Alright, well we'll go back into Galatians chapter 5 tonight. Galatians 5, we left off at verse 12, we're going to pick up in verse 13. And Sean, could I have you open us in prayer tonight? Father, we thank You for this beautiful day, we thank You for this place that we can meet and learn more about You and know more about You, and we thank You for all Your blessings. Amen. Can you guys hear me okay? Is this volume enough to hear over the fan? It's alright. You don't count, you're getting old. You ladies in the back in here okay? Yeah, okay. Alright, verse 13 says, For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. That occasion to the flesh, and we're going to look at these things in Romans chapter 6 and chapter 7 about the occasion to the flesh and all. But the liberty that we have in Christ is something we stand in. Once you're born of God, you have a liberty. It is a freedom. You are free from that bondage of sin. You're no longer a servant to sin, you are a servant to Christ. Before you could not serve Christ, now you can. And that is a great liberty to you. The liberty that you have is that you, what does it say there in, I think it's in 2 Thessalonians, He that now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. Let every... No, that's not the one. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. That's the one I was looking for. That's something that God lets you do. He lets you depart from that lawlessness in your heart, that iniquity. And in that liberty that you have, you don't have to sin. When you do sin, it is a conscious choice. So much so that now that you're born of God, if you are born of God, if you do sin, it is not that you fall into that sin. you actually have to deliberately choose to go down that path. Because the Holy Ghost of God is in you, the Spirit of Christ is in you, the Spirit of the Father is in you, and the three of the Godhead are directing you in the way you should go. You have the Word of God before you. You have this roadmap to show you the way. And it is to have that mind of Christ, and if the Lord leaves, we might get into the mind of Christ a little bit tonight, I don't know. But we have liberty, we have liberty from the law, we have liberty from sin, but he says use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh. Don't allow your liberty that you have in Christ to let you just run rampant with Whatever you want to do in your flesh. I'm no longer under the law. So now that I'm not under the law I can just do whatever and hey It's all taken care of with the blood and I'm under grace and God's grace is sufficient and and all this and oh It was just my my weakness today. No, you can't you can't have that mindset and That very mindset is a carnal mind, because it's you desiring to do what your flesh desires. And as we've gone over before in this, we went over it a little bit more yesterday evening there at our Wednesday night service. But your carnal mind is enmity against God. That carnal mind is connected with your flesh. Your flesh has natural desires, it has natural drives, and again, not all of them are wicked. But when you do things according to your carnal mind, that is wickedness. So your carnal flesh needs food, your carnal flesh needs water, especially on hot days like today. You were doing landscaping today, but you drank a gallon of water at least out there working. At least you should have, all right? If not, your kidneys are not liking you right now. But with that, that is a carnal need. You have to have that water. When you're out working, when you're doing things, just on your daily basis, that's a carnal need. You have to have food. You have to have that sustenance, those things that will give calories to your body so that it can burn the fuel so that it can continue working. However, if that carnal need supersedes your spiritual need, that is where it becomes sin. Like, think of Esau. Esau came in from the field and he was so hungry, he sold his birthright for one mess of pottage. That was it. He sold that birthright. Let's see, Paul calls him a profane person, a fornicator. He was profane in that he took that which was holy, that birthright that he had had, and he just made it commonplace. And he just sold the thing, just so he could fulfill his carnal need. Now, he's back home. He's not out in the wilderness. Don't you think he could find something to eat? Now, maybe you've been there, maybe you've been to that point of hunger or thirst to the point where you're just ready to do anything to get that need fulfilled. But honestly, if you're amongst family, they're not going to let you die of hunger. That's not what was going to take place there. Now Jacob, he found occasion by that and deceived his brother and all of those things and the whole mess that comes out of that. But, all that to say, that was a carnally-minded decision that he made. He was making a spiritual decision with his carnal mind. That's a very dangerous place to be. And so we don't use our liberty in Christ just so that our carnal mind can do whatever it wants, knowing that, hey, since now that we're born of God, I'm going to end up in heaven anyways, it doesn't really matter what I do in my flesh. That's not the case at all. What you're going to find is that once you are born of God, what you want to do in your flesh is going to change. God changes your want to. You can do whatever you want to, you have liberty, but God is going to change what you want to do. He's going to literally give you the desires of your heart. Your heart is no longer going to desire that wickedness, your heart is going to desire holiness. Now, if you allow your carnal mind to take control, and you allow and you feed your flesh, and you make provision for the flesh, and you lay temptation before your eyes, and you do all of these things, yeah, your carnal mind is going to take over, and you're going to walk in that thing, and it is going to lead you to ruin. It's going to destroy you. Okay, once we get on later on in chapter five into the works of the flesh, I've started going down