Hi, I'm Matt Henry, and I'm the pastor at Missio Dei Fellowship in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Very thankful that you found our sermons, and I hope that they are a way of encouragement to you in your Christian walk. However, it's important for you to understand that this sermon was given in my church's context and for the people that God has entrusted for me to shepherd. So if you're in the Kenosha area, I would encourage you to come on a Sunday and worship with the body of Christ here. And if you're not in this area, these sermons are a great tool for supplementing your walk, but they are by no means a substitute for the local church. So you need to submit yourself to a faithful Bible teaching church and shepherd in your area. Thank you. Open, if you haven't, to Acts chapter 10. We'll only be here for but a moment, and then we're gonna begin to look at some other passages. This is really a continuation of last week, where my intention was to preach much more than what time allowed me, and so I'm picking up on the points from last week. In verse 35, but I will start in verse 34, you will recall that Peter has just entered into the home of a Gentile centurion. by the name of Cornelius. Cornelius is not there alone. He has gathered friends and family. So when he walks into this household, he is greeted with quite the crowd, and he didn't know that they were there. And in that, he comes to some realizations again. As I mentioned last week, before he can instruct the Gentiles, these unbelieving Gentiles, these people who do not yet know the fullness of who Jesus Christ is and what he has accomplished and done, he must himself learn. And so he is in the process of discovering things. And the first thing he discovers in verse 34 is, I most truly comprehend that now that God is not one to show partiality. So he discovers, though he knew it theologically, now he has discovered it in a manner that he hadn't before, that he understands God is unimpressed with us all, God approaches us on the same level, and he is not one to show partiality. But second, in verse 35, he says, but in every nation, the one, and this is where it gets very important, the one who fears him, fears God, and then don't miss the little word and, and does righteousness is welcome to him. I mentioned last week and the week before, actually, that word welcome, your translation may say acceptable or accepted or pleasing. All of those would be good translations of the term. And the question was, has God welcomed you? Has God accepted you? Are you a pleasing aroma? Speaking of the Old Testament sacrifices, where done rightly, they become a pleasing aroma to them. And we are to offer ourselves as a pleasing sacrifice to our Lord on a daily basis. Are you one that God has welcomed? Are you one that God has embraced? And he makes it very clear and very succinct. He says, the one who fears him and does righteousness. As I said, the word term fear or fear the Lord or fear God is an Old Testament way of saying what the New Testament more consistently says is believing. They're the same thing. To fear God is to believe God. You would never fear one whom you do not believe. In fact, that's actually a very good way of describing it. To one who says, I believe, and yet has no fear of God, means you don't know the God that you claim to believe. And to fear him means that you have come to that realization, I believe in him. But the scripture in the New Testament would also use other terms, come, follow, obey. These are all aspects of what comes out of natural fearing of God or a belief in God. And so we looked at a few things last week, and they were very important things. So if you haven't heard that sermon, I can only urge you as strongly as I can without grabbing you and making you listen to it, that you should go and hear it. In fact, it would be worth hearing a few times. First, we were reminded that what saving faith looks like, because that's the issue, is we have to know, are we saved? Have we come to a saving faith? And so we talked about the idea that saving faith has three aspects to it that you need to see. The facts, you need to agree to those facts, and then you need to have trust in those facts. And what happens is a lot of people confuse the first two with having saving faith. They know that Jesus died for their sins. They know he rose from the dead. They know he's coming back to judge the living and dead. In some way or another, they're not arguing about that. And so they agree with those. They say, yeah, I believe that. But what they mean by that belief is I agree. I'm not debating it. And yet they have never, entrusted themselves to it. Those are not precious truths to them. They do not delight in those things. They're just simply facts that they accept. This type of faith is what the theologians call that living or vital faith. To have all three of those aspects is a living, vital, saving faith, as opposed to a dead faith. Second thing we talked about was then, in light of that, salvation and forgiveness of sin comes only only by grace, God's grace, and through faith alone. Remember, grace is that which saves you. God's grace is what saves you. And the instrument by which you receive that is through faith, right? And remember, we talked about the bowl of soup for the starving man, and he uses a spoon to bring it to his mouth. Does the spoon save him? No. It's the soup. It's the soup that saves them. In the same way, it's God's grace that saves you. The instrument given is faith. But there is no salvation. The Scripture is clear. If having claimed to believe, there's no obedience or doing what is right. You will hear people say that once you are saved, you're always saved. I grew up with that. And that's true. If you are saved, you're always saved. But it assumes something, doesn't it? It assumes you're saved. To say you're saved is not the same thing as being saved. To declare, I am a Christian, means nothing. As Jesus says in I got notes all over my sermon, don't wander, and I'm already wandering. In Matthew 7, he says, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not do this in your name and that in your name and this in your name? And he says, I never knew you. Once saved, always saved. Sure, I'll buy that. It's kind