So we turn now to Galatians chapter 5.
The whole concept is, how do I establish
a righteous standing before God?
Can I be righteous by keeping the law?
Or am I righteous by my simple faith
in Jesus Christ?
Now Paul taught righteousness through faith.
There followed Paul teachers, Judaizers, who brought another
gospel which was not really a gospel.
For they were saying that it was necessary
to be circumcised and to keep the law
of Moses in order to be righteous before
God, to be saved.
And so Paul is standing against this teaching
in his letter to the Galatians.
And in chapter 5, he said, Stand fast
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made
us free, and be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage.
Now in the 15th chapter of the book
of Acts, when this same issue had arisen
in the church in Antioch, when certain of
the brethren came down from Jerusalem and were
hassling the Gentile saints in Antioch and said,
You can't be saved unless you are circumcised
and keep the law of Moses.
Paul and Barnabas and others from Antioch took
these brothers right back to Jerusalem because they
came under the pretense of we have the
authority of the Jerusalem church to declare these
things.
So they went right up to settle the
issue and the church had one of the
first church councils gathered to settle a dispute,
a problem within the church.
And in the 15th chapter of Acts, we
read how that Peter stood up and told
the brethren how that the Lord had called
him to go to the Gentiles to the
house of Cornelius.
And how the Holy Spirit had come upon
those of the house of Cornelius who had
known nothing really of obedience to the law.
And Peter said, I suggest that we not
place a yoke of bondage on them which
neither we nor our fathers were able to
bear.
So Peter uses this same phrase to describe
the law as a yoke of bondage.
He said, we haven't been able to keep
the law, why should we put them under
it?
And so, Paul is picking up now the
same phrase.
No doubt he heard Peter use it there
in Acts 15.
And he said, stand fast in the liberty
wherein Christ has set you free.
Now, let us not believe or think that
this liberty that we have is the liberty
to do anything we might want to do
in the flesh.
That is not the liberty that we have
as Christians.
The liberty that we have is not to
do the things of the flesh.
Thank God Jesus Christ has set me free
from my bondage to my flesh.
I once was in horrible bondage to my
flesh.
But now I have liberty in Christ Jesus
where I don't have to follow after the
flesh anymore.
So stand fast in that liberty wherein Christ
has made you free.
He has set you free from the power
of the flesh.
Don't be entangled again with rules, regulations, a
yoke of bondage.
Behold, I, Paul, say unto you that if
you are circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
That is, if you are circumcised ritually for
the purpose of having a righteous standing before
God.
If that is the purpose, you're thinking that
it's going to make you righteous before God.
You think it's going to make you acceptable
before God.
Paul said, Christ will profit you nothing if
that's your mental attitude towards your circumcision.
For I testify again to every man that
is circumcised that he is a debtor to
do the whole law.
In other words, if you're going to take
this as an act of righteousness to make
you righteous before God as being a part
of the law, then it will be necessary
for you to keep the entire law in
order to be righteous before God.
For if a man keeps the whole law,
yet he offends in one point, he is
guilty of all.
So cursed is the man that continues not
in the whole law to do that which
is written therein.
Christ has become of no effect unto you,
whosoever of you who are justified or seeking
to be justified by the law, ye are
fallen from grace.
Very powerful words for those who would seek
justification through the law, through rules, through keeping
rules, through keeping ordinances.
If you're looking to that as a righteous
standing before God, then you are not experiencing
the grace of God in your life.
Now, the whole idea is to be righteous
before God in order that I might have
fellowship with God.
What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
How can I really fellowship with God if
I'm unrighteous?
So I must be righteous in order to
have fellowship with God.
Now, there are two ways that I can
be righteous.
I can say, well, these are the rules
of righteous living.
You've got to do this and this and
this and this and this and you can't
do this and this and this and this
and this.
And I can set up these rules and
I can get out my little gold stars.
And at the end of each day, I
can paste my gold stars on those that
I've kept.
But if I have a whole page of
gold stars, but yet there's one little point
over here where I blew it and I
can't put a gold star, then I'm unrighteous.
I violate it.
If you keep the whole law, yet offend
in one point, you're guilty of all.
Now, the other way to be righteous is
through faith in Jesus Christ, receiving that grace
of God through him, where God accounts me
as he did Abraham righteous because I believe.
Now, that righteousness depends upon the work of
Jesus Christ as my sacrifice, as my substitute.
It is predicated upon the work of God.
Therefore, that righteousness is perfect.
It will stand.
And it is given to me through my
faith in Jesus Christ.
That's what God accounts.
The righteousness of Christ accounted to my account
through my faith in Jesus Christ.
Now, because I can't keep the first, I've
opted for the second.
Because I can't and haven't kept the whole
law.
I'm thankful that God accounts me righteous and
I can have fellowship with the righteous God
because of Jesus Christ and my faith in
Jesus Christ.
Now, if you're trying to be justified before
God or being made righteous before God by
the keeping of the law, then Christ is
of no effect to you.
You can't be both.
For we, through the Spirit, wait for the
hope of righteousness by faith.
That's the position where we stand.
By the Spirit of God, we're waiting for
that hope of righteousness through faith.
4.
In Jesus Christ, neither circumcision avails anything nor
uncircumcision, but faith which works by love.
