Is that it? Okay. We'll turn
back to Galatians chapter 5. Now I want to look, following
on from last week, at the verses from 19 down to 26. Galatians 5, 19 down to 26. And this, of course, is the well-known
passage that has the list of the fruit of the Spirit in it.
And how many sermons must have been preached on the fruit of
the Spirit and what more is there that I could possibly say you
could go away and you could do a search of the internet and
the literature and you could find everything that anybody
could ever want to squeeze out of these words so how dare I
stand here this morning and attempt to bring another message from
this passage but it's in the sequence of what we've been looking
at so so let's go ahead and let's look at it it's talking as as
you know as we've been looking at the difference between walking
in the Spirit and fulfilling the lusts of the flesh because
if you walk in the Spirit you shall not fulfill the lusts of
the flesh says this scripture the difference between the two
natures that are within the believer the old man of the flesh the
fallen nature and the new man that is implanted in at the new
birth and what I want to start with is verse 24 so if you look
down at verse 24 and then we'll pivot around this verse verse
24 says this it's at the end of the list of the fruit of the
spirit and it says and they that are Christ's have crucified the
flesh with the affections and lusts and I just want to focus
just for a moment on those words they that are Christ's they that
are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and
lusts what is it to belong to Christ? What does that mean? All sorts of people around the
world would claim that they are Christians. But are they Christ's? Do I belong to Christ? You know,
there's that hymn, Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me.
We've been singing hymns about belonging to Christ and Him being
ours. But what is it to belong to Christ? Well, it's these things. It's
to be chosen in Christ. That's not a popular doctrine.
but it's what this book teaches from start to finish so clearly
that you have to get your scissors and cut loads and loads of pages
out of it to avoid it to be Christ's people is to be chosen in him
before the foundation of the world as Ephesians 1 says or
as Paul says to Timothy before the beginning of time that grace
was given in Christ before the beginning of time and it's grace
It's totally undeserved. It's totally unearned. It's purely
by grace. And those who were chosen from
before the beginning of time are Christ's people. They're
his elect. They're his sheep. The Scriptures
speak of his sheep. They speak of his people, of
his bride. of his friends, of his brethren. In the book of Revelation it
gives them a number, though it's a number that no man can number,
but symbolically it's 144,000. Not a literal number, but a symbolical
number of every single one that was chosen in Christ from before
the foundation of the world. A fixed number that God the Father
gave to God the Son before the beginning of time. That's what
it is to belong to Christ. and then not only outside of
time but in time when the fullness of the time was come as Galatians
4 verse 4 says God sent forth his Son Christ who is the Word
of God Christ who is God in human flesh Christ who is the outshining
of the person of God Christ, who is the one through whom we
see the Father, for He and the Father are one. He came and became
a man. God contracted to a span. God contracted to a span, to
a little baby. He became a man that He might
redeem us who are under the law. He came to be our surety in the
covenant, in that new covenant which is in His blood. He came
to be the guarantee, the guarantor. He came to be our substitute,
to stand in our place, to do that which we could never do
for ourselves. He came to be the Saviour of His people. You
read the Scriptures. Who is the Saviour of His people
throughout the Old Testament? It is God. I am God, your Saviour. And is there any other Saviour
apart from the Lord Jesus Christ? No. The Scriptures are clear.
He is God who is our Saviour and our Redeemer and our Lord,
because He has fulfilled all obligations that the justice
and righteousness of God demands of His people. On the behalf
of those whom the Father gave to the Son from before the beginning
of time, He has fulfilled every obligation. He has earned all
righteousness that is needed. For we are to pursue holiness
without which no man shall see the Lord. And that holiness that
we need we find only, only in the Lord Jesus Christ. We never
find it in ourselves. We can never produce it in ourselves.
We find it in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. And in
Him we find propitiation, which is a long word, but it means
a turning away of anger. It means a mercy seat. It means
an atoning, the turning away of the just anger of God against
sin. And where was that purchase,
that propitiation? In His blood. You are redeemed,
not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the
precious blood of the Son of God. Oh, what precious blood! We'll meet later today. and remember
this again in the Lord's Supper, that bread broken and that wine
poured out symbolizing the body broken and the blood that was
shed for his people. For the transgressions he says
in Isaiah 53, who did he do this for? Who did the suffering servant
do all these things for? For the transgressions of my
people was he stricken. That's what he did. Specifically
came. For the transgressions of my people you shall call his
name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. And
this is a particular redemption. This is a glorious particular
redemption. It's a doctrine that the world
and especially the religious world absolutely hates. But Christ
came into the world not to die for every man who ever lived.