of a simple way of saying a complex thing, but let's understand that that assumes that you are actually saved. Faith cannot stand by itself. Never can faith stand by itself. Through faith alone you are justified, declared righteous. God says you shall be called righteous. How? Through faith. Faith alone. Through faith alone, you have that justification. But, listen, faith is never alone. Faith is never alone. You're saved, justified by faith alone, but you're never finding faith alone. Faith-derived works or faith-derived actions will always follow. Third, this is all just a recap. If we are saved by grace, through faith, alone, in Christ alone, then the question should naturally be in our mind, where then does good works or obedience fit into the Christian faith? I say I'm a Christian, then okay. If I'm saved by faith alone, then where does this good works, this obedience come into play? The first thing that I talked about was that faith that is saving faith, that faith that trusts and rests in the true facts of the gospel that you agree in but you also find rest in, shall necessarily, the Bible says, necessarily produce good works. These are not actions. Now here, you gotta hear this or the rest of my sermon will make no sense. Those works, those actions are not defined by you or me. We don't get to say what those good works should be. But keep in mind, you will never be saved because you did or did not do certain actions. When a person says, well, how do you know you're saved? Well, I did this. No, you're already wrong. Because I had faith in Christ alone. Then when I say, show me your faith, you say, I did this. I'm doing this. These things are dying in my life. These things are being put away. These things are becoming more precious. Now you can point to your works, but when you talk about what saved you, it is God's grace, and I believe it. I believe it with all my heart, and now my life models it in a certain way. So to claim faith and then to live in such a manner that defies that claim is simply evidence that there is no saving faith. Is it therefore guaranteed that you have no saving faith? No. There will be times in every one of your lives that you will do very foolish things, and you will walk in paths that you ought not to walk in. But if you are genuinely, truly saved, those will pass away, and there will be this consistent state of pattern of putting sin away, of repenting. Now this balance is very key and it's very easy to confuse, so today we're gonna dig a bit more into a detailed examination of what are these works and the relationship they have with faith. So go now to Ephesians, which is a famous passage, Ephesians 2, and we're gonna just unpack a very popular passage that gets quoted, and rightly so, about faith. and we'll see what is going on. Now, I'm gonna be doing some grammar here. If you wanna hear a full exposition of this, I preach through the book of Ephesians. You can find those sermons on our website. And if they're not there, they're tucked away in sermonaudio.com, but they're there and you can get them. In Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, it says, for this reason, by grace, you have been saved through faith. So there it is. It is grace you've been saved. That's what saves you. And the instrument is through faith. And then to beat that to death, he says, in this, not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. Now, what we have here is, in verses eight and nine, is it makes the entire work of salvation to be of God, a gift from God. All of salvation, from beginning to end, from preparing the need or the basis for salvation, His grace, found in Jesus Christ, all the way to the end of bringing you home to glory, where all things have been passed away and now we're made fully new for all eternity, all of it is a work of grace. In other words, we contribute nothing to this but faith. But, now hear this, but even that faith is a gift of God. It's not something we produce. Now your translation may say that or this. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this, in my translation, and others that will say that, and that, not of yourselves. So what does that little word this or that mean? It's always that the details are where the theology lies. What does that refer to? What is this this? Because it is the gift, right? And this, not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. So what is it? So to what is it pointing to? because whatever it's pointing to is a gift. Now, some will say it's the grace. The grace of God is the gift. And I would say, yes, that's true. Others would say the faith is a gift. I would say that's true. And others would say, well, I think it's the salvation that's a gift. And I'd say, that's true. But there's a grammatical thing I won't bore you with too deeply here, but hear me. The word this is constructed in a very unique way in the Greek because it is encapsulating all of them. It is grace, and faith, and salvation. This whole thing is a gift from God. Isn't that amazing? Just think about it. Some will say one thing or another, and that's only partially right. All of it. is a gift from God. This is why then that final aspect of saving faith becomes so important to understand. You can say, well, I learned, I went to Sunday school, I heard all of the facts about the gospel, and that's why we do it. You need them. And you can say, and I believe those, I accept those. Then that's good, you need to do that. But where does that switch come over where you say, Oh my gosh, I mean, I really believe it. That's almost how we tend to say saving faith, is I really believe it, whatever really means, right? What it really means is that you realize my life depends on this. My hope, my joy, my delight, everything is built upon those things. And it's there I stop and I find life. Why? Because, and how does that come about? It comes about as a gift from God. When you have only the first two, until that love for Jesus Christ, that resting or entrusting of our very souls in Christ alone occurs, what you have is religion. And religion becomes born, we have the facts and we agree with them, but we do not yet have life. We are not yet made new in Jesus Christ. We continue to embrace sin. When you have the first two, what you will find