 And then all right Galatians chapter 5, so we're going to be in Galatians chapter 5 this morning and next Sunday morning We're going to do a two-part series on Galatians chapter 5 now the Galatian church was suffering from Some teaching of heresy somebody had come into the Galatian church and was teaching works-based salvation was teaching a doctrine of works and Paul is trying to undo that here. He's trying to Restructure things and get things back and Galatians chapter 5 is a great chapter on Christian liberty look at verse 13 Or the Bible says in Galatians chapter 5 for brethren you have been called unto liberty Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh But by love serve one another so Paul is talking about Christian what we would call Christian liberty here and Since we of course believe that you know what the Bible teaches is that you're saved through grace and not of work You know you are saved. You know nothing of your own doing not even one percent. It's just completely through Jesus Christ by believing on Jesus Christ is why you are saved and Because of that and because you're eternally saved. It's an eternal gift There's nothing that you could ever do and that works that you could do to make yourself Unsaved meaning there's nothing you could also do to keep yourself saved So that means you know the inevitable look the inevitable result of Being justified freely through grace is that you have this Christian liberty Okay, and you know you can do whatever you want That's the bottom line. You know you'll be out soul winning and you'll have somebody say that to you Are you telling me I can just go do whatever I want and I always say, you know I'm quick to follow it up with an explanation, but I always say Yeah, that's what I'm telling you you can do Whatever you want, you know whether or not you should is a completely different story turned to Hebrews chapter 12 Hebrews chapter 12. Look, I mean you're gonna endure Chat and I'll follow this up with an explanation You know of Hebrews chapter 12 talking about how you know, you will endure chastisement from your heavenly father If you just take your Christian liberty and you take advantage of that look at Hebrews 12 in verse number 6 The Bible says for whom the Lord loveth he chastineth and scourges every scourgeth every son whom he received it, but look You've been adopted into God's family God's gonna punish you if you go out and just take advantage of your Christian liberty But look you are gonna meet people who were endure chastening their entire Christian life You are just gonna find these people because I hate to break it to you, you know sold out soul winning Christian But you're in the minority of saved people. I mean how many saved people do you find out there knocking doors? I mean they're out there they exist. We found a couple yesterday Are they in church? A lot of times they're not if they're in a church they're not doing anything So look you're gonna just find these people that are just gonna get beating after beating after beating after beating in their life Because they're just gonna they're saved they've received that gift and they're just gonna go and do whatever they want And they're gonna be a bloody pulp on the ground and there's nothing that God's gonna be able to do to wake them up You're just gonna meet those people Right, so what are we to do right Galatians chapter 5 the one of the It's one of my favorite chapters in the New Testament Galatians chapter 5 gives us a methodology All right, I love I love that word by the way. I love Methodology a methodology is you know how you do things, okay? It's a way. It's a specific way of Prosecuting something right if I have a good methodology or I have a bad methodology It could literally mean the difference between success and failure and just about anything You know whether it be fixing a car whether it be you know putting something together You know if you have a bad methodology you're probably gonna fail But Galatians chapter 5 gives us a great methodology on this idea that we see at the end of Galatians chapter 5 Called you know either you know the works of the flesh Galatians chapter 5 calls it or the fruits of the spirit So Galatians chapter 5 it gives us this methodology on how we can recognize Where we're at in those two things that are opposing each other look at verse 16 of Galatians chapter 5 So that's what I want That's the point of this sermon is to get across to you this methodology that is laid out in Galatians chapter 5 There's a lot in Galatians chapter 5 I don't necessarily want to preach through every single one of these things You know as far as the works of the flesh and things like that But I want to show you enough detail to show you the methodology that God is giving you here So you can you can be in the right place you can be where you need to be all right look at verse 16 The Bible says this I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh So I mean this is the answer right close your Bibles. Let's go home right? Walk in the spirit There you go. You got it pull up we need some more detail like that right if I'm gonna raise my kids If I'm gonna leave leave my home, you know all I would really you know The answer is walk in the spirit Kids to my wife walk in the spirit to myself walk in the spirit That's all I have to do right don't fulfill the lust of the flesh But look we'll talk about walking in the spirit next week this morning look at verse 17 The Bible says for the flesh lust against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh And these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would So the Bible says here and it talks a lot about this in Romans. We study this You know, we have this flesh we're saved, but we still have this flesh We still have this this body this sinful nature this flesh that we're gonna be dealing with until we die Until we physically die on this earth We're gonna be dealing with this and the Bible says the spirit is And the flesh are fighting each other is what the Bible says So step one we're gonna talk about you know work the works of the flesh is the point of this sermon this morning So what are they how will we