Christ came into the world to represent his people. To bear
their sins. earn their righteousness, to
stand in their place. It's a particular redemption.
And this is what it is to be Christ's. They that are Christ's
are those who were given by the Father to the Son. this is this
is the will of my father says Jesus in John 6 39 that I should
lose none of those whom he gave me all of those people whom the
father gave to the son he shall lose not one of them but every
single one will be brought to glory by his finished work by
his completed work specifically for them to belong to Christ
is to be chosen it's to be purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ. But
then in time, He doesn't just leave us as inanimate objects.
He doesn't just leave us unchanged. In time, He regenerates us. When
we were dead in trespasses and sins, He comes and by His Holy
Spirit, whom He promised again and again, read John 16, I will
send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. He comes and gives the
gift of faith whereby the natural man who cannot see anything of
the things of God is made to see. and can believe. And every
single one of those people whom the Father chose and whom the
Son redeemed, the Holy Spirit brings to life and to faith.
And He makes those who are enemies and rebels and unwilling, those
who say we will not have this man to rule over us, like those
religious people of Jesus in His day, He makes those rebels
like you and me, He makes us willing in the day of His power.
and he puts a new man within at the new birth for unless a
man is born again he cannot see the things of the Spirit of God
he puts a new man within who is a man like David after God's
own heart a man who John says in his epistle 1st John chapter
3 and verse 9 a new man who cannot sin I used to really struggle
with that because When I first became a Christian, I remember
reading in the first chapter of John's epistle, if we say
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. And
then I got to chapter 3 and I saw that this man cannot sin. The
one who cannot sin is the new man who's planted within by the
Holy Spirit, by God. So we have this dilemma that
there's a new man there, but we're still clothed in sinful
flesh. what the Scriptures call the
old man, the Adamic nature, the nature of fallen Adam, who when
he fell, his corrupt seed spread through all men and so all have
sinned. There is none righteous, no not
one, not one of us, says the Scripture. And you read the tale,
that's true of every single one of us. We're all sinners to the
core and we hide it with our social graces and our social
manners and other restraints we hide it but the seed and capability
of every sin is in every one of us and you say oh I just heard
that terrible thing that has come out in the news and I'm
telling you however well suppressed the little tiny seed and root
of that sin is in the heart of every single one of us and if
you were honest and if we're not hypocritical we have to acknowledge
that daily we know the presence and the experience of this fallen
nature but praise be to God but there's a difference because
we don't experience the dominion of it that's the difference the
child of God knows sin in his heart every single day but we
have the power not to be under the dominion of it this is what
Paul says again and again you are not under the dominion of
sin you've been crucified to the law it's done away look at
the verse 24 that we're considering they that are Christ have crucified
the flesh with the affections and lusts it's gone the dominion
of it has been crucified and so What is it to belong to Christ? It's to be in an absolutely settled,
unchangeable condition in Christ, but with a constant warfare within
the flesh versus the spirit. I'll say that again because I
feel that so many who are Christians and struggle really do not get
this. You are absolutely settled in
the Lord Jesus Christ if you're trusting in him. There is nothing
you do or you don't do that makes any difference to that. It's
done in eternity, in time, in regeneration. It's done. The
great transaction's done. He will not lose one of those
whom the Father gave to him, whom he died for. Every single
one of them. So, hear that and know it and
believe it. Jesus said it. It's an absolutely
settled, unchangeable condition. of security in the Lord Jesus
Christ, but of an experience of a constant warfare of the
flesh and the spirit within. And so then, we have this idea
in this passage of living and walking in the spirit as those
with the old man yet with a new nature within living and walking
in the spirit and in verse 16 he says walk in the spirit and
you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh in Colossians chapter
3 just turn over to it Colossians chapter 3 a couple of epistles
further on and verse 5 Colossians chapter 3 and verse 5 The same
sort of point in the argument that Paul has got to in Galatians,
he gets to with the Colossians. And he's talking about if you
be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where
Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your affection
on things above, not on things of the earth, for you are dead.
