February 11, 2007
Morning Service
“Flesh: What Does It Look Like?”
Presented by Pastor Tim Pasma
Galatians 5.19-21
Let’s take our Bibles this morning, and let’s turn to Galatians, chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, and you follow as I read the whole chapter. Galatians chapter 5, beginning in verse 1:
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
“Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Gain I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ‘A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.’ I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” (Galatians 5)
Let’s pray.
Father, this text that we have read is a word from You. It is not merely the words of the Apostle Paul. It is the words that You have given Your people – Your church – by which they must live. Lord God, we pray that this day, we would hear the Spirit of God as He speaks to us in this text. We pray that we would have an understanding of this text. We pray that You would cause us to look at ourselves in light of the Scriptures. Oh, God, today I pray that You would move in us. That You would work in us. That, Lord, Your Word would not return void to You, but would accomplish what You would have it today. Grant that, Lord. Grant it, we pray. For Your glory and our good. In Jesus’ Name.
Amen.
When our children were younger, I used to come home in the evening and I always asked this question: “How was school today?”
“Okay.”
“Well, what does ‘okay’ mean?”
“Just ‘okay’, okay?”
Now, I hate generalities. I hate phrases that don’t tell me anything. And so, I would not leave it at that. I want to know what happened at school. I want to know what it looks like. So, I would say to the kids, “All right. I’m at school right now. And you’re getting off the bus, and I got a camera. Okay, what are you doing now?”
“I’m going down the hallway, Dad.”
“Okay, what’s happening next?”
“I’m hanging up my coat.”
“Good! Now what happens?”
“I go to my desk and I get out my math book.”
“Great! What happens next?”
I drove them nuts with that! Because I wanted to know what it looked like. I wanted to know the details. I wanted to get the picture. I wanted to know what it looked like.
That’s why, in Galatians chapter 5, verses 19 through 21, Paul goes into detail about the acts of the flesh. It is easy to throw terms around that no one knows what you mean. And it’s easy to throw terms around that people think you know what they mean.
However, Paul does not want you to be uninformed about what, exactly, the flesh looks like. He wants you to grasp the identifying marks of the flesh. So you have this description of what the flesh looks like when it controls.
Now, why does Paul go through so much trouble of putting this catalogue of vices out that he calls deeds or acts or works of the flesh? Well, recall that God has called you to freedom. Chapter 5, verse 1:
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be put under a yoke of slavery.”
We have been set free. Verse 13:
“You, my brothers, were called to be free.”
Well, what kind of freedom? As we look through the book, we saw that it is freedom from the conforming power of the age in which we live: chapter 1. Freedom from the curse of the law: chapter 3. Freedom from all racial, class, or economic distinctions. Again, chapter 3. The freedom of sons as opposed to the bondage of slaves, chapter 4. You were called to freedom by God through the Gospel.
However, freedom does not mean you can do whatever you want to do. Chapter 5, verse 13:
“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another in love.”
God forbids you to use your freedom to indulge yourself. To serve the flesh. Rather, God commands you to use your freedom to serve others.
How is it possible to use your freedom like that? How can I escape the powerful enticements of the flesh and live a life of service for others?
Overcoming the flesh requires something powerful. It requires, verse 16:
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
It requires the Spirit of God and my walking in that Spirit.
Now, that brings us to our text this morning. How can you know if you’re walking in the Spirit or living according to the flesh? You see, he wants you to know. He wants you to know what walking in the Spirit looks like, and he wants you to know what walking in the flesh looks like. He doesn’t just give us those terms and leave us hanging. He describes in very minute detail, almost, what it is to walk in the Spirit and what it is to walk in the flesh.
So, the Apostle gives you the distinguishing marks of each so that you can tell the difference. So that you can know: “Here’s the evidence that I’m walking in the Spirit. Here’s the evidence the flesh is controlling.”
So, let’s look at chapter 5, verse 19 through 21 this morning.
“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Well, first of all, you need to know the character of the flesh. He talks about the acts – the deeds, the works – of the flesh are obvious. Know the character of the flesh.
Please note this: these acts, these deeds, have the same root. They all grow out of the same soil. What is it? It’s the flesh.