So, I think Paul could also have included
here baptism or no baptism as far as
the physical immersion in water.
He's talking about rituals and the power of
rituals to make you righteous before God and
the issue is they can't.
What makes you righteous before God is your
faith which works in love within your heart
and mind.
Now, it is interesting to me how that
those who opt for rules, those who opt
for laws, those who want to lay down
the laws upon the people or those who
want to live under the laws that are
laid down upon them, always seem to be
striving.
We have those that come around here.
They're wanting to strive.
They're wanting to argue.
They're wanting to prove their points.
How that baptism is essential for salvation.
And they want to get on our case
because we don't run down every night and
baptize people the moment they're saved.
Because we wait to have our baptisms until
the water gets warmer.
It's because baptism doesn't save.
It's faith in Jesus Christ that saves.
It's the operation of God's Spirit within our
heart that works through love.
Not contention, not striving, but it works through
love.
And any kind of a relationship with God
that causes me to strive with my brother,
causes me to become contentious, is really something
that I'm not interested in.
Causes me to become judgmental.
It's faith which works by love.
Now, Paul said, you did run well.
Again, you remember he said, you did start
well.
What did hinder you?
You did run well.
Having begun in the Spirit, you did alright.
In the beginning.
But who hindered you?
That you should not obey the truth.
This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth
you.
In other words, you did not get this
from God.
I really like to say that to the
Jehovah Witnesses that come to my door.
This persuasion didn't come from him who called
you.
You couldn't believe the things the Jehovah Witnesses
believed unless you read their screwy attitudes and
ideas in their books.
I mean, you never get it from reading
the Bible and waiting upon God.
Your mind has to be bent in that
direction through their writings.
And so with the Mormons.
You never come to believe in what the
Mormons believe through reading the Bible.
It comes by reading the Book of Mormon.
This persuasion, these ideas that you have, they
don't really come from God.
From the one who called you.
They are ideas that have been planted in
your mind by men.
Now, a lot of times when people come
to me with some weird concept, I'll say,
where in the world did you get that
idea?
And sometimes they'll lie to me and they
say, Oh, well, I was just waiting upon
the Lord and reading the Scriptures and the
Lord showed this to me.
I said, that's a lie.
Here, I'll show it to you in this
book.
Have you been reading this book?
Well, yeah, I read that book, but you
know, God showed it to me.
No, this persuasion doesn't come from Him who
called you.
You weren't persuaded to be circumcised because God
was speaking to your heart and convicting you
of this.
These concepts, these heresies that develop within the
church are passed on by men.
They don't come to man from God.
And the Jehovah Witness is just the Aryan
heresy of the early church.
The Prosperity Doctrines is the Gnostic heresy of
the early church.
They're just warmed over, put in a new
coat and declared by a fresh voice or
sometimes the voices aren't so fresh, but they're
things, concepts, and you'll find that these people
espousing them are plagiarizing from other people who
have espoused them and it goes back and
back and back, but not from God.
That is why I encourage you just to
read the Bible.
I am not at all worried about anything
you will come to believe by just simply
reading your Bible.
I don't think you need anything more than
the Bible to really know the truth of
God.
And I encourage you to just read your
Bible.
Now, why is it the Jehovah Witness can't
tell you that?
Because you'll never come to their beliefs just
by reading the Bible.
Why can't the Mormons tell you that?
Because you'll never come to their beliefs by
just reading the Bible.
So, the minute I start peddling books and
saying, now, to really understand the Bible, you
better read my books.
Because you'll just, you know, read the Bible,
you'll be in darkness.
It's just, you know, too difficult.
So, just let our books explain for you.
This persuasion didn't come from God.
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
You open the door for a little error.
And it will soon magnify.
Because, you see, as you have opened the
door for this error, then, as you are
challenged on the flaws of the error, you're
going to have to develop further doctrines to
cover, or further concepts to cover, and pretty
soon you're going to be way out in
left field.
There is a group called Jesus Only.
And they believe that Jesus is the Father,
He is the Son, He is the Holy
Spirit.
It's Jesus Only.
Unitarians.
And they are quite zealous in their beliefs.
Very fervent in the proclamations of their beliefs.
And I had some who were determined that
they were going to convert me to their
way of thinking.
And I would listen to them, and listen
to them, and listen to them.
I don't really make a practice of arguing
scriptures.
And so I would listen to these fellows,
and I listened, you know, and just said,
well, yeah, that's what the scripture says, you
know, when they would quote scriptures.
Well, they thought that they had me convinced
to their way of thinking.
And so they started telling people, well, Chuck
believes this.
And so then I had to go out
to them and say, hey, you haven't convinced
me of the truth of what you're declaring.
I don't believe that.
And then they started to rail on me
and prophesy my death and things of this
nature.
And so I said, alright, tell me, when
Jesus was baptized, who spoke and said, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am
well-placed.
Is he a ventriloquist?
When on the cross Jesus cried, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Who was he crying to?
Oh, well, he laid down his divinity before
he died.
I said, oh, you see, a little leaven
leavens a whole lump.
Now you're, you know, chopping Jesus up and
say, well, he is God here.
And but for a while he wasn't God.
And the universe was without God for a
little bit here or whatever.