Why are you dead? Because you were crucified with
Christ. And your life is hid with God in Christ. when Christ
who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with
him in glory so there's a glorious prospect but here and now verse
5 mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth and
he gives that list which is similar to the list we're going to look
at in a minute mortify put to death put them to death you know
take them out and shoot them as it were, mortify your members,
your members, your flesh, your fallen nature, it doesn't mean
cut your arms off, it doesn't mean physically gouge your eyes
out, that's not what Jesus means in the Sermon on the Mount, if
your eye offends you pluck it out, it means that sinful nature,
that sinful tendency of the flesh to want to go that way, deny
it the opportunity, put it to death, take it out, Do away with
it. Don't go there. Think about it.
Don't go there. Don't do it. Mortification of
the flesh is what we should be about. Conscious, deliberate
mortification of the flesh. Not fulfilling the lusts of the
flesh. Now, I like analogies. I always used to like analogies
when I was teaching physics because I think, you know, there's some
weird concepts and it's hard for the average person to get
their head around it. But analogies often help and
I find this one helps very much. I started it a few weeks ago
talking about gardening because I think it's a good analogy.
let me develop the analogy my garden belongs to me absolutely
it's quite clear the deeds are there they're in the possession
of the bank it belongs to me well and to my good wife as well
at the same time but never mind for the sake for the sake of
the argument my garden belongs unconditionally to me irrespective
of what grows in it right so I as a believer belong to Christ
unconditionally because he's bought me with a price he's paid
for me but in my garden Weeds, flowers and fruit all grow side
by side. You know, the lettuces are really
start, any day now we'll be able to start cutting lovely, you
know, it depends on your lettuce. Tonight, just two minutes later,
there's a nice, it was growing two minutes ago and then you
wash it and you're eating it. Lovely, very nice. But within it, you
know, I mentioned the bindweed. There's shoots of bindweed coming
up. If I get my fork and go in there, I'll kill all the lettuces
at the same time. So I have to be careful. I have
to deliberately pull out those shoots so that they don't strangle
the lettuces. But they're all in there, all
at the same time. They're growing side by side.
So in my life, that which is unconditionally the possession
of Christ, in my life as a believer, the works of the flesh are evident
and the fruit of the Spirit. And don't deny it. Every single
day. every single day, in each of
our hearts, the works of the flesh are evident there, and
hopefully the fruit of the Spirit as well. So, irrespective of
what weeds grow in my garden, it is still my garden. So nothing
I do or don't do changes my standing in Christ. We must understand
that. Nothing I do or don't do changes
my standing in Christ. But, I'll quickly add this, because
anybody listening to this will be jumping up and down saying
there you go there's an antinomian if ever there was one my standing
in Christ certainly influences the things I do and the things
I don't do not the other way around if I'm in Christ it will
certainly affect the things I do and I don't do but don't think
for one minute that a momentary fall a momentary slip is going
to change anything in terms of your standing in Christ if you're
in Him Now then, to be an effective gardener, you need to learn to
recognize the weeds and the fruit, and to give them selective treatment,
to give them different treatment. And so in these verses 19 to
23 in Galatians 5, Paul distinguishes there. You say, why does he need
to go into the details? Well, he wants us to know what
he's talking about. He distinguishes the weeds of
the flesh from the fruit of the Spirit. The weeds of the flesh
are all to do with the love of self. I believe that the love
of self is at the root of all sin. All sin. It's the love of
self. And the fruit of the Spirit?
That's love for our neighbor. That's love for our neighbor
which is driven and motivated by love for God. Love for our
neighbor because you see, if you look back at verse 14, all
the law is fulfilled in one word. Even this, thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. All of the law is fulfilled in
that one thing. So what are these works of the
flesh? Look at them in verses 19 to 21. It's a very sorry,
a very horrid list. It's the bindweed, it's the couch
grass, it's the brambles and thorns of the flesh. If you do
nothing, like if I do nothing with my garden, if I leave my
garden and don't just go out of the back door and I don't
do anything with it for a year, In a year's time, have you ever
seen an area that's neglected? There's a bit outside of your
sister's house down at the back there which was a garden and
it's been left untended for 20 years. And it's about five feet
high in knotted brambles and weeds. It's an absolute jungle
of weeds. And that's what happens if it
isn't tended. If I don't do anything about
it, it will flourish. All of those things will flourish.