is nothing really changes. You become just religious. You add Christ, you add religion, but everything else pretty well stays the same, and it doesn't, frankly, bother you. Now, when you come to faith, there will be now, from that point forward, a lifelong process of putting away sin. Don't think you enter into some state of perfection. But immediately, there becomes some critical awarenesses that these things cannot be. In fact, some things that you'll say, I'm ashamed of. In fact, it's not uncommon for brand new baby Christians to then go and do what they shouldn't do and then be shocked. Why am I here? Why am I doing this? And they'll be just disgusted with it. You'll see other things that just go away. I know one person who used to be heavily involved with drugs, just to an exceeding level, And this person said, you know, I don't know, but all I know is that when I placed my faith in Christ, it was gone. It was just gone. Others say, well, that wasn't true for me, but other things just went away. The reality is that once you're made new and alive in Christ, things become different. But if we continue on in our life unchanged in any substantive way, doesn't mean that there's a hope for us, it just means it hasn't yet come to its fullness. We claim Christ, but true saving faith is a gift of God. It's a wholehearted trust, a hope, a fear of the Lord. So how do you see that? How do you know that that's what's happening? That's where the whole issue is, isn't it? Well, it's like James says, it's through works. And notice what verse 10 says. Notice what verse 10 says. Note the word for. for this reason. So he doesn't stop with, so that no one may boast. We're not saved by works, because if we were saved by what we do or don't do, then we can boast about that. But instead, he says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand. For what end? So that we would walk in them. Note again, the word for, it's the finishing of the thought of verse nine. Now he's going to explain why we can't even boast. Again, we're saved by grace through faith. All of it's a gift of God. We can't boast about it. We can't say, I believed. It's on me. And I'd say, yes, you did believe. And I praise God for it. And it's a gift of God. But we're also not now in our own image. Notice this. We are whose workmanship? We're God's workmanship. This is what radically changes. Once we come in faith and we are saved, we are now a new creation. We are His workmanship, and that is left for, if we are still in our own image, pursuing our own desires, our own ways, then that is simply one who rejects Jesus to their own ruin. Instead, we are an image of the work of God upon us, and He is now at work conforming us into the image of His beloved Son. And this new creation that comes through faith by grace is because God has made something for us, and we have been made by Him for something. What is it? It's good works. We are his workmanship created where? In Christ Jesus. For what purpose? For good works. So, who gets to decide what's good? Do you? Do I? Do we say, oh, let's just kind of go about and do what we think would be right? No, it's God who defines it. So then we want to ask ourselves this, are these being made up by God as we go through our life? Do they change with the times? No. The same good works that Paul would tell a person he ought to be performing, as they say, well, what do they look like? The same things are given to us. It has never changed over the 2,000 years since Christ rose and ascended into heaven. Even though the modern church is full of all sorts of folly and evil, And they all claim that, look, things are in a state of evolution. The reality is God is the one who established these good works, and he is the one who has placed us in Christ, now working in us so that we might walk in these good works. So they don't change with time. No, they were already created beforehand. Notice it says that, that God prepared beforehand that we should walk. So we have this body of doctrine that we can look at and say, what is it that we ought to be and do? These are the ancient paths, the ancient works defined by our creator. So then what is our responsibility? Well, it's to walk, to conduct our lives, comport ourselves in such a way that reflects and acts on them. So let me develop now this a bit more. Remember, I spoke about the indicative and imperative, remember that? Indicative means what? Come on, you gotta say it. Fact or reality, and imperative means command, right? So indicative, when it's in the indicative mood, and English has this as well, it's not asking you how you feel, if you like it, do you agree with it, it just is simply saying it is. So now look at verse 8, and you ask yourself, indicatives or imperatives? I'll tell you, so don't say it out loud, but I'll tell you. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. It's indicative. These are just facts. He's talking to a Christian, and he's saying, this is how you were saved. And you say, well, I don't know if I fully agree with that. Who cares what you think? This is a fact. Verse nine, indicative or imperative? It's not a works so that no one may boast. It's just indicative. Let's look at verse 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Indicative or imperative? Indicative. It is a natural reality. It's weird. I am calling you to walk in good works, but I don't have to completely, because if you are in Christ Jesus, you're already doing so. You might not be doing it well, you might be wandering a lot, you might forget, but it is natural for the genuine believer to walk in these things because God is the one doing it. God is at work. So we're not commanded to walk in good works here. It's a simple statement that we're God's product of work, and that God has already made the good works ahead of time. For what purpose? So that we might walk and conduct ourselves in them. Now understand that this is very typical, this idea of indicative imperative. Paul does it especially. When he writes his letters, most of you know this, but many of you may not, that when Paul writes his letter, the first part of the letter is almost all indicatives. There's other things, but he's just simply declaring truths. These are the truths that you need to know. Finally, at the end of