It's good to reflect upon what Christ did for us. I know the, I read once that the Moravian brothers would portray the crucifixion of Christ every time they gathered for worship. and focus upon his suffering and his scourging, his crucifixion. And I think possibly the reason for that is we can identify to a small measure physical suffering. We've all experienced pain. Some have experienced severe pain. I don't know if we've ever could measure up to what Christ experienced physically, but we can at least identify with pain. And Jesus did suffer extremely in his body. But we can't, we just can't comprehend the agony of the wrath of the father being poured out upon him for us. So that steps into mystery. We can only read what scripture says that going back to the Old Testament, which John MacArthur calls chapter 53 of Isaiah, the Old Testament gospel. beginning in chapter 52 in verse 13. Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, his form beyond that of the children of mankind. So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him. For that which has been told them they see and that which they have not heard they understand. Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed. For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no farm or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, listen to this, we esteem him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord, listen to this, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a sheep that before it shares his silence. So he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. That cut off on the land of the living means Jesus died. He literally died. That was one reason for the incarnation. so he could take upon human nature so he could physically die for us. They made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. He was sinless. He was innocent. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief when a soul makes an offering for sin. He shall see his offspring, that's the resurrection. He shall prolong his days, that's the resurrection. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand, that's victory. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, that's our salvation, where God imputes to us Christ's righteousness. And he shall bear their iniquities, Therefore, I would divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. That's divine intercessor. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. So we need to remember what Jesus did for us and as by scripture and I'll get to Galatians in just a moment here. But one of the intriguing things that I find in the gospel accounts, particularly the, well, all the accounts, how brief the statement is about Jesus being crucified. beginning in Matthew's gospel, chapter 27, verse 32. And as they went out of Jerusalem toward Golgotha, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they offered him wine to drink mixed with gall that was to numb him. But when he tasted it, he would not drink it, because he was going to experience the full fury of God's judgment and wrath, plus the full fury of the physical crucifixion. And here's the statement, verse 35. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. When they had crucified him, how brief. I'll brief that statement. Let's jump over to Mark's Gospel. In Mark 15, verse 21, Now, as I start to read this verse, in the gospels, we go through the scourging of Jesus. In fact, Pilate thought if he would discourage him to the point of death and bring him out before the religious leaders, that that would satisfy their lust for him to die. But it did not. They had Merton. You know what Jesus said in John's gospel? You're of your father, the devil. And he had murder in his heart from the beginning, and they had murder in their heart. So we do see the mocking, the striking, and the beating of Jesus prior to his crucifixion, but how brief it is about his crucifixion. And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull. And he offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he would not drink it. And they crucified him. That's it. Such a brief statement, four words. And they crucified him. And divided his garments among them, casting lots for them to decide what each should take. Now we do have the sayings of Jesus on the cross. And we get glimpses of his suffering there. But as far as the crucifixion is so succinct and so brief that it has astounded me for many years. Luke 23, 26. And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them, Jesus said, daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, blessed are the barren in the wombs that never born, the breast that never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us and to the hills, cover us. For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry? Two others were criminals were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him. And the criminals, one on his right hand, one on his right, and one on his left. And Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do. My point is that as I sing that song, I remember. Again, they composed that song in the context of receiving the Lord's Supper. And Jesus' word, do this in remembrance of me. And so we need to, particularly in this season coming up, in the season of Easter, the resurrection, We ought to spend time in the Gospels, and particularly in these chapters that deal with Jesus's arrest and his crucifixion, and then the glory of his purpose, his resurrection. And in John's Gospel, chapter 19, beginning in verse 16. So he, Pilate, delivered him, Jesus, over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. That's it. Now again, there's more description of what's going on there, but how succinct it is that Jesus was