What is the flesh? Again, you must be careful not to identify flesh with this [waves hands]. You must be careful not to think, “Well, he’s talking about bodily appetites.” That is not the case. It’s broader than that. It includes that, but it’s broader than that.
One theologian says this: “You have two ways. There are two distinct ways of being human. Two distinct ways of being human: living either in obedience to disordered passion -- that’s the flesh – or living in obedience to God – that’s living by the Spirit. Organizing your life, living by disordered passions – that’s the flesh – or living your life in obedience to God – that’s the Spirit.”
Or, as Donald Miller – a Christian author put it – and I like this definition the most: “The flesh is the incurable addiction to self.”
Okay? It’s the incurable addiction to self. It’s living for myself. Everything I do is for me.
Now, when you look at these works and these deeds listed here, you’ve got to understand that they all have a common root. They all have the same ingredient. No matter which one you sample, all of them will have the taste of flesh in it. If I can be so gross as to say that. Every one grows out of the flesh. That means – listen – that means that the cure for drunkenness is the same cure for envy. It’s the same cure for hatred. It’s the same cure for sexual immorality. Because they all have that common root. They all have that same ingredient in them. You see?
You know, when Becca makes soup for us, she starts out with a base. Whether it’s vegetable soup or vegetable soup, or whatever it is, she usually starts out with the same base. Soup base.
Well, that’s what the flesh is like. It’s like that base. No matter what kind – what variety you look at, it has the same base. It’s called the flesh. So that means that the cure for drunkenness is the same cure for envy. It’s the same cure for hatred. It’s the same cure for sexual immorality. The cure is deliverance from the flesh by the Spirit of God.
So be careful when you hear about such programs that say, “We’ll make you drug-free.” Or, “We have this program that’ll help you manage your anger.” Because they all miss the real problem. They all miss the real problem – the flesh – and therefore, they will always propose wrong answers.
So when you see these kinds of actions, you know the real problem: they all seek to serve this addiction to self. They all grow out of the soil of the flesh. They all have the same base. They all have the same root. It’s the flesh.
Now, here’s another characteristic of these deeds of the flesh – they are obvious. That’s what he says in verse 19:
“The works of the flesh are obvious”.
They do not hide themselves. You do not have to go looking for them. They display themselves with all their repugnant ugliness. You can try to hide them, but they refuse to be covered. Or you can cover one or several of these acts of the flesh with other acts of the flesh that look a little more respectable.
But you can never hide them. In fact, many attempts to help people enslaved by the flesh usually end up trading one work of the flesh for another. Now, I’m not here to jump on anything, but I’ll give you a good example: Alcoholics Anonymous encourages you to trade drunkenness for idolatry. It’s as simple as that. Instead of being drunk, you serve an idol: “God as you conceive Him”. That’s idolatry!
You see, people will clean up their act. Why, for the glory of God? Oh, a lot of times they’ll clean up their act because, “I’ve got a reputation”. That’s pride, right?
So you see, people can try to hide the acts of the flesh. But they’ll never be successful at it.
Here’s another characteristic: The works or the acts of the flesh are pervasive, corrupting every aspect of life. Look at the text with me:
“Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery”
All right? It corrupts the sexual aspect of life. That wonderful thing that God gave us by which we express our love and our unity and our companionship is corrupted by the flesh.
“Idolatry, witchcraft”
Flesh even reaches into worship and corrupts that.
“Hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions and envy”
The flesh pollutes personal relationships.
“Drunkenness and orgies”
The flesh destroys personal responsibility.
Now I hope as you look at that, you can see that it’s pervasive. It’s in all areas of life. You can see that it does not just have bodily appetites in mind. Because when you look at it, you’re looking at idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage – those aren’t body things, necessarily. Those aren’t bodily appetites.
So it’s pervasive. It’s more than just our bodies. It goes beyond that. It is, if you will, that incurable addiction to self.
Well, let’s look at these identifying marks, shall we? Know the identifying marks of the flesh. Know these identifying marks.
The flesh expresses itself in the sexual aspect of life. Okay? All right? So let’s look at sexual immorality. Sexual immorality – we get our English word “pornography” from this word. Now this is any kind of sexually immoral act. Any kind at all.