And, you know, I mean, you're having now,
though, to you've taken a position.
Jesus is the only one.
Now you've got to defend it against the
challenges.
And so you've got to start making up
or taking positions that are thoroughly unscriptural in
order to defend your position.
And a little leaven soon leavens the whole
lump, even
though it might be a minor departure from
the truth.
Be careful.
Try and stay right on course.
If when I got on board a 747
at LAX heading for Honolulu, the captain would
say, now, folks, we're having a little problem
here with our navigation instrument.
We're about one degree off, but we hope
to correct this in flight or something.
I'd say, open the doors and let me
off.
If your navigational instruments are one degree off
and you take your heading and you start
for Hawaii, by the time you've gone that
distance, you'll miss Hawaii by 240 miles.
Oh, by the time you get to Santa
Barbara, you won't even notice anything.
You know, you can look down and see
the Channel Islands.
You can see the Santa Rosa and San
Miguel and San Nicolas Islands.
And you say, hey, hey, all right, you
know, we're right on course.
One degree and you've only gone 100 miles.
You won't even notice.
But you continue one degree off on out
over the Pacific and you can miss your
destination completely.
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Now, Paul said, I have confidence in you
through the Lord.
That you will be none otherwise minded.
Now, Paul is now saying who who did
hinder you, you know, in this teaching.
But I have confidence in you that you're
not going to be persuaded by this, that
you're not going to be otherwise minded.
But he who troubles you will bear his
judgment, whoever he is.
And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision,
why do I yet suffer persecution?
Then is the offense of the cross ceased.
Now, evidently, these Paul people were saying, well,
Paul was circumcised and he's preaching circumcision.
You ought to be circumcised, you know, and
Paul said, hey, wait a minute, I'm not.
If I preach circumcision, then why would they
keep persecuting me?
The offense of the cross would cease.
Paul was preaching that Jesus paid the complete
price for your redemption on the cross.
There is nothing that you can add to
what Jesus paid.
That it is his sacrifice for your sins
that brings you redemption and the forgiveness of
sins.
No effort, no work on your part.
You can't do anything to buy redemption.
You can't do anything to buy forgiveness.
The forgiveness of your sins and your redemption
is totally predicated upon the finished work of
Jesus Christ upon the cross.
These people were adding to it.
The death of Christ for you isn't sufficient.
You've got to walk the tightrope.
You've got to keep the law.
You've got to be circumcised.
The message of redemption through the cross was
offensive.
People were trying to add to it.
And that's why Paul was persecuted by the
Jews.
Because he was saying the law of Moses
is not necessary for righteousness or for salvation.
You are saved through the finished work of
Jesus on the cross.
The cross paid it all.
Paul closes this little section on
the idea of circumcision and all.
And he gets a little testy with those.
He said, I wish that they were even
cut off which trouble you.
Or literally, I wish they were castrated who
trouble you.
They're trying to cause you to be circumcised.
I wish they were castrated.
Naughty Paul.
We find that offensive in our society today.
But in those days, the area of Galatia
was the center of the worship of Sibyl.
And the priests of Sibyl would castrate themselves.
And so it was something that was quite
familiar.
The castration of the priests of this pagan
god.
And so the people of Galatia understood exactly
what Paul was talking about.
And let's go on.
I could quickly get in trouble.
For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty.
But don't use that liberty for an occasion
to the flesh.
But by love serve one another.
It is not a liberty to do anything
I please.
It isn't a liberty to live after my
flesh.
That is not what Christian liberty is about.
And if you have interpreted it that way,
you have completely missed the message of the
scripture.
You've been called unto liberty.
That is liberty in Jesus Christ.
Liberty from the law and from the bondage
of the law.
Because that cannot make you righteous.
But the liberty is not a liberty to
indulge my flesh in anything that I may
desire to do after the flesh.
It is the liberty not to do those
things which the flesh once forced me to
do.
So, do not use your liberty for an
occasion to the flesh.
But by love.
The real key is love.
Serve one another.
For all of the law is fulfilled in
one word.
Even this.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
So, love is the fulfilling of the law.
One of the lawyers one day challenged Jesus
as to the greatest commandment.
Jesus said thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, with all thy
soul, with all thy mind, with all thy
strength, and thy neighbor as thyself.
And in these are all the law and
the prophets.
Love is the fulfilling of the law.
If I am walking in the spirit, if
I am walking in love, then there can
be no law to regulate my life.
You see, laws are for unprincipled people.
If a person is living by right principles,
he doesn't need any laws.
He is governed by principles by which he
lives.
Laws are necessary to restrain unprincipled people.
Now, if you're walking in love, supreme love
for God is supreme love for your fellow
man, then there is no law.
All of the law is fulfilled.
For what the law is actually saying to
you is that you should love God supremely
and love your neighbor as yourself.
That's all the law is saying to you.
So, if you bite and devour one another,
you better take heed.
You're going to be consuming each other.
Now, this I say then, walk in the
spirit and you will not fulfill the desires
of your flesh.
So, Paul here exhorts us to walk in
the spirit and to live after the spirit
or on the spirit side of our lives.
Now, man was created by God as a
living spirit.
Created by God in fellowship with God.
God is a superior trinity.
Man is an inferior trinity.