know? How will I know if I'm walking in the flesh if I'm in the flesh or the spirit look at verse 19 now? The works of the flesh are manifest Well, there's the first part of the answer right there that means that the works of the flesh are they'll be shown They will be shown to you that you're gonna notice It's not gonna be something that you just you can't notice to be manifest means that they'll be made visible to you That it's not something that's just gonna be invisible right so turn to Ephesians chapter one So we have this problem right we have this war Going on in Ourselves I mean forget about all the problems you have with other people you have a problem with yourself Right you have a problem with your spirit this spirit and you have a problem with this flesh Look at Ephesians chapter one look at verse 13 The Bible says in whom he also trusted after that you heard the word of truth What's the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also how did how did we get saved in whom? I mean all the answers are in this verse in whom also that that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purpose Perp just possession until the praise of his glory so you are sealed you are physically sealed if you have believed the gospel If you believe the gospel you're physically sealed, but what? You know you have seals of letters I remember like you know the how kings used to seal their letters with like a wax Stamp that was like the kings emblem or whatever they would have they would melt wax and they would seal the the scroll With their their seal and it was made of wax You know you have a modern envelope that has glue on it You lick the glue and you seal the envelope, but the Bible says that you are sealed. It's not glue. It's not wax It's the literal Holy Spirit that seals you so it is look the point. I'm trying to make is is that he's there He's there. Who's he the Holy Spirit? It's a he He's in you. He's sealing you right he is and then it says the earnest That's a down payment so that the Holy Spirit was given to you as a down payment For your salvation and he also performs the function of sealing you sealing your salvation So the point is that I? Have this flesh right here, but I also have this Holy Spirit They're both present right here Right they're both together And verse 14, you know proves it with you know the earnest of your salvation You know that's something that that's used as a noun that earnest. It's a down payment. It's something of value given to a buyer to Or given by a buyer to a seller to bind a deal is what that word means All right, but the point being is that the Holy Spirit is given as a down payment to bind your salvation He actually physically seals your salvation. He's there. Okay, so go back to Galatians chapter 5 So now we have this flesh against the Spirit we need to recognize the works of the flesh Okay, and we should be able to recognize this as the Holy Spirit is able to help us Recognize this look at verse 19 Because the Bible says they're manifest Which means they're shown Which means you can see them you can recognize them. Okay, it's not something that would just sneak up on you Look at verse 19 and the Bible says the works of the flesh, which are these it says adultery Fornication uncleanness lasciviousness verse 20. Well, let's just focus on verse 19 first We see this list in verse 19. What does go through these three lists in these three verses real quick So look in verse 19 we see sins of the carnal category here Okay, there's plenty of examples in the Bible turn to John chapter 8 We see the woman taken in adultery. Of course adultery Very, you know, it's common in the Bible. It's unfortunate But these are sins that you know, we talked about how a couple weeks ago how it's it's hard to find Certain people in the Bible that did, you know, a lot of things right and all this kind of stuff But unfortunately it's pretty easy to find people in the Bible that that did these carnal sins even good You know saved men in the Bible, you know fell into some of these carnal sins in verse number 19 Look at John chapter 8 The Bible says in verse 3 in the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery And when they had said her in the midst they said unto him master this woman was taken in adultery the very act Now Moses and the law commanded us they wanted him to stoner there But Jesus, you know pardon her and let her go of course another famous story in the Bible about adultery and David Got to be in heaven going man. They're gonna bring it up again, but you know David David and Bathsheba, you know the the biggest adultery story in the Bible a huge sin here So look, it's pretty easy to recognize adultery. Wouldn't you say I mean, it's pretty easy to recognize adultery It's pretty black and white the next one fornication Go to Genesis chapter 34 fornication, of course, you know committing carnal sin in that way You know outside of marriage before you're married, right in Genesis 34. We see the story of Dinah the daughter of Leah the Bible says Jacob's daughter in Genesis 34 the Bible says this it says in Dinah the daughter of Leah She bear unto Jacob went out to see the daughters of the land and when Second the son of Hame or the hevite Prince of the country saw her He took her and lay with her and defiled her so the Bible says that Dinah went out and she went out with the You know worldly people around her and she went out and she committed fornication with this guy this Prince, okay? Now terrible trouble followed, you know her brothers of course, you know We're a little upset over it and they had killed everybody so lots of other sins followed after that Verse 19, but look this was fornication. This was willing fornication in the Bible You know if if you study the story out even in verse 19 It says that this guy it says he was more honorable than all the house of his father You know then of course Simeon and Levi, you know, they they go and they have everyone, you know in the camp circumcised I mean it's an interesting story if nothing else, but it's actually terrible when you think about what they did They went and they killed everybody in the town, right? So look It's pretty easy to