tell you, I thank God that
there's salvation from these things. Look what he says in 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. Here he's saying basically the
same thing as he said in Galatians chapter 5. Look what he says
in verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetousness,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God. And such were some of you." Ain't
that wonderful? Such were some of you. Thieves,
he said, are not going to heaven. They won't inherit the kingdom
of God. But I tell you, Christ saved a thief, didn't He? No
idolater is going to heaven. But Manasseh was an idolater,
and the Lord saved him. Many among the church of Thessalonica
were idolaters. You turned from idols to serve
the true and living God. The Lord saved them. There is
salvation from these things. Such were some of you, but ye
are washed, ye are justified. in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and by the Spirit of our God, our salvation from these
things. But thank God it's salvation
from these things. We can't go to heaven living
in our sins. And when the Lord saves us, He
saves us from them, don't He? You are washed. You are sanctified. You are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. You know, every era, these Pharisees
made some great ones. And one of the eras that these
Pharisees made, and the monks made it, all the Catholic monks
back in Luther's day and before him and after him, they fell
into this one era. They thought by abstaining from
these outward sins, they could merit the kingdom of God. That's
what they come to believe. They knew these sins were unlawful.
They knew that God forbid them. And they knew that He said, if
you do these things, if you live this way, you shall not endure.
So they come to think, well, if we abstain from these things,
then we'll merit the kingdom of heaven. That's why they shut
themselves off in these monasteries. And that's why the Pharisee stood
in the temple and said, God, I thank you that I've never committed
adultery. I've never extorted from anybody. I've never did all these unjust
deeds. I'm married to the kingdom of God. That's what he believed.
This is why the monks punished their body. By subduing the sinful
passions, they said, we can marry the kingdom of God. But notice
how Paul says this here in verse 21. Notice how he words this. He doesn't say, those who abstain
from these works of the flesh merit the kingdom of God, but
they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
And notice that word he uses. He doesn't say merit. What does
he say? Inherit. The kingdom of heaven
is not by merit. It's by inheritance. And what
is an inheritance? It's something that's given to
you that belongs to somebody else. Glenn, you inherit what
your dad gives you because you're his son. You're his son. Look over here with me in Galatians.
Look back over here with me in Galatians, just a minute, in
chapter 3. Paul's already told us about this inheritance. Look
what he said in chapter 3. And look in verse 26. Shall not inherit. We don't merit the kingdom of
God, we inherit the kingdom of God. We're heirs. Look what he
said in verse 26 of chapter 3. For ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as you have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There's neither Jew
nor Greek. Bond or free, there's neither
male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you
be Christ, if you be Christ, if He's bought you, you're bought
with a price. If you're His by new birth, if
you're His by faith, if you're Christ, then are you Abraham's
seed, and look at this, and heirs according to the promise. If
you're Christ, you inherit the kingdom. If you're Christ. Then
he goes down in the 4th chapter in verse 4 and look at this.
But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, that you might receive the adoption of
sons. And because ye are sons, God
hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
Father, Father, Wherefore, thou art no more a servant, but a
son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." An heir
of God, because you're sons of God. That's an amazing verse,
and a tremendous verse, where John says, What manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
sons of God. And that's why we inherit the
kingdom of God, because He's our Father. It's the Father's
good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Your Father, it's His
Kingdom. And He's given it to you. Why?
Because you're His sons. You're His heirs. It's not what
you're doing and what you're not doing. It's because you're
sons. It's your sons. Then shall the
righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. That's why we inherited it. We're
sons of God. Look over here just back to your
right in Ephesians chapter 1. Look in Ephesians chapter 1. Paul proves everywhere in his
epistles that Not only do we not merit the kingdom of God,
but what we do or don't do, it's sure not by abstaining from these
things. But he further shows us here
in Ephesians 1 and other places that we receive this kingdom
because we're sons of God as an inheritance. And then he turns
right around and says God has predestinated us to that inheritance.
We don't come into this inheritance by accident, not even because
we believe in Christ, but first and foremost because God has
predestinated us to it. We believe because we're sheep.
Ain't that what you said this morning, Glenn? Look what he
says here in Ephesians chapter 1. Look in verse 4. According
as he hath chosen us in him, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
Who is heirs of God? The sons of God. Why are we sons
of God? Well, through faith in Christ.
That's so. But go back further than that.
Why are we the sons of God? Through faith in Christ. He predestinated
us. and to the adoption of children.