The superior trinity is made up of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The inferior trinity is spirit, soul, and body
of man.
And it is in the realm of the
spirit where man meets God.
That's where I come in touch with God.
That's where God touches me.
In my spirit, in the realm of the
spirit.
His spirit bears witness with my spirit that
I am a child of God.
God is a spirit and they that worship
Him must worship Him in spirit and in
truth.
Now, when Adam sinned, his spirit died just
as God had warned.
In the day that you eat, you will
surely die.
His spirit died and Adam broke fellowship with
God.
For God would not fellowship with man dominated
by his flesh.
And of course, that's exactly what the temptation
led Adam to is fleshly domination.
He saw that the tree was pleasant to
look upon.
It was tasty to eat.
And it would make him wise as God.
The lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eye, and the pride of life.
And they ate, giving over to their fleshly
appetites.
And in so doing, the flesh dominated.
The flesh began to rule.
And man's consciousness was now filled and absorbed
with the body needs and the body appetites.
God did not intend man to live that
way because man living that way is alienated
from God who is a spirit.
When the emphasis of man became on the
physical fleshly side of him, he no longer
was one with God who is a spirit
and must be worshipped in spirit and in
truth.
And so in the fullness of time, God
sent his son to die for man's sin.
In order that through him, man might be
born again by the spirit of God.
And become again a spiritual being.
And so when Nicodemus came to Jesus, Jesus
faced him immediately with this issue.
He said, you've got to be born again.
He said, what do you mean?
I can't go back to my mother's womb
and be born again.
What are you talking about?
Jesus said, I'm not talking about that.
That which is born of the flesh is
flesh, but that which is born of the
spirit is spirit.
Don't marvel when I say you've got to
be born again.
And Jesus talked to him about the spiritual
rebirth, which takes place when a person by
faith receives Christ as his savior.
There is a work of God's spirit within
his heart and he is born of the
spirit and now again has a spirit that
is alive and is conscious of God.
And this is the thing that you try
to describe to people and they don't understand.
The Bible says the natural man cannot understand
the things of the spirit, neither can he
know them.
They are spiritually discerned.
But he that is spiritual understands these things,
though he is not understood.
And to try to explain to people the
things of the spirit, to the natural man,
to try and explain the things of the
spirit, is got to be one of the
most frustrating things in the world.
Because you have been born of the spirit,
you can see it, you can understand it,
it's as plain as can be.
But because they are not born of the
spirit and have no understanding of the spiritual
dimension of life, you're talking riddles to them.
You're talking nonsense.
It's amazing, isn't it, what difference being born
of the spirit really makes in my attitude
towards life, in my understanding of the word
of God, in so many things.
Suddenly, as I've been born of the spirit,
things suddenly are illuminated.
Things which were once a mystery and I
could not understand are now very understandable.
They're just revealed by the spirit.
The truth of God to our hearts.
So you has he made alive who were
dead because of your trespasses and sins, who
in times past you walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, among whom
we all had our manner of living, as
we lived to fulfill the desires of our
flesh and of our mind, and we were
by nature the children of wrath, even as
others.
God has made you alive in Christ Jesus.
And now your spirit is alive.
And your spirit being alive, again, you can
experience fellowship with God, the joy, the blessing
of fellowshipping with God.
So walk in the spirit.
That is, walk in fellowship with God.
Walk on the spiritual side of your nature.
And if you do, you will not be
fulfilling the desires of your flesh.
The flesh will not be ruling over you
anymore.
The fleshly desires will not be dominating your
life, but your life will be dominated by
the spirit and thus by God.
For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and
the spirit against the flesh, and these are
contrary, the one to the other, so that
you cannot do the things that you would.
There is a warfare that goes on in
the life of the believer.
Once the spirit has come alive, now there
comes this striving for the mastery of me.
Will I be mastered by the spirit or
will I be mastered by the flesh?
If I am mastered by the flesh, then
I have the mind of the flesh.
That is, my mind is constantly upon fleshly
things.
And the mind of the flesh is alienated
from God.
It cannot know God.
The mind of the flesh is dead.
But if my life is dominated by the
spirit, then I have the mind of the
spirit, and I'm thinking of God and I'm
thinking upon spiritual things.
And the result is life and joy and
peace in the Holy Spirit.
The mind of the flesh is death, but
the mind of the spirit is life and
joy and peace.
The warfare going on.
Am I going to yield to my flesh
or am I going to yield to the
spirit?
And this comes up every day in many
situations.
And I have actually the choice.
In this situation I can yield to my
flesh and I can blow off steam and
I can get in and I can fight
and I can get into the striving and
the whole issue.
Or I can walk after the spirit and
say, Oh, Lord, it doesn't matter.
Help me, Lord, to just keep the right
attitude.
And I can just go and pass it
by.
And so another issue arises in five minutes.
Oh, he did that for me.
Oh, right.
And I can choose whether or not to
walk in the flesh or then again to
commit it and walk after the spirit.
You see, it isn't a once in forever
kind of a thing.
It is once that I have reckoned myself
to be crucified with Christ when I accepted
him.
I was crucified with Christ, but now I
have to reckon it in so many situations
every day.
Hey, that old nature, that old Chuck, he's
dead.
Let him alone.
Don't revive him.
Crucify with Christ.