through these, listing out how many times they're used, some key highlighted verses wherein we're gonna examine those things so we can see what the Bible says about each of these works of the flesh, what they are, how to recognize them in your life. And listen, if you take an inward look according to the word of God, and you find the works of the flesh are being made manifest, It's one of two things. You are either lost or you are dangerously close to the wrath of God because you are now living according to the flesh. And that chastening of the Lord is going to come upon you. Now God will use And we'll get into this when we get to that point, but just real briefly, God will use these things to prove to you that you are not born of God. The problem is we don't want to look at those. We would rather say, oh, I'm saved, but these are just some things that I'm still struggling with, rather than take an honest inward look and say, am I really born of God? Because I have all of these things. In studying down through these things, I had every single one on this list in my life, yet I refused to believe I was lost. And with that, it is a troubling thing because if it happened to one person, actually two people, then I know it has happened to others. Because there's no temptation taking you, but such is common to man. All the things that are laid upon mankind come upon all of mankind, one way or another. And so when we get to that point, I guess we'll probably expound on that a little more fully. but we're not to use our liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love to serve one another. And it says this in verse 14, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And that law of love, we're gonna look at that royal law, we're gonna turn to those things there in Matthew, and we're gonna look at that, but, That is the fulfillment of the law. You love your neighbor as yourself, you're not going to be coveting his stuff. If you love your neighbor as yourself, you're not going to murder him. You love your neighbor as yourself, you're not going to commit adultery with his wife. I mean, if you are loving your neighbor, you're not going to steal his things. All of that is going to be taken care of if you are loving your neighbor as yourself. And so that is why the fulfillment of the law is in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And again, this is another place where it talks about one word, but it's not speaking of an individual word. It's speaking of an entire command, okay? It's a clause in this thing. It's one full sentence, all right? And that's just something that you just keep an eye on, just for clarity's sake. But let's look at a couple of things as pertaining to the occasion to the flesh. Let's go to Romans chapter six. We'll start here. Oh, let's see. Yeah, Romans chapter 6, we're gonna start right at verse 14. This is going right along with what Paul is saying there in Galatians 5. Romans 6, 14. It says, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, but under grace. And therein is that liberty that we have in Christ. We are not under the law, but we are under grace. And His grace is sufficient. And if it isn't sufficient, then Jesus is a liar. His strength is made perfect in weakness. If it's not, then Jesus is a liar. Those are the only two options. So understand what that word really means, my grace is sufficient, my strength is made perfect in weakness, and you find a great spiritual truth. Verse 15, what then, shall we sin because we're not under the law but under grace? He says, God forbid. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. All right, so you're either yielding yourself a servant to sin, which is unto death, because sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. or you are yielding yourself a servant unto righteousness and true holiness and those things that come from righteousness which peace and joy and all of those things without the righteousness of God you can't have any of that you are the servant of sin but once you have been made the righteousness of God in him You are no longer under that law. You're no longer a servant to the law of sin. You are now a servant to the law of Christ. I want to point out the difference between a servant and a slave here. This is very important. A servant has a choice. A servant is someone who basically is... as close to being family in the household as you can be. It's a servant is somebody that gets recompensed, repaid for the work that they do. They're working for something, whether it be a place in the home, whether it be, you know, food and lodging, whether it be a paycheck, okay, whatever it may be. But there is a recompense for what they do. They have a choice in the matter. They decide if they do this or not. A slave, on the other hand, has zero rights whatsoever. They're not considered human. They are property. Therein is where I celebrate Juneteenth in my heart. I am very excited for that holiday. I think it's a tremendous thing that slavery was abolished in America. I think it's a wonderful thing. I praise the Lord that it was. Okay? I really, I have no idea why. I have an idea why, but it's carnally minded as to why, but I don't know why a Christian would scoff at a holiday celebrating men being made free. It doesn't make sense. Do you get excited when the anniversary of the day you were born again comes around? You were declared free. Same thing. Alright, that's just a little aside there. We'll get back into this here. But this idea of being made free, of being free from sin, of having that servitude no longer to sin, but having servitude to Christ, it's not slavery. Again, slaves do not have any rights whatsoever. They don't have a choice in the matter. They either do it or they get beaten or killed. They are property. The Bible nowhere ever condones slavery. In the King James Bible, the word slave is used one time, the word slaves is used one time. So combined in the plurality and singularity, it is only two times used. The rest of the time this type of thing is spoken of, it is a servant, okay? Which then, if you understand those things, oh, and by the way, a slave doesn't get paid for what they do. They're allowed to live another day. They might be able to have access to some food and some things only as much as you would feed a horse hay so that it has food so it can work for you tomorrow. But that's about it. A slave does not get paid for what they do. They don't get recompensed for that thing. With that in mind, let's look at this verse again with the word servant and slave and the contrast of what they are in mind. Look at this. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey? So if you yield to be a servant, you have a choice in that matter. But if you're a slave, you have no choice. You have no choice but to sin. You have no choice but to do this. You have no choice but to do that. And then once you are, if you are then a slave to God, then you have no choice but to do every single thing that God dictates. Now, should you? Yes. Do you? No. Which proves you're not a slave. If you don't do every single thing that God tells you to do, then you are not a slave. Okay? It's why this Bible uses the word servant. It's an accurate word describing perfectly the context of this thing here. Verse 17, let's continue on. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, you became servants of righteousness. And again, you aren't set free from sin, you are made free from sin. When you set something, it is already in existence. I set my phone here on this pulpit so that I could record the lesson tonight. I set the thing down. It had already been existence. It was already in my possession. I was able to set it down. When an animal has been caught in a trap that would kill it and you open that trap, you have essentially set it free. You've opened the trap. It can go away. The only problem is it's dead. So what's it going to do? It's going to lay there in that trap. To be made free is there is a creative act that brings about something that never was before. That creative act is that new creature on the inward parts. You have been made, but not only made, you're not made a servant, you are made free. That is your legal designation. You are free. Just like this Emancipation Proclamation back in 1865, you have been made free, declared free, no longer a servant to sin. Now, you get to choose to be obedient unto Christ, obedient unto righteousness, a servant to righteousness. Sin only brings death. Righteousness brings peace. It brings life. And so, wherein we see these things of being made free from sin, that dead animal can't leave that trap. When somebody is made free, they who were once dead in trespasses and sins hath he quickened. Ephesians 2.1, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. You were dead. If you are set free from your sin, you're still dead, lying there in the trap. That's why God had to quicken you. He had to make you alive. And that is a creative act, okay? So there again, the wording of this Bible is perfectly accurate and doctrinally pure to describe to you what God does on the inward parts. God wants you to know perfectly how he operates, what the operation of the faith of God is, okay? And what that accomplishes in you. So being made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. Go over to Romans chapter 7 though, look at verse 7. It says this, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. All right, so we've been made free from the law, but is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. And herein, doctrinally, you can look at this thing, to covet things is to lust after them. We understand what it is to lust, but sometimes it's hard to explain what it is to covet things. Paul here equates coveting with lust. If you are lusting after something, whether it be an image, a woman, a man, an item, a thing, whatever that is, that is covetousness. You're coveting that thing. And Paul said, I hadn't known sin but by the law. I wouldn't have known that I was wrong. Just like there are those today, as I talked about last night, that are living in a way that is completely contrary to nature. It is abomination in the eyes of God. It's completely contrary to nature, but they don't know any better because they've never been told. And if they have been told, they've been told with anger and hatred, which drives them even further from that thing because they find acceptance in that one group. But, just because it's contrary to nature, and because you don't know, doesn't give you an excuse. Ignorance is not an excuse in God's eyes. It never has been, and it never will be. And so what do we do then? What do we look at? Well, we see that because those ones are deluded, and they go off in this idea and this mindset, and they don't know any better, They're completely ignorant that it is contrary to nature. They think it's a natural thing. They're even being told in our school system that it is a natural thing for a boy to wish to be a girl and for a girl to wish to be a boy. That it's natural. Now, 40 years ago, that would have been foolishness. 30 years ago, that would have been foolishness. 20 years ago, it was starting to come on the scene. 