recognize fornication too, right? So we have adultery fornication, but then look what you see Listed next you see this Uncleanness and lasciviousness listed, okay? Now these things lasciviousness means like lossfulness or you know Lude-ness All right, that's what lasciviousness needs But what's interesting about this list you're going to start to see you know the methodology and I'm going to start pointing out to you But what's interesting about this list in verse 19 is it starts out very obvious With adultery and fornication. I mean those are pretty straight forward obvious in your face since Would you agree? It leads you know, but it look it leads into it lists some more subtle things after that You know lewd thoughts lewd speech it shows you that you know this more subtle action Leads to more serious since is what it shows you look Lassiviousness lewdness. I mean don't get me started. Everyone is lewd now Everyone is lewd now. I mean I'm frankly sick of it myself I mean it just I mean we were out like we were out fishing on Friday And we're at a fish cleaning station with a couple kids this tall And there's some older guys there clean and fish too, and you know what I would have liked to talk to those older guys I would have liked to sat there and say hey, where did you fish and where did you you know? What did you catch and all this kind of stuff, but I've just sitting there cleaning fish, and I just can't wait to get out of there Because there's everyone's lewd now And it doesn't matter because I'm sitting there. I got two little kids here, and these guys are just telling lewd stories Didn't used to be that way Even in my life. It didn't used to be that way. I'm not that old. I know you guys think I'm old, but I'm not that old All right. Look, I'm sick of it, but look It's becoming common and it all starts out this way That is what's going on with this list that guy gives you the main point I'm trying to make is they got you know It starts out with these serious physical sins, but look there's sins that you can recognize first see You didn't just you know you don't just walk down the street trip and fall and commit adultery Like oops I committed adultery No, it starts out with you know, you're you're you're saying things you shouldn't you're looking at things You shouldn't you're having thoughts that you shouldn't God's telling you how to recognize it here. He's trying to keep you from those those big sins It starts with those thoughts that lewdness and it look Those serious sins follow it was the same thing with David. It was no different with David He was looking at something that he shouldn't look shouldn't have been looking at and it ended up leading to adultery and worse Look at verse number 20 We get more works of the flesh verse number 20 it lists idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions and heresies look Idolatry We talked about idolatry of the heart, you know a couple weeks ago, but mainly idolatry is pretty obvious I mean that's not gonna you're not gonna accidentally Start worshiping something else right? I mean that's pretty obvious witchcraft obvious heresies Serious pretty obvious Especially if you know what's in the Bible, right? I Mean heresy could be subtle subtle, but not if you not if you know your Bible, right? That's why we should know our Bible turn to Genesis chapter 37, but then we see some other things like hatred Look at Genesis 37 Genesis 37 look at verse number 3 Bible is talking about Israel and his children Jacob and his children now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children Because he was a son of his old age and he made him a coat of many colors And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren They hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him and Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it his brethren And they hated him yet the more you know first of all, you know don't ever favor any of your kids Because it's real it will lead to actual problems between your kids It will lead to Strife between your children This isn't what the sermon is about but don't favor your kids And if you you know you say one kid you give one thing to do one thing for one child You should do it for all the children or it will it will create that strife and could turn into hatred Which turns into things that are worse that we'll see Variants strife turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 3. I Mean these are subtle variants and strife could be very subtle Very subtle things that are not obvious to everybody. Look at 1st Corinthians chapter 3 in verse number 3 The Bible says for yet are you for you are yet carnal for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions Are you not carnal and walk as men for while one saying I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos Are you not carnal turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 10? So here they're comparing You know Paul against you know somebody else It's like you know people that might compare one pastor against another pastor like oh, he's better than him for this reason You just create it look you're creating variants. You're trying to divide people. You're creating strife Look at emulations turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 Look at verse number 12 The Bible says for we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves But they're measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise people are comparing themselves to Paul And trying to just create strife in this way right and look wrath You know think about Levi and in Simeon they went and they they murdered everybody including you know set them who you know defiled their daughter Seditions you think about the story of like Korra in number 16 people that just turned against Moses and tried to just create Sedition that way so look there's some sins that are subtle and some that are very obvious. Okay. Look at verse 21 This is a very good one to compare to talk about what the Bible is trying to show us here envying's murders Well, those are pretty murder drunkenness revelings and such like of the which I tell you before so I've also told you in time fast that