Reckon that to be.
That's just my old flesh that's upset.
That's my old prideful nature.
That's the old nature that wants its way,
that wants to insist on its own way
and all.
That's the old nature.
Reckon that to be dead.
That died with Christ.
It doesn't really matter.
I'm going to walk after the spirit and
I'm going to please God in this.
I'm going to walk in love.
And so I have to reckon the old
man to be dead each day.
And oftentimes, many times through the day.
The flesh is lusting against the spirit.
The spirit against the flesh.
They're contrary.
And I do not always walk after the
spirit.
There are times when I lapse into the
flesh.
I get an attitude that is not of
the Lord.
I say something that is not of the
Lord.
You know what happens immediately?
The spirit speaks to me.
It says that was wrong.
Yeah, but I had a right to do
it.
I will argue with him for a while.
You don't know.
How long I've been taking it, Lord.
I tried.
And he'll keep dealing with me.
Until I'll finally say, oh God, I'm sorry.
I was wrong.
Forgive me, Lord.
Help me, Lord.
Thank you, Jesus, for your forgiveness and for
your love and for your grace to me.
And I'm washed and I'm cleansed.
And I go on.
You see, I don't always do the things
that I would.
But when I do fail, the spirit is
right there.
And that's why I know I'm a child
of God.
You see, if I weren't a child of
God, he would just let me go.
He wouldn't bother correcting me.
It's sort of comforting.
You know, David said, thy rod and thy
staff, they comfort me.
The rod was the thing the shepherd used
to hit the sheep on the flanks when
it started getting out, you know, roaming out.
All right, I'm still one of his sheep,
you know.
He just whacked me with a rod.
Oh, I'm comforted by that.
I'm still his child.
Don't despise the chastening of the Lord.
Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges
every son whom he receives.
But if you are led by the spirit,
you are not under the law.
Now, the works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these.
And he gives to us here a listing,
incomplete to be sure, because he ends it
by saying, and do such things.
And so, such things leaves an unending list
of things of the flesh.
But he lists some of the works of
the flesh.
These works of the flesh, of course, are
related to our body drives.
So many of them.
Adultery, fornication, sexual impurities, wantonness, translated
here, lasciviousness, idolatry, drug abuse, the Greek word
is pharmakia, translated here, witchcraft, because in the
sorceries that are in the witchcraft, they often
use drugs, potions, the potions that you take,
you know, and they'd have their drug-related
experiences.
Hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions.
Interesting to me that heresies is here mentioned
as a part of the works of the
flesh.
And I was challenged by that for a
while, and I began to think it through,
and I thought, yes, it is a work
of the flesh, because usually a person gets
into heresy to attract attention to himself.
You know, you come up with some heretical
teaching, you get everybody excited, and everybody's listening,
everybody's beginning to discuss what you're teaching.
And the old flesh likes to get people
excited and stirred up like that, and people
to follow after me, you know.
Here I've got this new twist on the
scripture, no one's ever seen this before, but
oh, bless God, he's revealed it to us
in these days.
And you develop your own little following, which
really appeals to your flesh, the works of
the flesh.
M-Beings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and the such
-like.
So the such-like covers a lot of
things.
Now, I tell you, I've told you, that
they which do such things shall not inherit
the kingdom of God.
This is indeed strong language for you who
want to live after the flesh.
As we go down these things here, these
are the things that God will exclude from
His kingdom.
These things are not allowed in the kingdom
of God.
If you want to be a subject in
God's kingdom, then you cannot do these things.
You cannot be ruled and dominated by your
flesh.
Now, it is interesting, a list similar to
this is given to us in Revelation, the
21st chapter, as it tells us those who
are going to be excluded from heaven.
And outside were those who were doing these
things.
The fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers,
the whoremongers, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and the
liars.
Those who are outside.
And so, Revelation 21.8, if you want
the reference on that.
And then there's another reference also in Revelation,
but outside are the dogs and adulterers and
so forth.
This is heavy.
The works of the flesh.
It's a solemn warning to every one of
us who would live after the flesh or
would want to live after the flesh to
know that you cannot do these things and
inherit the kingdom of God.
But, the fruit of the Spirit.
Now, walk in the Spirit.
You'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Be led by the Spirit.
You're not under the law.
The law forbid these things, but the law
of love also forbids them.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love.
Now, notice works of the flesh, works plural.
So, all of these things fall under the
category of works of the flesh.
But, the fruit of the Spirit, fruit is
singular.
So, there is only one real fruit of
the Spirit.
That is love.
These other words are defining what the agape
love actually is.
So, joy is love's consciousness.
You ever seen a person in love and
all of the joy that they have?
Peace.
Remember, as Paul defined love for us in
1 Corinthians 13, he uses long-suffering.
Love suffereth long and is kind.
This agape love is gentle.
It is good.
The word faith here is trusting.
It has perhaps a naivety about it.
In that it does trust.
You know, I've been burned so many times
by trusting man, but I pray God never
make me jaundiced.
I'd rather trust and be burned than not
to trust.
Fruit of the Spirit.
This kind of love is a trusting love.
Not to the place of being ridiculous.
Some guy comes up and says, Hey man,
I got a watch, genuine Omega, you know.
I need money to get home.