10 years ago, it was really taking root. And now today, it's natural. The frog is slowly boiling in the pot. If you know that analogy. But because it's contrary to nature, and they don't know, that is ignorance, but ignorance is not an excuse. Okay? But that is why God gave us his word, that's why God gave us his law in particular, to show you what is the natural course of things. What is the center line truth. Because if truth is gray, you can pick whatever reality you want out of that truth. But if there is a solid line that drives truth right straight down the middle, you can see exactly where you've deviated from that truth. And that's what the law of God is. That's what Paul says this law was. He wouldn't have known lust except the laws had said, thou shalt not covet. Remember, He had done everything perfectly. He had, as touching the righteousness of the law, blameless. He was blameless in the righteousness of the law. If you could do it, if you could keep it, if you could touch it, He was blameless in that thing. Until it got to, thou shalt not covet. And I believe personally, you don't have to get on board with this, but I believe personally that there was a time where he was confronted by that law to give away all of his things and not profit from it. And that covetousness reared its ugly head in that rich young ruler. That rich young ruler was shown, he was asked, you know, good sir, good master, what must I do? to have eternal life. And he said, you know the commandments, and he listed off a few. And he says, all of these I've kept for my youth up. What lack I yet? Jesus told him, go sell all that you have and give it to the poor. Take up your cross and follow me. And the man went away sad because he had great riches. And because he had great riches, that wasn't the issue. He didn't know he was covetous. He came, and I believe it was an honest question, what lack I yet? I've done all of these things, I've kept the law, what lack I yet? Jesus showed him his covetousness. By showing him, if you sell all that you have and not profit from it, you're gonna hate that. That's covetousness, and it boiled up to the surface. I believe that was the first pricking of God in his heart. And you don't have to get on board with that. That's fine. But that's just, that's kind of what I've seen there. And it matches up everywhere else that I see Paul. So, but continuing on in this thing, he said, that no one lusted up to the law said thou shall not covet. Verse eight, Romans chapter seven. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was dead." Now, concupiscence is eager or vehement desire. the coveting of carnal things, okay? That is what the law did in him. That commandment came in him, and all of a sudden, that sin took occasion by that thing. Sin was in his heart from his youth up. That sin was in there. That lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, all that is in the world, that was in the heart of the Apostle Paul. From his youth up, he was wicked. But he didn't see it. And sin was just there lurking in the shadows, just waiting. Waiting for the perfect occasion. Okay? Read that again. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, that commandment came. Thou shalt not covet. Sin finally saw the opportunity, and it took it, and it wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. Because, all of a sudden, he saw, oh, I do covet my things. I am a covetous man. That sin all of a sudden grabbed hold of him. It says, for without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died." He didn't see the death within him until that commandment came and showed him his death in him. And then sin revived and he says, and I died. At that point, he knew he was dead. He had broken that law. He knew it. And he continues on, and the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. And you wonder, what about that, you know, that commandment ordained to life? I want to read you one verse. I'll turn to it just real quick. Psalm 19. The commandment which was ordained to life. Yeah, Psalm 19, 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. And honestly, even in that, that commandment came, and did it not enlighten Paul's eyes? Did he not then see his sin? So you see that commandment was ordained unto life. The man that doeth these things shall live therein. All of that. That was ordained to life. But because sin took occasion by that commandment, it wrought death in Paul. It enlightened his eyes to that death, and he saw himself finally a sinner. Okay? Understanding that now, look at verse 11. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me. And by it, slew me." Taking occasion by that commandment, waiting just for the perfect time. And then that commandment came, and it seized the opportunity, and it slew him with that very commandment. This is how Paul saw the law. This is why Paul did not stop preaching the law. He put every single person that he met under the law of God, Jew and Gentile alike. He showed them their guilt before the holy God. Showing them that the God of heaven is ruler over all the earth and all the men that are in the earth and all the women that are in the earth, and all the children that are in the earth, and all the little babes that are in the earth, are under His law. He did this in Athens. Acts chapter 17, He stands up and He goes into great length to explain to them in a way they could understand that they are under that law. And He reasons with them. The problem was, they weren't ready for it. Their hearts were not prepared. That ground was hard. That ground had thorns, that ground had stones, and it wasn't ready. Very, very few people believed at that point. And he never went back to Athens. He went back, as I've said before, he went back to Corinth. He stayed in Corinth a year and a half and went back a couple of different times. Why? Because they had an ability to receive truth. All right? They had a love of the truth. When the truth was given to them, they responded to it. They didn't just scoff or mock at the thing. And so Paul went back to that. Why? Because the Holy Ghost wanted him to go back. The Holy Ghost is the most easily offended... And again, we talked about this the other night, and I can't remember what we used. Leonard Ravenhill talked about that, that the Holy Ghost is the most easily offended person in the room. You can grieve Him, you can grieve Him almost instantly, and He'll be done. We experienced that two weeks ago here. I grieved the Holy Ghost of God, He wasn't here. I believe He's here tonight. I have liberty tonight to preach, and I thank God for that, because I don't deserve that liberty. But in that, He's going to draw you, but if you refuse Him, He's going to stop. He's going to give you over to yourself. And we're not going to get into the reprobate mind and all that. I talked about that a little bit last night. You can listen to the preaching from last night on Sermon Audio if you want to, to get