they Which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God, you know envying you think about the Jews I mean, why did they hate Jesus they envied him? right Murder What did David's adultery leave lead to it? There's plenty of murder stories in the Bible There's plenty of people that committed murder. These are very obvious things though, right? These are very obvious Serious things. I mean murder is probably the most serious thing that you could think of in the Bible You're not going to just usually go out and accidentally murder somebody Right, you're not going to just turn into a murderer, but then look what it says drunkenness and revelings at the end Now, I mean this is talking about people like partying Right. I mean people are just out having some drinks having a good time, right? No big deal. No issue But guess what? You know what you know what I've noticed as I've lived in cities throughout the last 20 years You know when people get shot in Fresno 2 a.m. That's when the murders happen At drunken drunken, you know revelings basically that's when all these things happen So, you know, what's the point here? You know We're not the point of this sermon isn't to really go through every single one of these sins The point is that God is showing us how we can recognize the beginning stages of serious trouble coming in our life of the works of the flesh Galatians look Galatians chapter 5 talking about the works of the flesh is a measuring stick for us It's a it's a it's an early warning system Think of it that way, you know, I used to put control systems and power plants and we didn't just have An alarm that said your power plant has exploded Beep beep beep your power plant is on fire burning down right now. No, we had early warning systems Right, we had early, you know if there was a leaky valve or there was something that was just starting to go wrong We had warning systems all over the place so you could catch these things up front Before the turbine exploded. I mean that's the whole I mean that was the definition of a good or a bad control system If it could show the operator how to stop something major from happening That's what Galatians chapter 5 is showing us. I mean think of it with lasciviousness it's an early warning sign of Fornication and adultery That's what it is. I mean variance emulations wrath strife. It leads to heresies You get somebody who's who's trying to create very I mean have you seen this before? You get somebody is trying to create variance and strife in a church and what do they what do they do? They've been they've been going around creating strife and and trying to you know compare people against people and all Suddenly come up with a new doctrine Look at me with my new doctrine It leads to that. I mean drunkenness and revelings. I mean do we you don't have to explain this one It leads to the envies and murder So looking at these early warning signs can stop the greater sense from manifesting in your flesh. That's that's the methodology So look Think about your thoughts First of all step one your thoughts. Why am I having these thoughts that there's your early warning system right there? Maybe I should not be doing you know if I'm having thoughts You know no one's getting hurt by thoughts at this moment right if you're having bad thoughts But why am I having thoughts? What am I what am I looking at? What am I doing in my life that's creating these types of thoughts? Maybe you should catch yourself there. There's your early warning system You know to these even minor actions like like drinking like drinking was like a like a culture of the Midwest where I grew up It was normal. I look if you did drugs You were a loser in the culture that I grew up in the small towns and all this kind of stuff, but drinking was normal Drinking what was was normal. It was it was harmless right, but look that's not what the Bible says The Bible says it leads to this kind of stuff like murder Drunkenness revelings look it's very simple. I mean the problem with drinking is is so simple Just don't ever go there at all. I mean, it's the it's one of the easiest things in your life to solve Just don't ever go there at all because it leads to more serious sins And the Bible will tell you that over and over a murder adultery fornication It leads to all that. I mean I wonder I wondered when writing this sermon how many people were in prison today because of drunkenness And I went and I looked it up and you know what it is, you know all the violent offenders in prison right now 40% of them committed their offense When they were drinking or drunk 40% that's almost half I mean, so, you know when you look you when you go to when you go to CVS pharmacy I mean, they're there to either heal you or kill you depending on what our aisle you look at I Even said that to the cashier one time. They didn't think it was funny I'm like why you kill me and heal me. They're like what? We're at the fish cleaning station. This has nothing to do with the sermon We're at the fish cleaning state station on Friday, and I'm just getting done cleaning this fish And I had like this fish carcass guts everywhere and this lady comes up and she says she goes she goes Can I have your fish head? I mean she like wanted to bury it in her garden or something She asked the guy across from me and he's like oh I already threw all my fish guts away You can climb in the dumpster and get it though, and she's like oh She comes over to me. She's like can I have your fish head and I said well I got to call my wife and see if she wants it first. She's like oh, okay, and I'm like I'm joking Here you go. What God's saying in everywhere. She's like, thank you. I told brother Ryan I'm like she's from San Francisco for sure all right anyway back to the sermon So look Alcohol we think alcohol is is harmless today because it's so common It's like it's like a vein repetition, right? It loses it loses its meaning Because it's so common But the Bible tells us that it like if it leads to murder. You're not wise, right? I mean look it's it's apparently 800,000 people in prison right now. Don't think it's a no big deal Right you say well most people that drink don't go and