that, then he then says, in light of all of these things, do this. Do that. So when you read the book of Ephesians, chapters one, two, and three are really just simply truths for you to understand and to embrace. Chapter four, verse one, therefore, in light of this, walk in a manner worthy of your calling. And from there, he talks about what that looks like. And you can do this with every one of his books. In Romans, he does 11 chapters of truth. Chapters 1 through 11 is nothing but indicatives with some imperatives tossed in. Chapter 12, therefore, by the mercies of God, in light of everything I just taught you from chapters 1 through 11, present, command your bodies as a living sacrifice. And then from there he unfolds it. So if that's helpful for you, Well, it should be helpful for you. When you're looking in the back half of a letter written by Paul, understand, everything he's commanding you is premised off of what he taught in the earlier chapters. So if you're not sure why, why do I put off lying? Why do I put on words of grace? Why do I put off stealing? Well, because it's wrong. Yeah, but why? What's wrong with it? Go to chapters one, two, and three, and it'll make a lot more sense why he expects you to do it. Now go back to the Gospel of John. Gospel of John, chapter 14. Now chapters one through 12, basically, is leading up to Christ, entering into Jerusalem, and with the preparation to die. And it covers a lot of ground, about three years of his life, rather quickly, because John is preparing us to get to here. But in the Gospel of John, from chapters 13 to the end, things slow down real fast. 13, 14, 15, and 16 are all Jesus teaching his disciples in just a few hours. So all of a sudden, it slows down from weeks and months to just a few hours. And he's giving them his final instructions. And in chapter 14, verse 15, he makes one statement. If you love me, what? You will. Do you think that's an indicative or a command? It's an indicative. Notice, see, he's not saying, if you love me, keep my commandments. He's just telling you how it is. You will keep my commandments. Now you can read this a couple of ways. The first way, and this is what a pastor does, this is called just simple exegesis, fancy word, but you have to do it. You can read it in a couple of ways. One way is to understand that by keeping Christ's commandments, you love them. You wanna love me? Keep my commandments. That's the idea. The other way, which is, I believe, the correct way, because it fits with the entirety of the scripture, is that through loving Jesus Christ, the result is obedience. In other words, if you do love me, or in the Old Testament, what would be the word? Say it. Fear. If you fear me, Or you can use other words, if you believe in me, or if you've come to me, or if you follow me, or if you, here, love me, you will keep my commandments. It's just the natural byproduct of saving faith. Which, by the way, is very encouraging to me because I, as a pastor, when I'm counseling people, I might have to deal with a bunch of attitudes and resistance and reluctance because sin has become entrenched in somebody's life and I'm just giving them counsel. But I do know this, if they are truly in Christ, there is within them a burning true desire somewhere put these things away. Usually all that means is that they've been so trapped by it, they don't know how to get out, so they've given up, or they're afraid of the consequences of it, and so they don't, they're like, man, this is gonna hurt. But in them, they know this is not right. These things have to go away. And when I don't see that, when I see a cavalier approach about sin, now I begin to think, maybe we should go back a few steps and talk about the gospel again. Maybe we should talk about what do you believe? Maybe there's a lack of the facts of the gospel. Maybe there's a lack of the ascent. And if they got those things, but they don't care, is there saving faith? Is there that trust? So he just simply says to his disciples a very great truth, to love the Lord results in holiness. So how does it work? It works because saving faith produces a change in your heart and affections and desires. Now, if you forgot what the word affection means, Affections are not emotions. Emotions, they're connected, but they're not the same. An emotion will go all over the map, given your day, right? Don't get much sleep, people have been mean, your blood sugar's out of whack, whatever. Your emotions can be up, down, all around. Your affections are those deep, abiding convictions. So the illustration I use frequently is, because women understand this, mothers, You can look at your kid, and on a particularly bad day, you say, so how's the kids? And you look at their face, and it's like, oh, been one of those days, huh? Where the kids have been pushing their luck, and she's about ready to throw them through a wall, metaphorically speaking. OK? Oh, and don't think you've never thought that. And if you haven't, your husband did. That's your emotions. Ask, how do you view your children? And that mother would immediately say, I love them. That's the affection. That doesn't change. The emotions will come and go, but driving forward what keeps her moving and still feeding them and loving them and disciplining them and teaching them is that affection of love. And this is what he is saying here. So when you're a new believer, you love Christ, that's natural, but it's often in a lot of ignorance, right? Because you just don't have a lot of biblical truth. But nonetheless, you will see right away things start to change, right away. Zacchaeus, was a wee little man, a wee little man was he. But he was up in a tree, he was a tax gatherer, and he was a vile man as a result. Again, I'm off my notes, so I'll make this quick. But what does he do when he comes to saving faith? In fact, it never even says that he came to saving faith. It just says that he came and he had Christ into his home, but what happens is he immediately begins to repay back. all of the things that he had stolen. Why? His heart was changed. His heart was changed. It always works that way, every single time. So then, you're a new believer, even though you might be kind of fumbling about it, the desire, the overwhelming desire and burden is, what honors God? What must I do? What must change? And you start to find those things happening. When you grow in the word of God, you start to learn more of God's expectations, you will learn more of God himself, and all of that will help you grow. All of that results in a natural upward trajectory in your spiritual growth or obedience. But the one thing you cannot say, hear me on this, the one thing no person can say is if you love Christ, you may keep his commandments. That's not what Christ says. If I love Jesus, I may keep Him. Now, how does this work? Notice. In verse 16 and following, and in light of that, I will ask the Father, he will give you another advocate, he's talking about the Holy Spirit, that he may be with you forever, a spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive. Why? Because it does not see him or know him. You know him because he abides with you and will be within you. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. And so now he begins to introduce the work of the Holy Spirit. Look, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. And he immediately brings to you the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is what happens. Once you have saving faith, immediately you're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. and he is the spirit of holiness. That's not just a nice word. That means that the spirit of holiness, the Holy Spirit, that's not his first name, that's a quality, his attribute, he is by nature holy, is in you, and therefore it drives you in that direction. He's your helper, your advocate. And what you have to understand is a non-Christian really doesn't understand this. They want to understand it, but they don't understand because it's not in them. They don't have the Spirit himself in them. It's a very unique work of the Spirit. And it's in the Spirit where those new affections and convictions, an inner compulsion, a discomfort regarding certain activities or attitudes, a softening of the heart. If you're in Christ, you're tracking with me, right? You know exactly what I'm talking about. It's like, you're right, you're right. And then you come under the conviction of, but I'm not wearing that. Of course you're not, you're a sinner. But your heart yearns, desires, is burdened toward that. And then you look at the cost and you get afraid again. And yet the Lord continues to move you and push you. And sometimes the Father will put you over his knee and whip you like you've never felt. But you find that that is natural. What is this? Well, there's this pangs of a growing realization that in this world and even in my own life, things are not right. And yet everything is right. Hear that. You'll have in your heart this awareness that things are not right, and yet everything is right. Hear the words of a song that you all know, and hear what it's actually saying. He says, when peace like a river tendeth my way, And when sorrows like sea billows roll, so either in the times of peace or in times of sorrow, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well where? With my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though trial should come, let this blessed assurance control that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my soul. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul. For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live, if Jordan above me shall roll, no pain shall be mine, for in death as in life, thou wilt whisper thy peace to my soul. But Lord, tis for thee, and for thy coming we wait. The sky, not the grave, is our goal. O trump of the angel, O voice of the Lord, blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul. And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight. The clouds will be rolled back as a scroll. The trump will resound, and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. Isn't that the heartbeat of a believer? It's not right, but it's right. He will carry me safely through. So with all of that, go to Galatians. Galatians chapter five. I think I'm doing okay. I have note that I should be at 30 minute mark and I'm at the 36 minute mark. So I think we're good. Galatians chapter five, starting in verse 16. Let me give you a quick background. He is speaking here in the book of Galatians to those who claim Christ. And he is really wondering if they really are saved. That's the problem. This is, by the way, the only letter Paul writes that he doesn't thank the people. He's not happy for them. This is the one he's upset, he is angry. He is deeply disturbed with what he's hearing coming from the area of Galatia. They claim Christ, but he's very concerned that many of them are simply professing Christ, but they don't have Christ. And so what's happened is there's this battle going on there about what a Christian should look like. How should a Christian act and live? And a lot of it's centered, again, upon keeping certain Jewish external markers, such as circumcision. And, oh, you've got to have this, you have to have that. And so all these Gentile people are saying, well, this isn't true, and they're like, well, then you gotta do it, and if you don't, then you're not saved. And so now they're placing their faith not in Christ, but in these external markers that belong to the Jew. So it's all about that, and that's talked about in verses one through nine of this chapter, but actually the whole book. Now he is giving us instruction on holiness. but he's gonna say, yes, you are to be holy, but it's not gonna be through the keeping of the Mosaic law, but it's gonna be through the Holy Spirit. So notice verse 16. I want you to ask yourself what's being said. He says, but I say to you, walk by the Spirit and will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Does he command you to not carry out the desire of the flesh? Do you think that's an imperative? Is he saying, I command you to not carry out the desires of the flesh. No, he's just saying what? It's an indicative again. It's just a fact. If you're walked by the Spirit, you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. Now we'll talk about what that means, but keep that. The imperative is walk. and it's done in such a way that it speaks of one's habit or conduct. It's not a mystical one where you feel the