into that. But let's go back into Galatians chapter 5. I think we've covered everything that I really wanted to hear. I believe the Lord would have us to get out of Romans there. We have this here that, for brethren, you have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There's a couple places that now that we're to this point, we talked about that that sin-taking occasion and all of that and what sin will work in you, it'll work death, it'll bring these things out, it'll use the commandment of God to work death in you. That's just how deceitful sin is. But if you can get into the law of God and allow the Holy Ghost of God to convince you of that sin, to convince you that you are that one that this Bible is describing, then God can do a work. Then God can start unraveling your thoughts, untangling the knotted mess in your mind, so that you can finally see clearly, no, that is me. Just like Paul. Paul had so much religion knotted up in his mind, the Holy Ghost of God had to get in there and straighten all of that out and show him, you're covetous. And as we talked about before, covetousness can be a root sin of many, many fruits of your sin nature. I would like to turn to Matthew 22 now. We're going to look at where Jesus speaks about this, of loving your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22, and we're starting verse 35. Let's see, he says, then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question tempting him and saying, Master, what is the great commandment in the law? Now this lawyer was a master of the law. That's what lawyers are today. I had jury duty. I saw the assistant district attorney. I saw the defending attorney. I saw these lawyers who were masters of the law. One was a master at defending with the law, and another was a master at prosecuting with that same law. This lawyer is a master of the law. He knows this law inside and out. He thinks he can catch Jesus in this thing. And then look at this. He asked him, tempting him, saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And then it says this, on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Now tell me, what is contained in the law and the prophets? What do we see? Those two witnesses, what do they continually witness to? Jesus, the testimony of Jesus, His death, His burial, His resurrection, they are the scriptures that that is according to. And so look at this, how he puts this on these two commandments, love the Lord thy God and love thy neighbor as thyself. This is what all that law and prophet hangs on, is love. That's why it says in 1 John 3.16, hereby perceive we the love of God, that He laid down His life for us. Romans 5.8, for God commendeth His love towards us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. How do you see the love of God? You look at the death of Jesus Christ according to the scriptures. That's how you see it. You want to know what true love looks like. Look at the death of Jesus Christ. Even so much in... Oh, we've got some engaged folk in here tonight. We're going to do a little premarital counseling. Ephesians 5. Go to Ephesians 5. Look at this. Another way, another way, tying all of this in. How you know what love is supposed to look like. Ephesians 5, we'll start in verse 22, just for context's sake, says, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. subject unto their own husbands in everything. But then it goes on and says this, husbands, love your wives. How? How? What does real love look like? Even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Real love looks like the death of Jesus. According to the scriptures you look from genesis to revelation and you see the death of jesus christ throughout the entire volume of the book and his sacrifice and his offering of his soul for sin and his resurrection and his coming kingdom all of that shows love and husbands That is how you're to love your wife So if you really want to know how you're supposed to love your wife, look at how Jesus died, because that's what true love is. There's not a single bit of room for selfishness in that thing, is there? But full submission to God. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. That's what it is. Husbands, you submit to God. Wives, you submit to your husbands. And in so doing, you are submitting to God. and just step back and just look and see what God does. Ah, we could go into the rest of that. You know what, we're not going to. We're not going to go into the rest of this. Just read through the rest of chapter 5 there. The whole mystery of marriage is explained finally, alright, in chapter 5, verse 32. And so, you know, why people get married and all of that. It's so that we can see what the love of Christ looks like. So we can really know what love is. because we can see Christ loving his church. Oh goodness, you go into Song of Solomon, you look at that thing, you dive real deep into the love of Solomon for that Shulamite woman and the love that they have for each other and just the vast beautiful detail of what is given, all right? Now, there are descriptive words in there that I don't necessarily use in my common vernacular to show my wife how much I love her, okay? Pillars of ivory to describe her legs. I mean, they're very white, they never see the light of day. So I guess you could go that way. But the idea behind it is that there is something very precious between a man and his wife. And it's something very precious between a wife and her husband. And that is the relationship that Christ has between himself and his church. And therefore, that ought to be the relationship that his church has with her husband. So, consider all of that, you know, looking at marriage, we had just a little bit of a run on there. But all of the law is, it hangs on the law and the prophets on these two commandments. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and this is the first and great commandment, the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And again, if you are loving God, You're not going to want him to break his commandments. I don't want to do anything that is contrary to my wife. I don't want to do anything that would hurt her, that would offend her, that would cause her pain, that would cause her suffering. I don't want to do anything that would put her in a position of agony or angst against me. I don't want to do any of that. Why? Because I love her. In the same token, I ought to be loving my neighbor as myself, not putting him in an occasion to stumble according to the flesh, not desiring his stuff, not desiring his wife, not desiring his cars, not desiring his lands. If I'm loving my neighbor as myself, I'm not gonna steal his stuff. I'm not gonna murder him. I'm not gonna do any of those commandments against him. And therefore, it's masterfully said by the master wordsmith himself, God, the Holy Ghost, That's where the law and the prophets hang. It's on those two commandments. Love God, love people. That's it. If you can figure out how to do that, you're right on par with righteousness. Now, the question is, how do you do that? How do you do that? You yield. The Christian life is a life of yielding. And I don't mean yield as in like, you know, there's a yield sign at the end of the road and you pull up to it and there's a car coming so you wait until they go by and then you go. No. When you yield in the biblical sense, you are putting yourself in full submission to God. You yield to Him. He says to do, and you do, because you yield to Him. Honestly, salvation is the same. If you are seeking salvation, you are yielding to God, agreeing with God what He says about you on the inward parts. You find these works of the flesh manifest in you. You find these things describing, and you look on the inward parts, and you say, yes, God, that is me. You agree with God on the thing, and you yield to Him. You believe what He said, and He'll save you. Believing the promises of God, again, has always been salvation, from the very beginning until the very last one. It's going to be salvation is believing the promises of God. Now, back into Galatians chapter 5, I need to take a drink of water. Anybody want to comment on any of that? I think we're going to move along in just a second here. Any comments on anything we've gone over so far? Another way of putting it is that it's doing it consciously. Loving your neighbor on purpose. If someone is being mean to you, and now that you knew you did nothing wrong, you have to consciously not want to react in your current way. I'm not going to yell back. I'm not going to say I'm not wrong and you did this and you did that. You have the conscience to leave. Yep, yep. You have to make that conscious decision to yield to the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Because your lust of your flesh wants to get back. And that's that carnal mind. That is that natural reaction to things. Your natural reaction to things, according to the flesh, that is your carnal mind. Okay? If Joe Bell was here, I'd have him quote Romans 12, 17. So can either, any of you guys here quote Romans 12, 17? I hammered that thing into Joe Bell so many times. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Okay? That is all dependent on what lies within you. What lies within you? If it's just your carnal nature, well, then you have no choice, really. You can try, but even in not reacting, it's still, according to your carnal mind, it's still iniquity. But, if you have the Godhead within you, are not all things possible with God? With God, all things are possible. Yeah, a perfect example, perfect use of that there. Let's read verse 14 again in Galatians 5, and then we'll go on into verse 15. It says, for all the laws fulfilled in one word, even this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But, it says, if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. Biting and devouring is something that we naturally want to do. It's that, like what you were just talking about, it's that natural reaction, all right? We're attacked. So naturally, we're gonna fight back. Now, you've got to use temperance, you've got to understand. Jesus told his disciples to sell a cloak and buy a sword, okay? The only time you see his disciples using a sword is when Peter cut off Milchus's ear and Jesus said, no, now's not the time. That's the only time you see him using that sword. And so, you know, you just, you gotta weigh that all out. But, biting and devouring one another, there's a, a missionary by name Steve Donnelly, and he's been up in Arctic Canada since I think 1982 is when he got there. He's now in Whitehorse, but he's worked with indigenous peoples the entire time, the native peoples of Canada, and Up there, he wrote a book of some of his life up there, and it's basically, there's spiritual application in each chapter, but he's basically telling his stories, you know, like your grandfather would sit down and tell you stories of his life. That's what he did. And in this one chapter, it was called Devour, all right? And he had 1 Peter 5, 8, you know, be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary the devil is a roaring lion, walk about seeking whom he may devour. And in that he described a time when he was out on the land and he found a caribou carcass that had been eaten by wolves. He said the only way you knew it was a caribou carcass was because there were some nubs of the antlers and a little bit of the skull still, a couple of teeth, and the rest was completely consumed, devoured. The face was eaten out. Okay, all the bones were chewed into splinters. This is the picture of devouring. Now, the only reason you would devour somebody is if you had a malicious hatred for them. Don't bite and devour one another. That doesn't match up whatsoever in loving your neighbor as yourself. And by the way, that's a personal responsibility. Love thy neighbor as thyself. It's a commandment to all, but it's individual. You can't, wife, love your neighbor with your husband. You have to take the stand and love your neighbor. Same way, husband, you have to love your neighbor as yourself. And so all of this is laid out