And if we don't do anything about this, mortifying these things,
they will flourish. They will. And you can break
them down into three categories. In verse 19, the works of the
flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness. They're sins of passion. Sins
of passion. Sins of sexual immorality. a lack of chastity in thought,
in word, or in action. What about lasciviousness, as
the authorised version puts it? Lustfulness, sensual desires,
not just of a sexual nature, but of a covetous nature. All
of society, and much of religion, tolerates and even promotes these
things. You know, this is the society
in which we live. You just have to turn on the
television and, quite frankly, four times out of five, what
will be on there will not pass the test that Paul puts in Philippians
chapter 4 whatsoever things are good whatsoever things are noble
whatsoever things are of good report and honest it doesn't
pass that test because it's in this category of the works of
the flesh all of society and much of religion even tolerates
and promotes it then in the next verse we've got idolatry witchcraft
hatred or in I think in the more modern version witchcraft is
sorcery It's anything which looks to the spirit world to organize
things for my life and for my good which is outside of the
one holy and true and sovereign God of the universe. It looks
to the powers of darkness to organize things for us. It looks
to lady luck, as they say, to make the lottery numbers come
out right so that suddenly I'm a rich person. It does all of
those things. It looks to the spirit world
to find out what I should do about this situation or where
I should go. It tries to raise the dead as Saul did with Samuel,
with the witch in 1 Samuel. It's that kind of thing. Hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies. These are sins of profanity.
Profanity is blasphemy. Idolatry, which is covetousness.
Idolatry, false religion, false idolatrous worship, false doctrine,
witchcraft, horoscopes, all of those things, looking to the
occult to organize things for us. These are the works of the
flesh. You say, ah well, most of those
are pretty easy for me to sort out because I don't want anything
to do with witchcraft and now I don't do idolatry and all of
those things. What about wrath? What about
strife? Seditions? What about this third
group? Sins of pride, verse 21. Envyings. Never envious? Work of the flesh. Murders. I've never murdered
anybody. Ah, but you've hated somebody. Read what Jesus said
in the Sermon on the Mount about what we think about people. Drunkenness,
loss of control, revelings, a total hedonistic approach to
life, and such like. Sins of pride, sins of selfish
indulgence, sins of sensuality. You see, the works of the flesh,
they go from one end of a spectrum to another. At one end is sensuality,
the things that tickle the senses. At the other end is murder. And
so, somebody wrote, the worship of the beautiful ends up in an
orgy. And Paul, I'm glad to say, has
had enough of going through the list, because he says, envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. That's enough. Let's stop it there. And such
like. Enough said about those things.
These are the works of the flesh, of 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. You see, the
seeds of all this are present in all of us until we die, without
exception. So what does he mean? I have
told you in time past that they which do such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. If you're Christ's, if He is
your Master and Lord, then these things were nailed to His cross,
so put them to death. Henry Mahan wrote about these
verses these words and I think these are very good words so
I'll read them out. Understand that these sinful
practices are characteristics of the flesh and though we have
done these things and the potential to do them is still present in
our flesh as evidenced by Abraham who lied, David who stole and
committed murder even, Lot and Peter as evidenced by them, yet
this is not our pattern of life. It's not our settled pattern.
This is not the practice of the believer. Our tenor of life,
the believer's tenor of life, and the bent of our wills, is
holiness, righteousness, and peace. those who would still
live by these principles and practices of the flesh are not
redeemed and shall not inherit the kingdom of God the scriptures
are quite clear remember what I said if you're in Christ there
is nothing that you do that can alter that you're in Christ but
I tell you if you're in Christ these things will not be your
settled practice of life or you may fall you may slip the seeds
of them are there as long as you live, but they're not your
settled, happy condition of life at all. Our tenor of life, and
the bent of our wills, is holiness, righteousness, and peace. So,
how do we approach each situation? Each situation, and we come across
them every day, all the time in life. Ask this question, how
would Christ react to this situation? What would He do? I'll tell you
what He would do. he would wash the disciples'
feet. He who is Master and Lord of
all, he who is Master of all humbled himself and became of
no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and he
demonstrated it by getting down with a towel and a basin and
he washed the disciples' feet like a humble servant though
he was Master and Lord of all. He would not grasp for his own
pleasure or his own leisure, but would go the second mile.