spirit, where you sense God is just working in me and you get all kind of weird. It's actually a very simple, clean, observable, amount of living and thinking, and actually it's all based on a certain amount of information, if you will, data, truth, and that's what it looks like to walk. But he commands you, walk, and if you do that, then you will not walk in the flesh. So to walk in the spirit, what does that mean? It's very simple. It's very simple. To walk by the Spirit in the Bible simply means that you're walking in accordance to the revealed word of God, nothing more. Don't try to make it some mystical, ultra-deep empowering where God works a miracle in you and now, no. It's that simple day-by-day walking by the Spirit, and how do we know what it looks like to conduct ourselves by the Spirit? We look at the Word. Why? Because the Word of God is Spirit-inspired, Spirit-given. In fact, there is no such thing as ever your life saying, the Spirit is leading me X, and it's in contradiction to the Word. It can't. That's not the Spirit, ever. And so you should never assign that the Spirit is doing this if it's not in accordance to the Word of God. There's only one way that God has given to us by which we might walk by the Spirit, and that is through the Word of God. And all it is is this daily learning to submit ourselves to what the Bible teaches, And you will find that what happens is that as you embrace the word and you do what the word calls you to do, that the spirit strengthens you to that. And he's just faithful to that. But you say, well, I can't change, I can't change. There's one of two options. Either you aren't saved or you're still waiting for God to do something and then you'll obey. Do you hear that? You're still waiting, well, I need some miracle, and then I can obey. No, no, not if you're a believer. You obey. Why do you obey? You know what you're doing? You're walking by faith. You obey, you say, I don't know how this is gonna happen, but I'm gonna do it because God calls me to it. Now that then leads to, well, what is this flesh that he says you will not do the deeds of the flesh? When the Bible talks about flesh, it's not talking about your skin. Sometimes it is, but very seldom. It's actually primarily talking about that which remains of sin. You're not under the power of sin anymore as a Christian, but the sin still is present in you. My theology professor, as some of you know, would call it a sin hangover. You're not drunk anymore, but you're still hungover, and the effects are there. Well, in the same way, sin no longer is your master, but it's still there, and every Christian knows that. And that's what the flesh is, and the flesh is always at war, wanting to dominate you. and you are called to resist it. So how do you know if you're conducting yourself? That sounds really good. Okay, so how do I know if I'm conducting myself in the power of sin versus the spirit? Your works. Notice what verses 19 to 21 does. He says, now the deeds of the flesh are evident, obvious, meaning it's not hard to know. He's like, well, I don't know, I think I'm walking in the spirit. Okay, then we look at your life, right? What are the deeds of the flesh that are evident? And he says, which are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, and drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. We'll just stop right there. Now, you can break those down into simple categories, and this might be of help to you. In verse 19, he addresses all the aspects of sexual sin. So he does that on a sliding scale, if you will. Because this is... I've been pastoring long enough to know how people think. and that is that we say, well, I don't do that, but I'm over here. So he just takes you from one extreme to the other, from sexual immorality down to sensuality, and in between that is impurity. What's the difference? I don't wanna get into this, into gross details, but sexual immorality, here, simplest way to do it. Are you involved in any sexual activity outside of marriage? Yes, that's you. That simple. It doesn't matter if it's Disgustingly weird? Or just sex outside of marriage? Doesn't matter. Sexual immorality, there you go. Impurity is something less than that. Anything sexual in nature, and a lot of times this will happen in marriage. The corruption of the marriage bed, like the writer of Hebrews says is, let not the marriage bed be defiled. how husbands or wives will treat one another, how they conduct themselves. And now we get into the more impurity kind of stuff. And you say, OK, well, I don't think that's me. Then you have sensuality. Well, what's that? That is generally less than sexual activity, but with the promise of it. That's the best I can give you right now. It's how you dress, how you talk, how you comport yourself. We all know it when we see it. You know what sensuous talk looks like and you know what it does to you. You know why you dress or don't dress a certain way. You know what it does and how it attracts or doesn't. All of that aspect of what is it that motivates me? How do I look? How do I sound? How do I get his attention? How do I woo him or her? And so from anything outside of marriage, sexually, all the way down to that aspect, he says, this is not what a Christian is. This is the mark of a life controlled by flesh. And then from there, he gets into false spirituality. And that's idolatry and sorcery. And you're like, well, okay, I don't think I have that. Anything that you're willing to sin to get or you sin because you don't get is idolatry, right? So that kind of kicks everyone in the face. You're like, well, crud. which is why you're always in a state of repenting as a Christian. But sorcery, it's actually, you may know this or not, the Greek word is pharmakeia. We get pharmacy from it. It's involving mood-altering, life-altering, mind-altering kind of drugs. Like, you know, in one Indian tribe, they use peyote. and they're going to reach that higher level of experience. That's the idea of what it's getting into. It's attempting to tap into a power of the divine, and it's through the use of drugs and alcohol and anything else that can alter your mind, your emotions. I'm very, very reluctant when I look at anyone who looks for anything to alter their thinking, their mind, their