crucified. And so we need to remember the price he paid for us and that his life was poured out on Calvary Street. Let's have a word of prayer and we'll look at some more walk through again this section of walking in the spirit. Father, thank you for the gift of your son. Thank you, Father, for what Jesus did for us. Father, open the eyes of our heart to see the demonstration of your love for us at Calvary Street. And we thank you, Father, that though he was smitten by you, Your wrath was poured out upon the Son for my sin and the sin of all who believe. Father, help us to grasp to some measure the great price that was paid for us, that we are not our own. We've been bought with a price, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. So Father, as we study your word, open our heart, open our minds, open our understanding. that Father, we might respond to you in faith and obedience. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. Now let's go back over, beginning in verse 16 in chapter five. And part of the context is the freedom that we have in Christ. And what are we free to do? Not to do whatever we want. We are free now to walk in the Spirit. We were in bondage to our sin. Let me read this section again for you. Ephesians 2, you were dead in the trespasses of your sin in which you once walked, following, this is the direction that lost people walk, following the course of this world, following the little p prince of the power of the air. Now, most people say, I don't follow Satan. Well, he's the instigator of this world system. He's the source of all false religions. He's the source of the corruption of our sexuality that God made, and it was good. In fact, he said it was very good when he made Adam. But it's the corruption through pornography and all kinds of manners of the mind, depravity of the mind, And so Paul says that before Christ, now I'm a church kid. He's not just talking about pagans. He's not talking about those that are drug addicts or prostitutes or gamblers or drunkards or drug addiction people. No, he's talking about everyone that is still in Adam. That's what he talks about in chapter one of Romans and in chapter three of Romans. where he gives this devastating summation of the lostness of mankind. What then, are we Jews any better off than the Gentiles? No, not at all, for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, or Gentiles, are under sin, as it is written, Psalm 14, one through three. None is righteous, no, not one. Now, let me pause here The one who's making this statement, the one who's observing mankind, is God the Father. So this isn't just the psalmist's words, this just isn't Paul's words, this is the determination and the evaluation of the true and living God. None is righteous, no not one. No one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. This is from Psalm 5. All have sinned and turned to sides from Ecclesiastes 7. And part of no one understands or seeks God is from Psalm 53, one through three. Paul is pulling from scripture what God has said about mankind. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps, or snakes, is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift, shed blood. And their paths are ruin and misery. The way of peace they do not know. They have not known. And here's the kicker. There is no fear of God before their eyes. That's the evaluation of mankind. And so, you are dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the little pea prince, the power of the earth, Satan, the spirit that is now at work, now at work, and even today it's now at work, in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature, in Adam, our Adamic nature, were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. So, that's our condition before Christ. That's the condition of everyone without Christ. Even though you can be religious, like I said, I was a church kid, but I was still in that category. You can be religious, you can have high moral standards, but as the prophet said, our righteousness before a holy God are like filthy rags. We cannot attain 100% righteousness. We have failed. We've already failed. We can never attain that. There's no grading on a curve. There's no going back and taking a mulligan. In Adam, we are dead. In Adam, we are blind. In Adam, we are deaf spiritually. And so the freedom that we have is not to exercise what we were in Adam. The freedom that we have in Christ is to abide in Him and live in Him and walk in the Spirit. And so that's what he's saying here in verse 16. And I say walk by the Spirit or in the Spirit. I like by the Spirit, the Spirit empowering us. That process has in surrendering. That process is humbling ourselves and yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit to the Lord Jesus, to the Father. So walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. That is so important. I mentioned it last week. We try to beat down the flesh, and that's not what we need to do. We need to reckon ourselves dead, indeed under sin, but we don't stop there, but alive under Christ. And so we yield to the Holy Spirit. We consciously do that. Now, in Ephesians, if I'm turning the right way, we get into chapter five. Let me start at verse one. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children. See, this is our relationship now. We're in relationship as adopted and children of God, joiners with Christ, born from above, okay? Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity in our covenants must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness or foolish talk, nor crude joking, which is out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." Okay, well what did we read there in chapter two? Among whom we also once let's see um the spirit that is not working as sons of disobedience okay so he repeats that theme sons of disobedience therefore do not associate with them for one time you were darkness but now you are light in the lord walk as children of light For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead. Christ will shine on you. We're raised to walk in this life. We're no longer dead in our trespasses and sin. Look carefully how than how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." And we saw that Sunday morning from Thessalonians. This is the will of the Lord for you, your sanctification. Now here's the verse, verse 18. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. So do not get drunk with wine. What happens when somebody gets drunk? That alcohol gets in their blood system and in essence affects them in their thinking, in their speech, in their coordination, in their perception, because it permeates through their entire body, to their brain, to their muscles, to their nervous system. And so he says, don't get drunk. with wine, for that is debauchery. But instead, be filled with the spirit. One is physical effect. The other is a spiritual effect upon our life. Now, literally, that be filled is literally be continually filled with the spirit. Be continually filled with the spirit. It's in the present tense. So there's no option. The command is be continually filled with the spirit, be under the control, just like that alcohol in the bloodstream takes over control of the body and distorts it. Again, coordination, reflexes, thought process, speech, be continually filled with the spirit to control your perceptions, your speech, your spiritual coordination, your awareness of your surroundings. It says addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart. giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Okay, let's come back here then to Galatians. That's what it means to walk in the spirit, to be submissive. And we think of Phil, I don't have a cup here, we think of Phil being poured in there, but actually in a sense it is, the way the Holy Spirit's poured into us, I think on a daily basis is through the word of God. Now, when we come to Christ, God deposits the Holy Spirit in our life as a guarantee of our final redemption. Okay? So the Holy Spirit dwells within us as true believers, but In that process, we need to continue to surrender to Him. And so if we use this concept of pouring, being filled with the Spirit, what we need to pour into our life is the Word of God. Because that's the main, that's one of the primary means the Holy Spirit uses to transform our life, to bring sanctification process in our life. So if we wanna think of something being poured into us, Think of the word of God being poured into our hearts and mind. So the Holy Spirit will take that word and transform it. Being not conformed to this world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now, John 17, 17. Jesus' priestly prayer. One of his cries was, Father, sanctify them by truth. Thy word is truth. So that's, again, if we want to think of this idea from Ephesians 5, be continually filled with the spirit, the way that we are, what we pour into our life is the word of God. Father, sanctify them by truth. Thy word is truth. Excuse me, sanctification is the work of God. through the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, the renewing of our mind is through the Word of God, that the Spirit helps us understand the Word of God, gives us the power to obey the Word of God and to follow Him. So he says, I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. They're set aside for the desires of the flesh. lusts against the spirit, desires against the spirit, and the flesh opposes the spirit. So let me jump over to where he talks about what is the fruit of the spirit, the evidence of the spirit in our life. Well, we live a life of love. We jump back to verse six of chapter five. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. Now, this is agape love. And that's the type of love that God has bestowed upon us. And we cannot manufacture this type of love. It only is manifested by the Spirit of God as we yield to Him. Now, there are times where we have, in our yielding to the Holy Spirit, When something happens in our life, we have to make a conscious yielding of our will to Him. When someone that we've had a problem with maybe, or someone that has offended us, hurt us deeply, I've talked about this occasionally at church, and we see something reminds us of that individual, and all that pain or all that anger or all that bitterness starts to well up within us, we have to yield that to God. And we have to say, Holy Spirit, help me. Help me exercise faith working through love. And we have to make a conscious decision to love. And that's yielding to the teaching of scripture, yielding to the presence of Christ in our life. That's what it means to walk in the spirit under his control. So we take off ownership of those feelings. We take our hands off of ownership of those feelings and we submit them to Christ. And we're reminded that we're commanded to forgive even as we've been forgiven. And we're to love and walk in love. So when we say the evidence of the Spirit, one of the facets of the fruit of the Spirit working in our life is the exercising of our faith, working through love and loving God. loving the Lord Jesus, God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and loving the brethren, and choosing to love even our enemies. And in a sense, that produces a joy in our life, a rejoicing in the power of God and the sovereignty of God and in the goodness of God, which then relates to experiencing the peace of God. The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace, and