Can you give me, you know, a hundred
dollars for this watch?
I'm, you know, not stupid.
Meekness.
Blessed are the meek.
Temperance.
Now, the word temperance is one we have
a little difficulty with.
We don't understand that word too much.
Let's use an opposite word, intemperate.
A person doesn't lose his temper.
He's temperate.
Now, against such, there is no law.
I mean, if you're walking in love, what
rules can you lay down?
What can you say to a guy?
You see, you don't need any laws.
All of the bases are covered.
They're covered by the fact that you're walking
in love.
So they that are Christ have crucified the
flesh.
Paul had written in the earlier part, I
am crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, I live yet, not I, but Christ
lives in me.
Romans chapter six, Know ye that the old
man was crucified with Christ.
Therefore, reckon ye yourselves to be dead with
Christ, but alive unto God through him.
For they that are Christ have crucified the
flesh with its affections and with its desires.
For if we live in the Spirit, let
us also walk in the Spirit.
And let us not be desirous of vain
glory.
Now, these men who were coming with this
teaching were really out to get notches on
their belts.
The kind that we're always talking about numbers.
We had 10,000 souls saved last week.
Look at all the notches on my belt.
Men that have followed after my perverse teachings
desirous of vain glory, provoking one another and
envying one another.
Glory, the glory of man is indeed empty.
It's vain.
Don't seek after it.
You'll be disappointed.
It will create a lot of enemies.
It will create a lot of envy and
a lot of provocation.
Now, brothers, if a man be overtaken in
a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such
a one in the spirit of meekness, considering
yourself, lest you also be tempted.
The Bible does seem to make a distinction
between sins and faults.
Though I think that the distinction is probably
quite narrow.
But James said that if there is any
sick among you, let him call for the
elders of the church and let them anoint
them with oil in the name of the
Lord and the prayer of faith will save
the sick and the Lord shall raise them
up.
And if they have committed any sins, they
shall be forgiven them.
And then he said, now confess your faults
one to another.
Now, there's really no place in the Scripture
where we're told to confess our sins one
to another.
We're to confess our sins unto God.
And if we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us of our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But we can confess our faults to one
another.
Now, a lot of people have gotten into
some real trouble with professional things, you know,
where we're all going to confess our sins
to each other.
And a lot of hurt has come from
that.
A lot of damage has come from that.
I heard of three ministers who got together
and decided that they were going to purge
their consciences by confessing their sins to each
other.
First minister said, well, he said, I have
a problem with drinking.
He said, don't anybody know this, but I
keep a bottle at home all the time.
He said, I'm just a private drinker, not
a social, but I'm a private drinker.
And I just have to have my bottle
and every night before I go to bed,
I have a drink or two.
Next minister said, well, my problem is women.
I just can't seem to get free from
lust.
And I just really have a strong lust
after women and all.
It's just really terrible.
I don't know what I'm going to do.
I'm going to some of the women and
all.
Third minister said, well, my sin is gossip
and I just can't wait to get out
of here.
You got to be careful of these confession
services.
You don't know who might have the sin
of gossip.
Confess your faults one to another.
I'm at fault.
I was wrong.
It's good to confess.
It's hard.
I think those are probably the three hardest
words to say.
I was wrong, especially if you're talking to
your wife.
You don't want to be wrong.
Confess your faults.
Be willing to confess when you are wrong.
Be willing to confess when you've made a
mistake.
Confess your faults.
I was too hasty in my judgment.
I spoke when I should have been silent.
I was wrong when I said that.
Confess your faults to one another.
Now, if a brother be overtaken in a
fault, and this, I believe, does refer to
this business of the heresy because it's all
in context.
Someone has gone out and gotten circumcised in
order that they might be righteous.
He's overtaken in this fault.
Faulty teaching.
Ye which are spiritual, restore such a one
in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest
you also be tempted.
Now, I think that this can go beyond
this as far as the restoration of a
brother.
If a brother be overtaken in a fault,
in a faulty relationship, ye which are spiritual,
restore such a one.
Now, God's desire is not to damn the
sinner, but always to restore the sinner.
And if I take the attitude of damning
everybody that does wrong, then I'm not taking
God's attitude towards man.
And it's unfortunate that many people have that
concept of God that he's wanting to damn
everyone who has done something wrong.
Not so.
God wants to restore everyone who has done
something wrong.
If you have sinned, it isn't God's desire
to destroy you.
It's God's desire to restore you.
And if I am going to be a
servant of God walking in love, then I
must seek to help in that restoration process.
Not to push you down further.
Not to say, how could you do that?
But to restore such a one in the
spirit of meekness.
Not to come in a haughty spirit.
Not to come in a spirit of judgment
and condemnation and lay down the heavy hand
of the law upon the guy and say,
how could you do that?
How could you do that, man?
But to restore him in the spirit of
meekness realizing, hey, I am capable of doing
the same thing and I could be guilty
of the very same thing.
And so restoring him in the spirit of
meekness considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.
So bear one another's burdens and so fulfill
the law of Christ.
He bore our burdens for us.
Cast all your cares upon him for he
cares for you.
He's willing to bear your burden.
Now we need to bear one another's burdens
and thus we fulfill the law of Christ.
When one member suffers, they all suffer.