emotions, through any means other than the Spirit. Then you get into relationships, from enmities to lying or envying, right? Just anything in there. So you have some people who, when you get them in a room, they will create an argument. You ever meet those type of persons? Maybe that's you. What's your Facebook presence? What's your social media presence? Are you one who speaks truth and kindness? Are you full of grace and truth? Or are you all about poking the bear? What is it? Are you a man or woman that creates divisions? Or do you seek to bring union as much as you can? Granted, there are things you can't be, right? But you know what I'm getting at there. There's the ones who create factions. What's the difference of a division versus a faction? When you come into any church or any group, generally what you will end up finding is that there's a tendency for us to break off into little groups. and we have our little faction, and we're stirring that up, and we're always pushing our faction upon the others, and they're pushing back, and that's evident of the flesh at work in us, not the spirit. We're all born of the same spirit, and therefore there should be a growing unity. Division is that we're looking to create problems between people. We will call it everything but that. You won't have a person say, hey, I'm here to create division. No, no, no, you'll be more spiritual minded. I'm just asking the questions, pastor. I'm just being the devil's advocate. I've actually kicked, I just like, you need to not come back. Just don't come back. You're not helpful. You're actually destructive, go away. If you're gonna keep doing this, leave. And then you get into lack of self-control, a love of pleasure. In other words, drunkenness and crousing. What's key to understand is that the focus is on what the source of these deeds are. It's the flesh. He's not saying stop just getting drunk. He's like, look, that is just proof that you're walking by the flesh. The important thing is that. You can pick the fruit all day long of your flesh and never deal with the flesh. And then you wonder why it keeps coming back. Because you're all focused on that rather than learning to walk by the spirit. And if you do walk by the spirit, you will not give in to the things of the flesh. So when you see the flesh, I mean, when you see these things in your life, what do you say? Do you say, well, I need to stop? Yeah, you should say that. But what you should more importantly recognize is, I'm walking by the flesh. Well, that's okay, right? Because now you have the antidote. which means I need to start walking by the spirit, which means where am I not in obedience to the word? Where am I ignorant on that? That's where, again, fun counseling comes in for a pastor. A pastor will oftentimes sit with a person, they're like, this is our marriage, this is my son, this is my daughter, this is me, whatever, I just don't know what I'm supposed to do, and we just instruct them on the word. Well, here's what the word says, here's how. Let me hear some of your life. Okay, you probably should stop doing that. Oh, you think? Yeah, pretty sure. Pretty sure that TV show is of no value to you in this situation. Oh, that's your favorite author. Well, I can already tell you why you're all screwed up. You're listening to that person? Why are you letting that voice into your life? How does that comport with what Paul says here, Peter says there? Does that make sense? Now, we must not put away the deeds, or we must put away the deeds, but the way we do it then is by walking in the Spirit. So what does that look like? Well, how do you know? The only way you can know if you're walking by the Spirit, so hear me, I'll have people, oh, I walk by the Spirit, Pastor. I'm like, you're the biggest gossip I've ever met. How do you think that? I'm not joking. In my mind, you'd be shocked at sometimes what I think. Like, really? Okay, how do you know if you're walking by the Spirit, beloved? The fruit. And so he says here, oh, by the way, he also says, and things like this. So it's not an exhaustive list, in verse 21, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So the one whose lifestyle is this, you live within this world of sexual immorality, or you live in the world of envying, There's other sins that we could add. There's the respectable sins of bitterness and things like that. All of those, you dwell in those. Those are what marks your life. He says, then you will not inherit eternal life. Meaning you will not find yourself saved. This is what I'm getting at. Does that make sense? It's very important. Then he says, but the fruit of the Spirit, verse 22, is what? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Now the word love is probably the umbrella. That's the big one. Love, the Bible makes it clear, is supreme. In the end, after everything else is passed away, love remains, Paul says. Everything else after love is how love works. Is how love works. Because I have the love of God in me, and the Spirit is working, I grow in love. Why? Because I walk in love. Because I love one another as Christ has loved me, and that's the command that he gave me. So this love produces joy. A perpetually bitter, angry, unhappy person. Is that joy? Peace. I'm at peace. There might be times of anxiety and fear, but it's okay. Ultimately, I find it doesn't matter. I get the frightening word. from the doctor, I hear disturbing trends about my job security, this, I have that, and it can dash your heart, and yet you find yourself anchored, if you're walking by the Spirit, and you have peace, a peace that people don't understand even, a patience, a kindness. Have you ever met those people that they just, in spite of the circumstances, express kindness, goodness, faithfulness? Faithfulness is such a big one, right? It covers so many things. What does God ask of us? He says that we be found faithful. We don't have to be fancy, we don't have to be, Amazing. He doesn't ask us to do that. He just asks us, be faithful. How are you gonna do that? By the power of the Spirit. Where are you gonna find what that looks like? The Word. Self-control. Self-control. You say, I just don't have any self-control. Then you're not walking by the Spirit. And you're like, yes I am. Somewhere in there, there's