commit violence well 800,000 people do 800,000 people for every 800,000 of those people. There's multiple victims think of that Think of all the people that were killed or assaulted or run over or whatever right lives ruined Family I mean families destroyed it's it's a it's a small sin Maybe to some people that leads to these huge things Huge problems. I was just reading a story of of an army platoon and they got into some trouble when they were in in Afghanistan or wherever and I think they accidentally Killed some people murdered some people or whatever and they came back to the United States And it's this just pressing story about this army platoon and they just they were just just drinking and drinking and drinking And drinking and drinking and like half of them have killed themselves They called it the cursed platoon Because it's just it's just leading to all this just this Evil and violence and and they're just killing themselves So it's not it's not no big deal Just because it's common just because it's a vain repetition today It's not no big deal. Just because lewdness is a normal thing today. Look this world Every single day of my life that goes by this world is wicked as literal hell. I mean we are trying to figure out How to follow the Bible? As as as these flesh-bearing creatures in this world and this world is just constantly attacking Constantly attacking it is wicked as hell And we have to stay away from this lewdness from this internet garbage It is constantly knocking at everybody's door Because it will lead to destroyed lives It'll lead to fornication. It'll lead to adultery. It'll lead to destroyed families It's a methodology that God is giving us here He is showing us here's some things you see these things You're in the works of the flesh Use the spirit that's in you to recognize the beginning the early warning signs and and look that's what God is giving you in Galatians chapter 5 He's giving you this So you can catch it before it gets it gets serious It's easier to look it's better to fix a leaky valve than a destroyed power plant turn to James chapter 1 and another funny thing About the works of the flesh and especially these early warning works of the flesh is That many times and this is the importance of Being in church and being plugged in and being around You know the fellowship of the believers Because many times you will either not recognize it yourself or you you just will not want to Recognize it yourself look at James chapter 1 James chapter 1 The Bible says look in verse 23 For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer he is likened to a man beholding his natural face in a glass For he beholdeth himself and go with his way is straight way forget it What manner of man he was? But who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continue therein he being not a forgetful here But a doer of the work this man shall be blessed and his deeds So here's talking about look if you're looking into the perfect law of liberty look you're Christian liberty That's your perfect law. You have Christian liberty, but if you're you're in the Bible You're reading the Bible is like these things these things are going to be obvious to you When you are reading the Bible and you're in the it's a snowball effect in both directions if you're in the Bible you're in church you're in the fellowship of the believers and These things start coming into your life. You're going to recognize them like that But when you start getting out of Church and you start getting out of fellowship and you stop reading the Bible You stop looking in that mirror You're not going to see these things and guess what other people will see those things But if you're not hanging around those people What good is that going to do? So look if you ever feel yourself like yeah, you know, I don't really feel like going to church anymore I don't really feel like you know going out and hanging out with you know My Christian brothers and sisters anymore. There's a warning sign right there For yourself personally because they're going to see things and you don't want to hang out with them because you know That they're going to see things they're going to notice things so this this is your mirror right here This is your mirror you need look You need to be looking in it You need to be looking in it. That's why Galatians 5 is so Important for us So we can see these things We can see these minor early warning signs. I mean think about Think about the men in the Bible Think about David one of the greatest men in the Bible and think about When he fell on his face the hardest it was the it was the the carnal sins took him straight down And he paid a head look he paid for it He paid a heavy price for it, but there was early warning signs So you don't think you know hey, it's not going to happen to me Happened to David. He had a perfect heart towards the Lord. I Mean a man after God's own heart. Are you after God's heart? Do you think that every day in my life? I'm just after God's heart because David was and it happened to him So we need to be aware of these works of the flesh. We need to watch for these things We need to be in fellowship with each other And if we're not and we suddenly don't want to do those things because look when when you're in the works of the flesh You're not going to want you're going to be grieving that Holy Spirit and you know You're not going to want to go into those things of the Spirit So you need to watch those desires in your life. That's the biggest thing right there What what do I want to do? What are my desires right now? If you you can't wait to go to church on Sunday morning, you can't wait to go to the church picnic You can't wait to go out soul-winning. You're you're you're probably doing pretty well We're gonna talk about that next Sunday morning Well look of all those things start to lose their appeal to you Then these other things are soon to follow if not already there So Galatians 5 is giving us a methodology on how to stay away from the works of the flesh and to be in walking in that spirit We're gonna talk about the other side of that coin on Next Sunday morning. Let's bar heads and have a word of prayer