It was so widespread in Paul’s day that it was considered normal behavior! Sounds like our day, doesn’t it? How many of you are shocked anymore when you’re watching television and the storyline has a couple living together? Are we shocked by that anymore? We don’t even blink an eye, do we?
An adulterous storyline starts up on television and the storyline starts developing and someone -- we do not find ourselves repulsed by that anymore, are we? It’s so common today!
But sexual immorality has to do with any immoral act, and Jesus even deepened it by saying, “If you look at another woman with lust, you’re guilty.”
The flesh says, “Here, I don’t care what God says. I want sexual satisfaction whenever and with whomever I want.”
Then he talks about impurity. This is the dirty conduct that has a tendency to spread its corrupting influence. Here, flesh announces, “I’ll do what I want sexually. I’ll produce anything that has to do with sex. And it’s not my business to worry about how it affects anyone else. I’m not going to worry about that.”
Then he talks about debauchery. What’s debauchery? That’s sexual conduct that knows no restraint – parading its wickedness with pride. Here, flesh shouts, “I don’t care what God says. I don’t care what society says. I don’t care what you think. I’m proud of who I am and what I do.”
Does that not describe so much of what we see around us as the world is captured in the web of being enslaved by the flesh? That’s what we see. That’s what the flesh does.
Now, the flesh also expresses itself in worship. There’s idolatry. Have you ever thought – and I must confess to you, I didn’t think about this until the last few weeks, as I’ve been meditating on this passage.
Have you ever thought of idolatry as a product of this incurable addiction to self? Have you ever thought of idolatry as coming from the flesh? Don’t we normally think that idolatry comes from ignorance? Right? “
Oh, those people over there, they’re worshiping idols because they don’t know the True God or they’ve never heard the Gospel. It’s their ignorance.” No, it’s growing out of their own heart!
Of course, idolatry replaces the worship of God with the worship of an image. But the Apostle begins to expand our understanding of this. It’s replacing the worship of God with any kind of creature or any kind of creaturely thing.
For example, turn over to Colossians, just for a moment. Colossians, chapter 3, verse 5:
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”
Now, why does he put greed there? Because in the sexual realm, when I sin, I’m greedy. If I sin anywhere else, I’m greedy. But what’s interesting, is he says that greed is idolatry.
Now, why is that? Because the object of greed becomes an object of your worship. When greed gets control, you seek that object with all your heart, soul, and mind. Instead of seeking God with all your heart, soul, and mind. It’s idolatry. It’s idolatry.
Here, flesh declares: “Despite revelation from God, I will worship whatever I want by whatever means I want.”
Then he talks about witchcraft. Now, witchcraft is a reliance on magic. Now, he’s not talking about the ability to pull a rabbit out of a hat or to make the Statue of Liberty disappear. Okay?
That is not what is meant by this term “witchcraft”. It’s not what we mean when we say magic. Magic – this witchcraft is the reliance on magic. That is, witchcraft seeks to harness supernatural forces – often demonic – in order to achieve your ends.
Did you know that witchcraft is growing in our culture today? It is growing. I remember my boys coming home from high school and telling me about some of their friends from school who were Wicca devotees. You know? Witchcraft is getting very popular.
But, see, the reason why that’s popular is: “I want to achieve something, and I’m going to harness these forces in order to get something. In order to get what I want.”
So, in witchcraft, flesh proclaims, “I hate God’s sovereignty. I want to control my circumstances and my destiny. In short – I want to be God.” That’s what witchcraft is all about.
Now, we may not – in our sophisticated, technological culture – go so far as to become devotees of a particular earth religion or something. But – how often are we dissatisfied with what God is doing? And we want to do something to control it? We want to be God. See, that grows out of the flesh.
Now, you notice that the flesh expresses itself in personal relationships. He talks about hatred. Now, the word translated “hatred” is really a plural, and could be translated “enmities” or “hatreds”. It refers to the variety of hatreds that exist between people – like class rivalry, or racial hatred, or individual loathing. That is what he’s driving at here. That is what the flesh produces.
And here, flesh screams, “I hate you because you’re different than me! I hate you because you’re different than me, and I’m superior to you!”
Or, “I despise you because you did something to me, and I’ll never reconcile with you. I will hate you forever! Never will I be your friend!” You see?