And look what he says down here in verse 11. In whom? In Christ. Also we have obtained
that inheritance. There it is. There it is. Being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. Come, ye blessed of
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you." For you? When? Before the foundation of the
world. So it's not as those old monks thought. If I can just
subdue this old man and keep him from his adultery, keep him
from his fornication, and all of these outward and profane
sins, then I'll merit the kingdom of heaven. Well, you can't merit
it. It's by inheritance. The kingdom
is the Father. Now somebody's going to say,
well that just don't seem fair to me. Well whose kingdom is
it? It ain't your kingdom is it?
It's His kingdom. Shall I not do what I will with
my own? I tell you if it was by marriage,
none of us would inherit. None of us would have any interest
in it. But it's by grace, by sovereign free grace, by the
love and the goodness of God. That's why it comes. How can anybody complain that
God has left them out of something they don't even want to begin
with? You ever think of this? You know, we tell people that
this is my inheritance. That is the gift of the Father
and according to His purpose and predestination in Christ.
And they start complaining, well, that just ain't fair. You know,
I want this and He's left me out. Do you really want this? I want a part in the Kingdom
of God, but He's left me out. Do you really want a part in
the Kingdom of God? Let's see. Let's see. This inheritance
is through Jesus Christ. Do you want Christ? Do you want
Christ? Well, I want a part in the Kingdom
of God. Well, it's in Christ. It's through Christ. Do you want
Christ? Don't complain against God while
you despise His Son. You will not come to me that
you might have life. So what right have you got to
complain that God's left you out? You don't want Christ anyway.
How can you blame God for leaving you out of an interest in Him?
I want this inheritance of the Kingdom of God. I want to go
to heaven. A lot of people want to go to
heaven. Those radicals over there in the Far East, they want to
go to heaven so bad and get their twenty virgins, they blow people
up to get there. Some people want to go there
to inherit mansions and to walk on streets of gold. But that's
not the issue, is it? That's not the issue. The Kingdom
of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost. Do you want anything to do with
that? I don't want anything to do with righteousness. Then don't
get mad at God for leaving you out of what you don't want. It's
an inheritance that He's predestinated a great host of people to. But
this kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness. And men don't
want that, do they? They don't want that. I want this kingdom. I want a
part in this kingdom. Well, will you humble yourself
and be converted and receive it as a little child? That's the way you get into this
kingdom. except ye be converted and become as a little child,
ye shall in no wise enter the kingdom of God." I don't want
anything to do with that. I don't want anything to do with
that business of humbling myself. Like a little child? I'm a man.
I'm a full grown man. I'm somebody. I ain't going to
humble myself. Then you'll never enter this
kingdom. So don't be complaining that God's left you out of something
you don't even want. I want to inherit the kingdom.
Do you want a new birth? That's the way you get into it.
Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
I don't want anything to do with that. Most people don't. Then
people shouldn't complain about God's left them out of His purpose
of inheriting this kingdom. There's a lot of people, brothers
and sisters, that's going to cry and moan and gnash on themselves
with their teeth when it comes time to inherit the blessing.
The Lord told those Pharisees, He said, you're going to see
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and a great host of people coming
from the East and West, and they're going to sit down there in the
Kingdom of Heaven, and you're going to be cast out, and you're
going to gnash on yourself when you see that. Why weren't they so concerned
here? Well, if you're going to receive
the blessing yonder, you've got to have the birthright. Esau
cried like a baby when it come time to receive the blessing.
And the reason he didn't receive the blessing? He didn't have
the birthright. Sold his birthright. The only way to have the blessing
is the birthright. I'm not interested in that. Then don't complain
against God that he's left you out of his inheritance in the
Kingdom of Heaven. Do you want an interest in the
Kingdom of God? Do you love God? Do you love
Christ? Do you love the gospel of Christ?
Do you love the ways of God, the people of God? Who is it
going to inherit this kingdom? James said those who love him.
He's prepared a kingdom that he's promised to those who love
him. Love him. Inheritance. of the Kingdom of
God. Boy, how long we could dwell
on this. This is a study in itself, ain't
it? Shall not inherit the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Christ,
the Kingdom of Heaven. When you see those phrases like
that, they're all one. Don't listen to these poor people
that's trying to confuse people who say, well, the Kingdom of
God's one thing, and the Kingdom of Heaven's another, and the
Kingdom of Christ is something else. They've got all these different
kingdoms. There's one kingdom. There's
one kingdom. The Kingdom of God, the Kingdom
of Christ, the Kingdom of Heaven. The meek, listen to this now. You could go on and on and on
in this, but listen to this. The meek shall inherit the earth. A new earth, a new heaven. That's
part of this Kingdom. They that have forsaken houses
and lands and fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters and
wives and so on shall inherit Life everlasting. That's part
of this kingdom. Part of the inheritance. Life
everlasting. A crown of life, Paul said. There
awaits for me a crown of life. They shall reign in life. They
shall never die. They shall inherit in corruption,
Paul said. This body that's corrupt is going
to inherit in corruption. And Revelations 21.7 says, And I will be his God, and he
shall be my Son. All things. What's included in
this inheritance? The Kingdom of God. Everything.