And within the body, we need to have
that kind of a sensitivity whereby we can
minister more effectively to each other when there
is a need.
When a brother is in need, when a
brother is hurting, that we can stand with
him and encourage them and support them and
that we bear one another's burdens.
That's what the Lord would have us to
do.
So bear one another's burdens and so fulfill
the law of Christ.
He thinks himself to be something when he
is nothing.
He's only deceiving himself.
He's not deceiving those around him.
And there are so many people in this
category who really think they are something when
they are nothing.
Have you ever met one of those persons?
I have met so many.
Self-deceived, self-deluded.
But let every man prove his own work.
And then shall he have rejoicing in himself
alone and not in another.
You know, when God has revealed some special
exciting truth to your heart, so exciting, so
new, so novel, so different, and you feel
that the whole body needs to share and
know this truth that God has revealed to
you, please do us the favor of allowing
us to observe how this truth has transformed
your life more into the image of Jesus
Christ.
Let us see what it has done in
you to make you a better servant of
God.
And then when we observe the fruit of
this truth in your own life, we'll come
to you and ask you about it.
But don't come lay your trips on us.
Prove, let every man prove himself.
Then you'll have something really to glory in.
Let it be proved in your own life.
Let us see the result as it is
worked out in your life.
And then you can rejoice in what God
has done for you.
For every man shall bear his own burden.
Now he's just told us to bear one
another's burdens.
And that is important but you can't lay
your burden on everybody else.
You've got to bear your own burden too.
And there are a lot of people that
are always trying to unburden themselves on everybody
else so they don't have to carry it.
You know, they burden everybody they get around
with their burden.
And then they walk away and say, oh
right, now I don't have to worry about
that anymore.
You know, I've dumped it on somebody else.
I have a lot of people dump burdens
on me.
My wife said, why do you think God
gave you broad shoulders?
I was telling her about something that was
dumped on me the other day.
Not much sympathy at home, just good exhortation.
Poor baby.
Now, verse 6 is an interesting verse.
And I don't want to really expound upon
it.
But Paul is declaring that those that are
taught in the Word should communicate unto them
that teach in all good things.
The Bible says that the laborer is worthy
of his hire.
Don't muzzle the ox that treads out the
corn.
The husbandman is first partaker of the fruit.
And let me say that God has abundantly
blessed me.
And has blessed me in every way possible.
He has blessed me physically.
Good health.
He has blessed me spiritually in my walk
and relationship with Him.
He has blessed me financially.
He's blessed me in every possible way.
And I thank God for His blessings.
So, I'm not going to poor mouth and
say, oh, now you should communicate to your
teacher in all good things, you know.
See, He's taking care of me.
God does take care of me.
Takes care of me very well.
In fact, I love to be able to
go out and minister God's love and God's
truth to people without charge.
I'm sort of independent like Paul in that
way and in that respect.
And I love to go out.
And people say, well, how much do you
charge to come?
I say, I've never charged anybody to go.
And wherever I go and people ask about
expenses, I always tell them, look, my father
is extremely wealthy and he takes care of
all of my needs.
So, you don't have to worry about taking
care of me.
My father has given me a lavish expense
account.
God is good.
And God has blessed me for which I
give Him thanks.
And you have blessed me.
I'll tell you, the rewards of the ministry
are just fantastic.
Every week I'm receiving such glorious letters from
people whose lives have been blessed by the
teaching of the Word of God.
And what a blessing that is to me
when people share what God is doing in
their lives through the Word and through the
teaching of the Word.
I'll tell you, I just sit there and
I just am blessed and blessed and blessed.
So, communicate.
The word literally in Greek means to...
in all good things, it refers to finances
and food and things of this nature.
But there is communication also just verbally and
by letters.
And just a thank you many times is
so rewarding.
You know, you maybe have just gone through
a hassle or something.
You go to get the mail and then
you start getting this.
Of course, we also get the other kind
of mail too, but I don't read that.
Now, we read a little bit ago about
a person who thinks he's reading something when
he is nothing, he's just deceived.
Paul now again says, Be not deceived, for
God is not mocked.
And whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap.
For he that sows to his flesh shall
of the flesh reap corruption.
But he that sows to the Spirit shall
of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
I believe that man is sowing into the
fertile field of his mind every day.
And you can be sowing to the flesh.
It is difficult in this age not to
sow to the flesh.
There are so many magazines being published.
The sole purpose is to feed the flesh,
to excite the flesh, to excite the desires
of the flesh, to incite and inflame the
flesh.
So many movies, so many TV programs, all
designed to sow to the flesh to get
the flesh excited.
Don't be deceived.
If you watch these movies, if you look
at these magazines, if you feed your flesh,
then you are going to reap of the
flesh corruption.
Don't be deceived.
You cannot feed the flesh and reap of
the Spirit.
And many of you are having problems with
your flesh simply because you're sowing to the
flesh.
The eye gate is an important gate into
the soul of man.
And you are affected by what you see.
You know, it's such a horrible thing to
plant garbage into the computer.
The other day, as I was out in
the yard working, I don't know what juices
went together to create the electric spark that
went across my brain, but when I was
a little kid, about seven years old, some
dirty guy sang a dirty song.
And you know here, years later, that dirty
song came back into my mind.