You know what he said in the Sermon on the Mount? If someone
compels you to go one mile, voluntarily go with them the second mile.
You know? Don't grasp on, because you see,
in grasping for your own pleasure, in grasping for your own leisure,
in grasping for your own selfish desires, oh how much you will
lose. He who will save his life, he
said, will lose it. But he who will lose his life
for my sake, he shall save it. For eternity. He'd go the second
mile. Especially for a fellow believer.
So what about these fruits of the Spirit then? Or the fruit
of the Spirit? The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace. What a different list. Long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against
such there is no law. As I've said, you can read what
no end of people have written about these things. There's no
shortage of commentaries and there's plenty of access to those
commentaries. But what is this love? The fruit
of the Spirit is love. You know, we read in 1 Corinthians
13 how this is the absolute core fruit of the Spirit. the absolute
basic fruit of the Spirit, charity, love, that charity love, that
love for others, that God-like love, that self-sacrificing love
of God, that's what it is, that everlasting love is the love
of God for his people and it's reflected in small ways in the
fruit of the Spirit in his people, for one another and for others,
doing good to others, a self-sacrificing love that's the fruit of the
spirit within where the world around us wants to grab what
it can as its own and exploit it for its own pleasure the one
who has the spirit within bears the fruit of the love of God
and then joy joy joy is that inner happiness that comes whatever
physically happens on the outside it's like this we go through
the trials of life like Don Fortner has recently gone through last
Sunday the news was he was very good and then a couple of days
later he was back in hospital and in a very very traumatic
condition bleeding heavily internally dangerously life-threateningly
low blood pressure and his wife Shelby must have been in an absolute
state human panic in the flesh absolute trauma let's not deny
it the joy of the Lord within doesn't stop the pain of illness
and grief and suffering and bereavement and loss it doesn't stop any
of those things at all they hurt just as much for the believer
as they do for the non-believer but there's a comfort inside
As we go through this life, there are what I would call, I hope
I'm not going to confuse you, but there are what I would call
high-frequency ups and downs. You know? There's times that
are good. You're enjoying a good meal with friends, and two days
later, you're in a hospital, close to death, internal bleeding. You know, something goes well
financially, and then something hits you. that, you know, the
bottom falls out of your world financially, and it's an absolute
crisis. There are these high frequency
things, but for the believer there's a low frequency state.
There's almost a, what I would call, this is maybe too much
of an analogy into electricity, but there's almost like a direct
current situation of joy, which doesn't fluctuate. It's steady,
it's constant, it's always there, because it's based on things
which are unchangeable in eternity. And then there's peace. What
is that peace? That's peace with God. There's
no greater peace. Oh, you know we had the West
had the Soviet bloc as its enemy and in a in a night almost it
was gone and it changed in a period of a few months the whole thing
but the whole balance tipped in a very very short time and
people now think there's peace but it's such uncertain peace. and there's not really any peace
in the world because all over the world as Jesus said there
will always be wars and rumors of wars we will never get to
a situation where there isn't but to have peace with God with
whom by nature we are enemies oh that's that's glorious so
that as Psalm 4 verse 8 says I will both lay me down and sleep
and rest peacefully for God keeps me He keeps me so I will lay
me down and sleep and then there's long-suffering is a fruit of
that spirit within oh how much I long to see more of that long-suffering
in my own life and gentleness gentleness not using your strength
to bully or cajole others but gently and goodness the goodness
of God Jesus said to that young man he said good teacher to Jesus
not knowing who he really was and Jesus said why do you call
me good there is only one who is good and that is God that
those who have the Spirit of God within manifest the goodness
of God and faith that faith means belief of the gospel but it also
means faithfulness dependableness reliability this is one of the
fruit of the Spirit faithfulness meekness meekness as has been
said so often but it doesn't hurt to stress it meekness is
not weakness Jesus said I am meek and lowly of heart And yet
he's the one who in strength told the religious leaders of
his day that they were hypocrites and vipers. He's the one who
turned the money changers out of the temple in strength. But yet he was meek. This is
meekness. This is goodness. This is strength
of character. But not abusive strength of character. Strength of character used for
good. and temperance temperance moderation in all things in what