Everything. Everything that's good and holy.
But listen to this. The Child of God will inherit
more than just things. More than just glorious things.
More than just life everlasting. Or an unmovable kingdom. that
God has prepared, but in some mysterious way, the saint shall
inherit God Himself. Now I'm about to tell you something
I don't know much about myself, but I see some of this in the
Scripture. Listen to this. That everlasting life that a
believer shall inherit is the very life of the Son of God Himself. It's not so much a created life
as it is the Son of God who is everlasting life. When Christ,
who is our life, shall appear. He gives us life, we know that.
You told us that this morning, Glenn. He gives us life. But
He is the life that He gives. And that's incomprehensible to
think of, ain't it? Paul said this, I am crucified with Christ,
Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."
I am the resurrection. I'm your resurrection. And I'm
the life. Whose life? I'm your life. I'm
your life. Not just a created life, it seems
to be more. Christ is that life. We shall
inherit Christ. We shall inherit life. The life
of Jesus Christ. He that hath the Son of God hath
life. God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. Listen to what John Gill
said about this. He said it's not so much the
saints who live as Christ lives in them, and He is their eternal
life. It is in Him and given forth
by Him And to know Him now is the beginning of it, and its
perfection hereafter will lie in the vision of Him, communion
with Him, and perfect conformity to Him. He is our life. We shall inherit God. We are heirs of God. Heirs of
God. Not just what God makes. Not
just what God prepares, but God Himself. How can a man inherit
God? To inherit life eternal, in this
sense, is to inherit Jesus Christ, who is very God. And listen to
this one. You remember that parable in
Matthew chapter 25? The Lord Jesus had gave His servants those
pounds. He gave to the first five pounds.
and gave two pounds to another and one pound to another. Then
it comes the time to call them up to give account. And the man
that had received five pounds, he said, I've traded and got
five more pounds. The man that had two pounds,
he traded and got two more pounds. And the Lord told those two men,
well done, you good and faithful servants. You've been faithful
over a few things, I'll make you rule over many. And then
he says to those fellows, come. Enter thou into the joys of thy
Lord. Inherit the joys of thy Lord. Inherit His joy. Inherit God. You inherit what's
Him, what He is. In some mysterious way, we shall
inherit God in Christ. We shall not be gods that be
blaspheming to say that. But we shall inherit God. The
love that fills our beings, our souls and our bodies in that
day will be the love of God. The joy that glorified saints
will experience will be the joy of the Lord. The same joy that
was set before Him in redeeming us will be our joy that we've
been redeemed. These things have I said unto
you, that my joy might remain in you." Is it possible? Is it
possible that we could have the joy of the Lord in us? It is. And someday to inherit that joy
in its fullest, that abiding peace which passeth knowledge,
will be the peace of Christ Himself. Peace I leave with you. My peace
I give unto you. How often does the Old Testament
speak about the Lord Himself being the portion of His people? Not just what He makes, not just
what God is able to prepare and give to them, but the Lord Himself
is their portion. Listen to this. David said, The
Lord is the portion of my inheritance. What is my inheritance? The Lord
is. My flesh and my heart felleth
me, but God is the strength of my heart, and God is my portion
forever. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul, therefore will I hope in him. And remember what the
Lord told Abraham. Abraham, I am your shield, and
I am your exceeding great reward. I'm telling you, for God to reward
a man is one thing. And He can reward a man that
our poor little finite minds cannot begin to wrap around what
He can reward us with. But when God says, I am your
reward, how in the world can we get a hold of that? We shall
inherit God. We are heirs of God. Over in Ephesians chapter 1 and
verse 13 and 14, here's what Paul said. After that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest. He is the earnest of our inheritance. 2 Corinthians 1.22, God hath
sealed us and given unto us the earnest of the Spirit in our
hearts. Now you know what an earnest
is. It's a down payment. It's a portion of the full price
that is yet to come. The saint has been given a portion
of the Spirit here, and that small portion in his heart is
a down payment of the fullness of that same Spirit which he
shall inherit hereafter. What is our inheritance? What's
He given us a down payment on? The Spirit. And we have Him in
a small measure, don't we? But brothers and sisters, after
a while, we shall possess Him in His fullness. We shall be
filled with the fullness of God. That's the inheritance. Here
we have little capacity to contain God, to contain Christ, to contain
the Spirit, But there the saint will inherit a capacity of mind,
a capacity of soul, and capacity of body, holy and large, and
that space will be filled with the Spirit of the Lord Himself. That's what this inheritance
is. It's an inheritance of the kingdom of God, which is inherited
not only what God can make, but God Himself. Here our bodies
are filled with blood and water, there they'll be filled with
the Spirit. Here seeing wars in our members, there our members
will be filled with the Spirit of holiness. Here death works
in us, but there death will be swallowed up with the Spirit
of life. We shall inherit God, the Spirit. God in His fullness. I don't
know how to explain that. I don't know how to explain that.