it's patience. Wish I could find my, I think it's upstairs. This isn't a full Greek New Testament, it's just a textual criticism. I don't see my Greek New Testament, I wanted to check a word. But this patience, I'm not sure if it's hupomone, which means to bear under a load. But see, when we are loving God and experiencing His joy and His peace, we can rest in that and exercise patience. patience for God to continually change our heart, to remove those feelings, to remove that animosity or that bitterness, so that now when you see that individual or you see something or experience something that reminds you of that experience, what's going to be manifested is that love, is that joy, is that peace, is that patience, and then kindness. and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control, against such there is no law. That's the working of the Spirit in our life, but it comes about by our daily yielding to Him. Be continually filled with the Spirit. Be continually under the authority and control of Christ. And so we should not try to fight the flesh, We reckon the flesh dead. We reckon ourselves dead in deed unto sin, but alive unto God. That's a faith word. That's a trusting in the promises of God. And so we reckon ourselves dead. We pray. Prayer is the twin sister of scripture, in a sense, of the spirit transforming us and producing this fruit in us. And really, I said last week, my conviction is, and don't let me hear you say fruits of the Spirit. I may not say anything to you, but I'll cringe a little bit. It's fruit. I think this is the character of Christ in us, being revealed to us and through us. And so, he says, walk in the Spirit, And then in verse 25, if we live by the spirit, that's the only way that we can live as believers in Christ. Let us also walk by the spirit. Literally that means let us keep in step with the spirit. How do we do that? Again, if you got this concept of being filled with the spirit, what we fill our hearts and minds with is the word of God. And that's how we keep in step with the spirit. And let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. No holier than thou, no condescending, no looking down upon a brother or sister that may not be as far along as you are. Well, this is the way it works. I may have victory in this aspect of my life and you don't. But you have victory in some aspect of your life and I don't. And so we don't look down upon one another. We don't become conceited. We don't provoke one another, envy one another. We grab hands and walk together, seeking and pursuing Christ. We're in this together. You know, I will close with this or time's up. Philippians 1.6, be confident in this very thing, that he, God the Father, who began a good work in you, that you, in Philippians, is plural. He's speaking to the church. Be confident of this very thing, that He, the Father, who began a good work in you, plural, because we're in this together. And so we join hands, seeking to walk in the Spirit. We pray for one another, that we yield to the Holy Spirit's control as we follow Christ. Be confident in this very thing that he who began a good work in you will complete it on the day of Jesus Christ. Jesus is preparing his bride. We read that in Revelation. He is preparing his bride for his return. And so, in this interim, we are called to walk in the Spirit. Walk by the Spirit. Keep in step with the Spirit. Be continually filled or under the control of the Holy Spirit. And so be continually filling our hearts and minds with the Word of God and through prayer and experiencing the transforming power and work of the Holy Spirit. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your Word that is sufficient to bring sanctification to our lives. Father, not just reading it for head knowledge, but reading it, Father, for transformation, not for information, but Father, reading it, meditating upon it, memorizing it, sitting under the teaching of a pastor teacher, sitting in a Sunday school class or a small group class. Father, not just to gain information, but Father, to experience transformation by your spirit. And so, Father, thank you that you provided, your word says, you have provided us with all things that pertain to life and godliness. And so, Father, thank you for your provision. Help us, Father, feast at your table. Help us drink from the living water of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we might grow in spirit and truth. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Lord bless you, and we're continuing in our study of 1 Thessalonians. We'll finish up chapter four, some practical, real practical statements that Paul is giving to these Thessalonians in the last verses of chapter four. We'll look at that this Sunday morning. And we'll, might conclude Galatians next week in chapter six. There's two sections there, so it might take at least two more Wednesday nights to finish chapter six, but we'll start chapter six next week. I pray that you know Christ as your Lord and Savior. I pray if you do not, the Holy Spirit will open the eyes of your heart, help you understand that you are separated from a holy God and you have no hope in yourself. You have no hope in your good deeds. You have no hope except in Christ. And would you turn to Christ? Would you repent of your sin and your self-will and turn to Christ and fall upon him and receive the forgiveness of your sin? That's the only hope that we have. That's my only hope is my trust in Christ and the forgiveness that I have in Him and the gift of everlasting life that I have in Him. So if you didn't know Christ, it's my prayer the Holy Spirit will open your heart and the Father will draw you to Jesus today. So God bless you and we'll see you next week.