we eat in what we drink in the things that we do in the things
that we allow ourselves temperance in all things against such there
is no law against such there is no law against these things
there is no law obviously there's no law of God against the one
who shows the love of God there's no law of God against the one
who has the peace of God in his heart but also it's not just
against these things themselves but against his people his people
who shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh or as verse 18 says
if you be led of the spirit you are not under the law you people
are not under the law you're bearing this fruit you're not
under the law so the message of this is that we need to root
out the weeds of the flesh that would choke the fruit now just
before we close verse 26 a word of caution, verse 26, let us
not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying
one another. There's a verse that you'll know
well in James chapter 2 and verse 18 where James is talking about
true faith. and false faith and he says true
faith shows itself by its works true faith works I will show
you my faith by my works you don't say you've got faith and
you leave somebody cold and naked and destitute whom you can help
that's what James is saying there so there's a danger that we become
judgmental of others and of ourselves even in looking for perfect mortification
of the flesh in looking for perfect production of fruit of the Spirit
don't we? We look at ourselves and we look
at one another and we look to see that the flesh is perfectly
mortified and that the fruit of the Spirit is perfectly born
in that life and otherwise we judge one another and we're sensorial
towards one another and I've even heard preaching on the moral
obligation of Christians to produce the fruit of the Spirit by their
own efforts I've even heard that. And it's a slippery slope back
into legalism and judging one another. Look, let us not be
desirous of vain glory. Oh, haven't I done better than
you? Don't I bear more fruit than you? Oh, I've mortified
more of the works of the flesh than you. Provoking one another.
Envying one another. No. We can slide back into legalism
so easily Beware of using this passage as a checklist for evidence
of true faith because that's not what it's intended to be.
What should we do? What should we do? Rather, we
should look always and only to Christ. That's what we should
do. Look at Hebrews chapter 12. Let's remind ourselves of these verses. At the end of
that faith gallery, which is chapter 11, all of those people
who did what they did because they saw and believed the gospel
of grace wherefore seeing also we also are compassed about with
so great a cloud of witnesses all these ones that he's mentioned
in chapter 11 let us lay aside every weight and the sin which
doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race
set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith we look to Him, we follow Him, because the more we look
to Him, the more we follow Him, the more we become conformed
to His pattern, and the more the fruit of the Spirit will
naturally grow in our lives. How do we follow Him? Practically.
How do we follow Him? Let's be practical. How do we
follow Him? Read His Word. Believe His Word. Don't just
read it, believe it. Don't just be hearers, but doers
of it. Read His Word and believe His
Word. We were singing, build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ. Build it on His Word. Make it
the basis of our lives and our principles and our doctrines
and our philosophies of life. Read and believe His Word. Listen
to and follow faithful preachers. There's never been an easier
opportunity in this world than we have today with the technology
we have to go to sites such as FreeGraceRadio.com where there
are faithful preachers of the gospel there and download messages
and listen to them listen to faithful preaching because it
feeds our souls and it points us to Christ always and leads
us in the way of the Lord Jesus Christ and the more we look to
Him you see if you go to Free Grace Radio You will hear men
who point you to Christ and Christ alone and don't point you to
yourself to look at yourself, to examine yourself against,
you know, some arbitrary standard. Go to these men who will preach
Christ and Christ alone and listen and meditate on these things
and remember Him. How do we remember Him? We're
going to remember Him again later today in the breaking of bread
and the sharing of wine as we consider the Lord's death until
He comes. Obey Him. Follow Him. Obey Him. Pray to Him. Be oft
in prayer, in a spirit of prayer. Have fellowship with one another,
and encourage one another in these things. And as I say, the
more we look to Him, the more we follow Him, the more we become
conformed to His pattern, and the more this fruit of the Spirit
will naturally grow in our lives. And while we're at it, don't
forget, don't neglect to mortify the deeds of the flesh as they
arise, because they will be on the lookout. As I'm on the lookout
for those weeds in my garden, and every opportunity, pluck
them out. Look for them in your flesh. Envyings, pluck it out. Idolatry, pluck it out. Dig it
up. Throw it away. Burn it. Get rid
of it. Put it to death. Mortify those
things. Okay, we'll sing our closing
hymn.