But those scriptures are amazing to me. When Paul said, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit, I can't help but believe that the fullness
of that promise is yet to come. We have received the Spirit.
But oh, what a small measure of the Spirit we had. Christ
had him without measure. He had the fullness of the Spirit.
He's come into our hearts. And there's where he abides.
But he abides so secretly. But oh, in that day, when God
gives the saint his inheritance, then he will have the Spirit
without measure. Given a capacity that we weren't
able to receive him here, we'll receive him there. And Paul seems to hint at here
back in our text. Look back over in our text right
quick. Here in Galatians chapter 5, Paul seems to hint at this
here in verses 22 and verse 23. The fruit of the Spirit is love
and joy and peace and long-suffering and meekness and gentleness and
faithfulness and temperance. Against such there is no law. The Kingdom of God He mentions
here in verse 21 our inheritance in the kingdom of God, and then
immediately he speaks of the Spirit in us bearing his fruit. When he talks about the inheritance,
inheriting the kingdom, he quickly talks about the Spirit being
in us bearing his fruit. The scriptures tell us that already
we're partakers of a divine nature. already partakers of the divine
nature. And that being so, what will be the life in the world
to come? If we're partakers of the divine
nature here, what will it be like in that world to come? Paul
said, the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to
be compared with the glory, the glory, the glory that shall be
revealed in us in our being. Edgar Andrews made this statement
about this verse. He said, these divine attributes,
that is of love and joy and peace, and I think he's hit on something
here. These are divine attributes. They're the attributes of the
Spirit of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity. These divine
attributes becomes the believer's attitude. Now, ain't that amazing?
You stop and think about that just for a minute. These divine
attributes become the believer's attitude. Why does a believer
have a loving attitude? It's the fruit of the Spirit,
isn't it? Why does he experience joy and peace? Why does he have this attitude
of goodness and gentleness? And you know all those are attributes
of Christ, aren't they? Paul talked about the gentleness
of Christ, the goodness of God, the love of God, the joy of the
Lord, the peace of Christ. These are divine attributes.
And now these become in us the fruits of the Spirit. And the
way you tell they're there, they just integrate right into our
attitude. They become the believer's attitude. Such that attitude is not the
works of the believer, but merely the fruits of the Spirit within
him. Why is the child of God loving? Why is he peaceful? Why does he have joy? Why is
he meek? Why is he gentle? It's the fruit
of the Spirit, isn't it? And this fruit of the Spirit
becomes the believer's attitude. Now note this. Note this. It's
out of this attitude that a believer does good works. The attitude
is there because the life and the fruit of the Spirit is there. And you can grow. You can grow
in these fruits. These fruits, in other words,
they can increase. They can multiply. They can abound. But it's out of this attitude
that a believer does good deeds. Look over here in chapter 6. Look in chapter 6. Have you ever
heard anybody say, you know, the Lord told me to do this and
do that. You know, the Lord told me to
go over there and give this person some money. The Lord told me
to go over there and visit this person in the hospital. I'm just
a little bit weary when people tell me that. Aren't you? It's
not so much that the Lord tells us to do these things and He
prompts us to do this particular thing and that particular thing.
But we have this attitude, which is the fruit of the Spirit, and
it's out of this attitude that we do good works as we have opportunity. We do it, don't we? The Lord
don't beat us over the head and drag us into these good works.
We do it. We do it. because of this attitude
of love and joy and peace and goodness and kindness. Well,
where did that attitude come from? It's the fruit of the Spirit.
Look what Paul said in chapter 6. Look in verse 9. Let us not be weary in well-doing,
for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore
opportunity, let us do good. unto all men, especially to them
who are of the household of faith." Who is it that does these good
works? It's the believer. It's the believer. And he does
it out of this attitude that he has. And he has this attitude
because it's the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the
Spirit within him. And God turns right around in
Ben and says, I'm not unrighteous to forget your work and labor
of love. But why do we do what we do?
