Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. NKJV
REVIEW:
Verse 17 “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Flesh lusts. The flesh lusts are not only sexual immoral activity, but they include covetous lusting, idolater lusts, reviler lusts, drunkard lusts, and extortion lusts. Indeed all these are found in the world, but Paul says they are in people who claim to be believers. I am sad to say that you can find these manifestations in local churches, so much so that the work of the Spirit is limited or nonexistent in many cases within local congregations. The flesh and the Spirit can never compromise and be joined together. The flesh must die! The Spirit gives life! They are “Contrary to one another.” The flesh lusts are born of the flesh nature rooted in sin, the sin nature of Adam. This is why the Gospel is the Good News of the Kingdom of God in the Holy Spirit. Good news that Jesus overcame the “flesh” and gave to us “the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and has made me free from the law of sin and death” (see Romans 8:2). It is this battle which is at the center of us “doing the things that we don’t want to do.” It is essential to identify the root problem, which is always centered on lusts.
Moving to Verse 18, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Any performance-based religious activities are legalistic in their nature. What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? Let me suggest some biblical foundations that might help in answering the question. Being led by the Spirit begins in obedient faith. It starts with obedience to the commands of scripture, commands such as repentance from dead works, your efforts to please God. It includes studying scripture and discovering what God commands. A few life verses for me are: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Another is, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8)? My goal has been to learn how to walk out these verses in my life.
Satan and the kingdom of darkness have already been judged by Jesus according to John 16:11, which declares that “the ruler of this world has been judged.” Many Christians think that this is in the future, but it is already done by Christ and is to be finished on earth through His redeemed church. Many Christians are still in bondage to the kingdom of darkness because their hearts have not been thoroughly cleansed and released. 1 John 1:5-10 helps us understand this point.
“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:5-10 NKJV).
This passage provides a measuring stick for us to check our walk in Christ. It contains questions that we should be asking our self. He is faithful to cleanse us. How is my walk doing up against the word of God? How is my fellowship doing with other believers? Do I walk in a state of cleansing from all sin? How deep have I allowed the cleansing to go? Are we walking in “cleansing from all unrighteousness?”
Here is one more area to consider from Paul in Romans 8:14. “All who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God” (NKJV). The obvious question is, does one know that they are being led by the Spirit of God? And do they know that they are a son of God?
Sonship with God is only possible through the Holy Spirit. Children are born to their parents, but a true son obeys his father by following his instructions. The same is true in the kingdom of God. Many have been given the power to become children of God (John 1:12), but sonship is a matter of maturity. A father trains his child to grow up and become a responsible individual with the hope and desire for that child. As a father of six boys and one daughter, my great joy was to watch them grow and become mature, able to handle the affairs of life with the values instilled by their mother and me.
Our Heavenly Father is bringing forth sons and daughters with the character of His only begotten Son. The work of the Holy Spirit in the earth is to create a new creation out of the old. He is producing a spiritual race that has the spiritual DNA of God’s only begotten Son. The Holy Spirit is ready to help you as Paul states, “know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). You cannot gain this understanding through human reasoning. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal the love of Christ, and only the Holy Spirit can fill us with the fullness of God.
Only in the love of Christ and the fullness of God can we become mature sons and daughters of God. As sons and daughters, we must carry out the Father’s will and not our own will. There is no male or female in the matter of sonship. Every person who has surrendered their life to Christ has been called to reflect Christ in and through their life. It is in men and women throughout the nations that God is revealing His kingdom’s purpose in the earth. The Written Word is being lived out in their lives. These are lives that have been recreated in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s purpose is for the nations to come to know Him and do His will. This can only happen through sons and daughters of God that are led by the Holy Spirit.
Today, ask the Holy Spirit to help you know the love of Christ in an ever-deepening way. Ask Him to fill you with the fullness of God so that Christ may be revealed in every facet of your life. Ask that you might have a part in helping others come to know God and do His will.
In Galatians 5:19, Paul dives into the works of the flesh that we are all familiar. Paul says, “are evident.” It is possible, that you could add to this list that Paul gives us. The flesh is evident, especially if we have a strong moral base in our life. These Galatian believers had come from a background of familiarity with living around or participating in many of these flesh activities.
Paul begins in verse 19 with adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness. We lump these four “works of the flesh” together because they are part of the same family. Our society is filled with these works. They have become so familiar because they are everywhere we turn. I want to spend some time with these because it is sad to say that these four works of the flesh have invaded the Lord’s church. Our counseling rooms are filled with people bound with sexual addictions. Statistics reveal many, in what is called “full-time ministry,” are bound with immoral sexual activity in their secret life.
Today, when people come to Christ so often, they are never led to true repentance regarding their past sexual activity found in this classification. They can be broken, confused, feeling guilty, but when prayed over, so often, it is a quick general prayer. There is no power to break of the bondages from their past life style. Those bondages follow them right along with their new found faith.
I want to share how to break the power of the enemy and the works of the flesh in one’s life and also in helping others be set free. These are five biblical steps to freedom:
- Confess (identify and expose sin) 2. Repent (Change your mind about your sin)) 3. Renounce (Take a stand against the sin) 4. Be Cleansed (Receive the power of the Blood of Christ applied through the Holy Spirit to your sin condition) 5. Accept forgiveness from God and from others.
From there, one needs to be cut free from Persons, Places, Things, and experiences. By the word of God, which is a two-edged sword, that cuts us free as the word of God begins to cleans our minds and heal our memories and establish our daily walk. The combination of the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit is applied in our lives, usually through others that have been set free as well. Receive the power to forgive others, even as you were forgiven.
These principles of freedom are applicable to any sin issue that has affected our life. These are only the beginning of walking in true freedom from the flesh. They are the beginning of learning the first principles of the doctrine of Christ outlined in Hebrews 6:1-3. The works of the flesh are all “dead works.” Until we fully and deeply deal with the flesh, the Spirit can never have full control in our lives. It is impossible to have biblical faith toward God when the flesh is still controlling us.
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (NKJV).
Identify anything that you love more than the Lord Himself, which is idolatry. Identify anything that you gaze upon as to worship. Identify any areas of control over others that you have or want. Are there one or more people that you have contentions with, people such as family members, and at work, in the community, and in the local church? Search your heart about jealousies, any outbursts of wrath. Are there any selfish ambitions in your heart? Look for any dissensions and heresies in your mind. Envy, murders, drunkenness, and revelries can be placed in one family unit.
Verse 21b “of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
This was not the first time that Paul had spoken about these practices and those who practice the like. The kingdom of God is inherited. As sons and daughters, we inherit the kingdom of God. It is not earned; it is not something we grasp to receive. It is ours by inheritance.
We finish today by revisiting Galatians 3:29: And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (NKJV).