And I thought, oh God, that's horrible.
That that kind of rot was planted in
my brain when I was just a little
kid.
And those big guys that sang that song
when I was there as a little kid,
polluting my mind, planting that garbage in there.
And it's still there.
I can't rid it out of my mind.
Oh, I don't...
that's the first time, you know, and I
can't even remember what it was now.
I just remember it was a dirty song
the other day that came into my mind
that I heard when I was a kid.
I was like, oh, garbage.
Of course, I immediately began to sing choruses
and praise the Lord and to put that
stuff back into the garbage pit from which
it came.
But you're sowing.
You're sowing either to your flesh or you're
sowing to your spirit.
And what you sow, you're going to reap.
That's natural.
That's life.
Don't be deceived on that issue.
Now, the beautiful thing is is that we
can sow to the spirit.
That's what we're doing tonight.
Thy Word, O Lord, is life and it
is spirit.
The Word of God is alive and powerful,
sharper than any two-edged sword.
And it's able to cut between the bone
and the marrow and between the soul and
the spirit.
And the Word of God feeds our spirits.
And as we sow to the spirit, then
of the spirit we're going to reap life
everlasting.
So, what am I planting in that is
so vital?
Because what I'm planting in is what's going
to come out.
And if I'm planting to my flesh, it's
going to come out of the flesh.
If I'm planting to my spirit, it's going
to come out of the spirit.
How important that we do more sowing to
the spirit.
God help us.
We're living in horrible days in many senses.
We have all of these modern conveniences all
designed to take us a little further away
from the Lord.
To absorb our time.
So easy to turn on the TV and
get involved in the fantasies of TV.
Some mystery, some story, some romance.
What a waste of time.
So easy, isn't it?
Sow to the flesh.
So easy.
But don't be deceived.
Whatsoever a man sows, that will he also
reap.
Now, let us not be weary in well
-doing.
For in due season we will reap if
we faint not.
Now, you start sowing to the spirit and
you want an immediate crop, you know.
We sow to the flesh, we want God
to stunt the growth, you know.
Don't let it come up, God.
But if we sow to the spirit, then
we want immediate results.
Hey Lord, I prayed about this five minutes
ago.
Now, when you're going to do something, you
know.
Be not weary in well-doing.
Don't give up.
Don't get discouraged.
In due season, God's timing, we will reap
if we faint not.
What if we faint?
Well, we probably won't reap.
As we therefore have opportunity, let us do
good unto all men, especially unto them who
are of the household of faith.
Let that be our rule of life.
Let's do good to all men.
Now, Paul writes a personal note.
He said, you see how large a letter
I have written unto you with mine own
hand.
Most of Paul's letters were dictated because that
was just the usual way in those days.
They'd have a stenographer who would write their
letters for them.
And most of Paul's letters were dictated.
This Galatian epistle, it is thought that he
wrote in his own handwriting.
And so, the large letter could refer to
the size of the letters because he had
bad eyesight.
And so, it could be that he wrote
very large so he could see what he
was writing.
Or it is possibly he's referring to the
length of the letter because if he wrote
the whole letter to the Galatians in his
own hand, it was a long letter for
a person to write himself.
So, you see how large a letter I've
written unto you with my own hand.
Again, could be a hint or an indication
towards Paul's weakness of his flesh.
As many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh, they are constraining you
to be circumcised only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ.
They're going along with the crowd.
They don't want to suffer the persecution for
the cross of Christ so they go ahead
and preach the law of righteousness.
For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep
the law, but they desire to have you
circumcised that they may glory in your flesh.
That they may glory in their conquest, in
their converts.
But God forbid that I should glory save
in the cross of Jesus, our Lord Jesus
Christ by whom the world is crucified unto
me and I unto the world.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast save
in the death of Christ my God.
God forbid that I should glory in anything
but the cross of Jesus Christ.
Not glory in the work that God has
done through me.
Not glory in anything that I have or
I have done, but glory in the work
of God for me in the cross of
Jesus Christ.
I glory by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world.
That is, I am dead to the world,
but alive unto God through Jesus.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything
nor uncircumcision.
It has nothing to do with my relationship.
What is important is that I am a
new creature in Christ.
So from now on and as many as
walk according to this rule peace beyond them
and mercy and upon the Israel of God.
From henceforth don't bug me for I bear
in my body the marks of the Lord
Jesus.
Paul, one of the writers, I don't know,
Hebrew writers said, you have not yet resisted
unto blood as you were striving for the
truth.
But Paul did.
I bear in my body the marks of
the Lord Jesus.
Scarred.
Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with your spirit.
Amen.
Father, we thank you now for the Word
of God and this opportunity tonight of studying
again that we might sow to the Spirit.
For Lord, we want to reap of the
Spirit.
God, we want to walk in the Spirit.
We want to be led by the Spirit.
We want to live in the Spirit.
We want to be controlled by the Spirit.
We want the fruit of the Spirit to
be evidenced in our lives.
We present our bodies as a temple that
your Holy Spirit might indwell us in Jesus'
name.
Amen.
God bless.
Fill your hearts with His Spirit and walk
in the Spirit.
Sow to the Spirit and you're going to
reap of the Spirit.
Life abundant through Jesus.
Hallelujah.