a disconnect. Then in chapter six, verse one, he says, brothers, even if anyone is caught in any transgression, any type of sin, so he also is acknowledging, you're gonna end up in the flesh, right? You're gonna find yourself in sin, because we all do. It's not that you never commit sin, it's that you don't walk in it, that this is not what is the practice of your life. He says, even if you are caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual, meaning the ones walking in the Spirit, he says, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness. Why? Because that's the fruit. Each of you looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted. So he also says, look, In all of this, what's going on in Galatia is you got the legalists who are all pointing, do this, do this, stop doing this, oh yeah, but they never are looking at themselves. But the mark of a genuine spirit-filled Christian is not one who walks around with a stupid smile and praise Jesus and is talking in tongues or whatever it is that they think they're doing because they have the spirit now working in them, no. It's more simple, actually more beautiful than that. It's that they then see the sin that their sister or brother is caught in, and they come along and they seek to restore them with gentleness. Why? Because tomorrow it could be them. That we all stumble, we all fall, we all fail. And so in a spirit of gentleness, we're at work. So, let's wrap all this up. There's more we could do, but we won't. Understand the order. Order is faith first, and then works. You can't flip them. So don't try to make yourself a Christian because you're gonna start doing things. That will get you in a world of hurt. Continue to ask yourself, if I believe this, What does that look like? What does it look like? Why do I say I believe this? And then as one who is able to say, I do believe these things, then you can say, in light of what I believe, what must change? What must just go away? And beloved, these things can be absolutely life-changing, big ones. I have sat in my office, and listen to the confessions, not that I'm a priest, they just do this, of gross sin, horrible sin. And what it is, is it's coming out from a heart that has come to faith, where they say, I don't know what's going on, pastor. But, and they start talking, and they're dancing around it, and in my stomach, on the outside I'm looking calm, and in my stomach it's just a knot. I'm like, where are we going with this? And then they start to talk about the molestation, or the adultery, or the theft, or the whatever. And they're like, I don't know what to do. And I have the privilege, I guess, of saying, well, there's no statute of limitation on that. So you need to turn yourself in and you need to confess. And you watch the blood drain from them. But I'm like, there's no other option, brother. I've walked them to the police department. I sat with them. So when I say this, we're not playing light, fluffy things. Don't pick the easy sin. A life that comes to faith changes. My favorite story that's mine, to be able to say, is a guy named John. when I was the chaplain in the Supermax at L.A. County Jails. And he kept coming to the Bible study and I kept preaching and teaching and giving the gospel. One day he believed. And you never saw a more unhappy man come to me wearing county orange. So he's in his little jumper, and he is most distressed. Now why? He actually is now a Christian. Why is he so distressed? And he's like, I think I believe this, pastor. I'm like, or I'm also a pastor. Sorry, it's been too many years. Matt? And I'm like, okay. I said, that's good. What do you mean? He's like, I do. He's like, I just don't know what to do with my case. I'm like, well, what do you mean? He's like, well, I don't know. I said, do you believe the truth, yeah? Do you have the spirit of truth in you then? Well, yeah, that's, you taught us that. You have the spirit of holiness in you, right? Yeah, now you're gonna have to speak the truth. Oh, but you don't know what I've done. Actually, I did. He was known as the valley rapist. And he had multiple rapes. The last one was in some lady in her 80s on the front porch, and that's where he was caught. He's like, but, I said, well, you go back to your cell, and you got a lot to think about, don't you? I never saw him again for quite a while. And one day I was there, and people come and go, because it's the nature of the jail, and he comes in. I'm like, John, John. And he looked like he had seen an angel or something. This had been now about three months. I said, what's going on? And he's like, I just wanted to let you know, I pled guilty to them all, no contest. And he's like, I said, okay, what'd you get? 80 years. And I said, oh. He's like, it's okay. It's what with my soul. Beloved, it's not a joke what we talk about with this. Whatever you think, if you think, okay, well, then I'll give up this, but you don't get it yet. It's all or nothing. If any man will not take up his cross and follow me, he has no place in my kingdom. He's serious. He calls us to be a people of holiness. And the mark of a Christian is this ongoing putting away of sin, of confessing and repenting and turning and growing. And when you stumble, some brother or sister better be there in the spirit of gentleness to encourage you because later on, you're going to find yourself sitting with that person, spirit of gentleness, encouraging him to turn and to grow. And in that, you have something that the world will never replicate. No pill, no counseling, no therapy, nothing will change, but only the spirit of God through the gospel because of Christ will accomplish. Let's pray. So Father, teach us that. Teach us, help us to know these things. Let us be a people who throw ourselves wholeheartedly upon the truth of the gospel. Let's cast yourself on it for there's no other power by which we might be saved. And then Father, in light of that gospel, if we have died to sin, then what does it look like? Help us to see that. Help us to learn all the more to encourage each other as we see that day of your coming drawing there. Let us put away the things that ought not to be, and let us proudly and joyfully proclaim, Christ is my Lord, and therefore live. I ask this in your Son's name. Amen.