here, and I don't think it's necessary to go into verse 15. We know what it means to bite and devour one another. Honestly, many of us in here have done it with those who are in here far too many times. We've bitten and devoured one another at Grace Bible Church over the years so many times, it's disgusting. And that's just a rebuke. Just take it for what it is and stop doing it. There's no room for that. We don't have time for that. There's too much at stake for that. Don't bite and devour one another. Why? Because you're going to be consumed one of another. And Christ is not going to be edified. The body of Christ is not going to be edified. And you are not going to have the blessing of God on you. Plain and simple. I think that's all we need to say about that. Verse 16, we'll carry on. Says, this I say then, walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Walk in the Spirit. You shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The key of this is, though, how do you walk in the Spirit? Romans 7, wherein it goes into this thing of the things that I want to do, those I don't do, the things I don't want to do, those are the things that I do, and it's this battle back and forth. That is the battle between the mind of Christ and your carnal mind. That's what that is. Your carnal mind is enmity against the mind of Christ. And so it wants to raise up, and it wants to rule. It wants control. This is a very, very terrible example. And I've never seen the movie, but I know what the movie is about. Anybody ever seen the movie Weekend at Bernie's? Do you know of that movie? A couple of people nodding their head, many people shaking their head no. From what I understand, the basic gist of this movie is there's a party at this rich guy's home, and he dies, and the people that are there with the party, they basically make him seem as though he's alive through the entire movie. Okay, they like carry him around, and it's supposed to be a comedy, and like I said, I've never seen it, but I've seen the picture, they put sunglasses on him and a hat, and you know, they make him and carry him around as though he's alive. That's what you're doing with your carnal nature. When you want your carnal nature to take the lead, you're just carrying the deadness of your flesh and letting it make all the decisions. And it's foolishness. It's absolute foolishness. So, how do you do this though? What is the mind of Christ? We are going to get into that. Go to Philippians chapter 4. It's a couple pages over. Get in just a little bit of this tonight. Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. This is how. This is how you walk in the Spirit. And this is why when you walk in the Spirit, you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Look at this. Let's start at verse four. This is very important. All of this ties together. Okay? Verse four in Philippians chapter four. It says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. Now that's not always, but it's always. That's continually. That is your general character. When people know you, they know about you that you are just always rejoicing. They talk to you and you're rejoicing about something. Somebody else talks to you and you're rejoicing about something. That ought to be just who you are. And that all way is a continual action. A good study on that, that Paul Scott did, really brought that whole thing together about continually and all way. It was wonderful, dealing with Mephibosheth eating at David's table. We'll continue on though, and again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Now, he just gave you what you needed to have peace in your life. What you need to have the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, he told you exactly what to do. Lay it all at his feet. Let him have it. It says, the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, but it can be purified by faith. But if your heart is trying to deceive you, how do you overcome that? Well, you let Christ keep your heart. You let Christ keep that thing. Your heart is that part of you on the inward parts that prays. It's the part of you that needs to believe Christ. It's the part of you that... that speaks, alright, we've done the thing, you know, where you say a Bible verse in your head, well, that's actually your heart, according to the Bible, that's your heart speaking. Okay, you have a spiritual mind, you have a physical mind. You have a spiritual heart, you have a physical heart. You have spiritual reins, you have physical reins. Okay, your kidneys are those reins. And so, with all that understood, That is how he keeps our hearts and our minds through Christ Jesus. Our minds is where we analytically process all the information that comes from our hearts. Our hearts make up imaginations, it makes up devices, it makes up all these scenarios, puts it into our mind, and our mind deciphers everything and decides what opinions to make and what actions to take off of those opinions. Okay, that's what your mind is. And Jesus Christ says he will keep your heart and mind. Now, if He's keeping it, what room does sin have in that thing? How can sin take control if Christ is keeping it? Well, if you're not doing these things here in verse 4, 5, and 6. If you're taking control, if you're taking the worry, if you're taking the fright, if you're taking all of this upon yourself and not letting Christ do these things, and by the way, He does it through the washing of water by the Word. This is how He does it, through the Word of God. Carry on, verse 8, and here we have the mind of Christ. You want to know what the mind of Christ is? What does Christ's mind consist of? It's right here. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, Whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." That's the mind of Christ. When you think on those things, you're thinking according to the mind of Christ. And so, if you're thinking on all of these things, where does the lust of the flesh come in? It can't. So, therefore, back in Galatians chapter 5, he says this, this I say then, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You think on those things, all those things that are pure, lovely, good rapport, virtue, praise, what sort of things are honest, what sort of things are just, all of that, that whole eight thing long list there, You think on those things and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. It's not gonna happen. That word shall in your Bible is an absolute. All right, there's no way around it. It's going to happen. And if he says, ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, if you walk in the spirit, you are not gonna fulfill the lust of the flesh. It's the same thing there in James, submit yourselves therefore under God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. In that, if you resist the devil, that's great, but you need to first submit yourself unto God. How do you submit yourself to God? Where do you go to find God? Where do you learn about God? Right here in His Word. You submit yourself to the Word of God, submit yourself unto the preaching of the Word of God, and you resist the devil, and he will flee from you. It is the one thing that the devil will absolutely flee from every time. Someone who is submitted to God and is submitted to the Word of God and resisting Him. Now, let's keep going. We've got just a couple more minutes. We've got five minutes left. We're just going to kind of summarize this down to verse 18. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." So, if you're under the law, you can't be led of the Spirit. But if you're led of the Spirit, you can't be under the law. And so you have liberty in those things. Furthermore in that, it says you cannot do the things that you would. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary one to the other. Your carnal mind is fleshly. It desires things that are contrary to the word of God. It hates the law of God. They're contrary one to the other. So that you cannot do the things that you would. And again, that word would there is connected to your own personal will. It's your choice, it's your decisions that you make. God gave you that free will to make a decision. He said, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your fathers or the real God. Now, there's one place in James 4 that I want to connect here for you because James quotes Paul here, and this is fascinating to me, the way he says it. James quotes Paul in this. James chapter 4, and look at verse 5. It says, do you think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? There's not a single place in the Old Testament that says that. There's no place in the Old Testament that says that. And so, where is it then? He's quoting scripture. Well, Peter refers to Paul and how that wicked men will take and they'll rest his words as they do the other scriptures. Okay, so even in the days of Peter, while Peter was still alive, walking and talking, preaching, writing his epistle, he was calling the writings of Paul scripture. And men, even at that time, were taking his words and resting them. Alright, it's more than twisting them. Resting them is taking them and mangling them up. Okay? And so that is what was going on there. And he says, the spirit within us lusteth, the spirit that dwell within us lusteth to envy. And in that, it is that flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. Your spirit is contrary to your carnal mind. And the spirit of Christ is contrary to your carnal mind. Now, I'm talking to Christians here tonight, all right? I'm talking to those that not just take the claim of Christian, but who have been truly born of God. If you have been truly born of God, then your spirit is linked up with Jesus Christ's spirit irreversibly, and you cannot separate the two, okay? It would be like taking blue Kool-Aid and red Kool-Aid and mixing it together. It's pretty much forever going to be purple, all right? Now, I understand science. You could probably go in and take the molecules out and all that, but just take the example for what it is, okay? You can't separate the two things. You can't undo that thing. And so, if you are born of God, your spirit now desires to walk after the Spirit. But your carnal mind still wants control, and it lusts against that Spirit. The things that it lusts for are against the Spirit of God, the things that it wants to do are contrary to your spirit, and it only wants to destroy you. So then, now that we've gone through all of this, Galatians chapter 5, It says this in verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these. And next week we're going to get into the these. We're going to get into the works of the flesh. What are those works of the flesh? Understanding what it is for something to be made manifest. It is brought to the surface, it's brought to the outside so that you can see what's there. A truck manifest tells you exactly what's on that truck. It's all written down. You don't have to open the back of the truck. You look at the manifest and if the paperwork was done properly, you can tell everything that's on the truck from that manifest, that bill of lading. And this is exactly what God is about to show you. The lusts of the flesh. What are the lusts of the flesh? He says, walk in the spirit. You shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Well, what are the lusts of the flesh? We're about to learn. And you can read down through those. You can study those out. It would be helpful if you did. But we're going to go down through every one of them. I have quite a few verses, four or five for each of those. And I've studied out so far as to strife. And I know we're not going to get there next week yet. Any closing comments? I think we're done. I think we made it tonight. Anything at all? Nope. All right. Well, Theron, do you want to close us in prayer? Dear Lord, we thank you for what we have seen here tonight, Lord. A lot of recovery, a lot that we can apply to our lives. Help us to dwell on these things and use them in our daily lives. And may we rest this evening. May you have your will and your way. Amen.