Because He works it in us. Why do we love people? Because
it's the fruit of the Spirit. Why are we so gentle and patient? And then in verse 24, I want
to finish this chapter. I'll finish it right quickly. And they that are Christ have
crucified the flesh with the affection and lust. Paul used
this statement sometime. Crucified the flesh. We know
that's not speaking literally. But when the Scripture says this,
it means two things by it. Look over here with me in Romans
chapter 6. When it said the old man is crucified, and this is so encouraging, it
means two things. And I don't know exactly how
this first one He is, but he just says it is. And it's very
encouraging when Paul tells us this in Romans chapter 6. Begin here in verse 1. Look at
this. This old man is crucified. What shall we say? 6 verse 1. Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that
are dead to sin? We're dead to its guilt. Dead
to its punishment. Dead to what it deserves. How
shall we that are dead to sin live in no longer their end?
Sin's not dead in you, is it? You can feel it, can't you? But
he said you're justified from it. You're free from its guilt.
Not from its working in you, but from the guilt of it. Know
ye not that so many of us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ
were baptized unto his death? Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism unto death. that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, we also should
walk in unison of life. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness
of His resurrection. Look in verse 6, knowing this,
that our old man is crucified with Him. that this body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For
he that is dead is free 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, sin 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, to its
guilt, and to the judgment upon it, but alive unto God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that ye should obey it unto the lust thereof.
Now I could go on reading, but I could not tell you how this
works. I just know that Paul said it has no effect upon those
who believe it. Our old man, this old body that
gives us so much trouble, this old sinful nature, has been crucified
with Jesus Christ. Christ has put him to death in
the mind of God. He's done been judged in Christ,
and in Christ the sin that has been paid, and now we're free,
even though we feel the working of this sin. Paul said no. He's
crucified with Christ. He's dead. And therefore, there's
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. And sometimes
when we think about this, and we believe this, Paul said, we
can't live in sin any longer. We can't serve our sin. Because
of this, we're dead with it. I don't know how that works,
but that's what he said. In chapter 8, in verse 13, look at this. Here's another way. When the
old man is said to be crucified, crucifying, crucify the flesh
with his affections and lust, he's crucified with Christ. And
secondly, he's crucified by the Spirit of God within us. That's
what he says in verse 14. In verse 13 he says, if we live
by the flesh we'll die, but if we through the Spirit, if we
through the Spirit's grace and through his strength, mortify,
we put to death, we crucify the deeds of the body, we shall live. We shall live. They that are
Christ have crucified the flesh. He's crucified with Christ and
the spirit within us crucifies it. He subdues this old man. Therefore, in Galatians chapter
5 and verse 25, Paul says this, since we've crucified the flesh
with the aid and grace of the Holy Spirit. If we live in the
Spirit, if we live by the Spirit, if we are alive by the Spirit,
then let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us walk after the
Spirit and let us set our minds on the things of the Spirit. That's what he's saying. If you
walk after the Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit. Think upon
heavenly things. Set your affection on things
above. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of
good report, think on these things. Walk after the Spirit. Think
on the things that the Spirit thinks of. Then light yourself
in the law of the Lord, in the gospel of the Lord, in the word
of the Lord, in the ways of the Lord. and meditate therein day
and night. Live in the Spirit. Are you alive
in the Spirit? Does the Spirit give you life? Is the Spirit of life in Christ
within you? Then walk after that Spirit.
Walk after that Spirit. Be not drunk with wine wherein
is excess, but be ye filled with the Spirit. And then the last
verse, he says this, Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one
another and envying one another. Vain glory, having begun in the
Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh. What a vain, empty
glory that is. We don't have anything to glory
in, do we, but Him. Glenn, you don't know anything
but what He's taught you. What we are is just what He made
us to be. We've not come any further than
what He's brought us and drawn us. We can't glory in anything,
can we? We can't exalt ourselves over
anybody. With what we are, by His grace. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us. But in Thy name, to Thy name
be glory, for Thy mercy and Thy truth. Well, the Lord's will, I'm going
to take up there next week. Oh, gracious Father, gracious
God and our Savior, thank you for this study in your Word.
Lord, these things of your Word are sometimes so wonderful, our
poor hearts and our faith can't seem to get hold of it. Just a glimpse to fill our hearts
for just a moment, a moment of time, to know that the things
you've prepared for your people, are glorious and wonderful, more
than we're able in this life to believe, for the joy of it,
to comprehend. But we thank You for Your Word,
and we thank You for loving us so, for caring for us. Thank You for the faithfulness
of the Holy Spirit to abide within us. Bless this, dear people. Bless us as we remember Your
your broken body, your precious blood that you poured out for
us. In your name we pray. Amen.