Then he talks about discord. What is discord? Well, this is a contentious temper – the sort of attitude that leads to quarreling and wrangling and discord. It’s the temper. It’s the attitude.
And here, flesh contends, “I am right. And you are definitely wrong. And I will argue and fight with you all night long if necessary until I win or you surrender.” Okay? That’s discord. That grows out of the flesh.
He talks about jealousy. What’s jealousy? It’s an intense resentment aroused by someone else’s accomplishments or gifts.
In jealousy, flesh whispers in your ear: “He has – that person has what you’ve always wanted. Life is better for him. And you hate him for it.”
“Life is better for you. And I hate you for it.” Okay?
He talks about fits of rage. What does he mean by this? He’s talking about sudden outbursts of anger – in other words, losing your temper. It’s not the long, settled anger that leads to bitterness. This is a word that basically means “losing your temper”. Okay? Work of the flesh.
In this, flesh yells: “You made me mad. And I don’t care how you feel – I will make you pay! And I will lose my temper right now and I will take your head off! I will use my tongue and I will take you apart member by member, but I don’t care one bit how you feel! I need to get this off my chest! You need to know how I feel!”
Do you see the common element in all this? This incurable addiction to self. It’s all about “me”, isn’t it?
Then, there’s selfish ambition. This is a selfish devotion to one’s own interest. “I’m devoted to what I want.”
Here, flesh proclaims, “I’m going to set my eye on the prize, and God help anyone who gets in my way. I’m going to make it, and there’s no one who’s going to stand in my way.”
Now, you know, it comes across as not that rough most of the time, doesn’t it? Here’s how the flesh does it – “You got a dream? Pursue your dream. You can achieve it.”
Well, you know, sometimes you can’t. That’s all there is to it. You can, if you’re willing to destroy people on the way. You can, if you’re willing to compromise. You can, if you’re willing to do a lot of stuff. There’s sometimes we can’t achieve our dream, because to achieve it would require ungodly ends.
Selfish ambition – this devotion to what I want.
He talks about dissentions. This has the element of dividing the community. And here, the community is of believers. It wasn’t just used about the church – although four of the six times that it’s used, Paul was using it about the church. But it had an idea – it was a word that was used in the political sense about dividing communities.
Here, flesh declares: “Unity is not nearly as important as my right to dissent and to make my views known! I don’t care about the unity of the church! You’re going to know what I think, and I don’t care what happens – you have to know my opinion!”
Hm. Sounds awful American, doesn’t it? It’s awful fleshly – awful fleshly.
Factions. This is the exhibition of a party spirit. A party spirit.
Flesh here says: “My position is unassailable, and I will recruit as many allies as I can to stand with me!” It has the same effect, of course, as dissentions. It’s going to destroy the unity of the people of God.
But there are some people, who are still living in the flesh, who are going around saying, “Look, this is so important, I’m going to go around recruiting people to stand with me. Because this is that important! Yeah, my position, boy! It’s the right one!”
You know, the flesh often cloaks itself in very righteous motives – or so it seems. Again, that’s why Paul is saying – that’s why Paul does this. How do you know if you’re operating according to the flesh? Well, look at this! You may talk about, “Oh, I’m going to serve God because I’m going to make my view known.” And yet, what really happens and what goes on when you do that?
He talks about envy. Now, this isn’t much different than jealousy that he’s mentioned before, but it has much more of a malicious edge to it. Okay? There’s a little more malice in this word.
Flesh hisses: “I want horrible things to happen to you, because I want what you have. And I hate what you’ve accomplished. I want you to lose it all. I want that. I’ve not been given that. I want you to lose it. I want horrible things to happen to you.”
And again, you know, it’s put rather starkly there, but you know how that comes out. We won’t say anything like that, but… “Yeah, you know, so-and-so got this and they got the promotion, but you know – just watch. You just watch. I know that guy. He’ll blow it.” And in your heart – you want him to blow it.
The flesh expresses itself in the destruction of personal responsibility.
He talks about drunkenness. He talks about drunkenness – what is that? Getting drunk. It’s that simple. There’s not a whole lot to that definition, is there? [laughter] It’s getting intoxicated! Maybe that’s a little more sophisticated.
But when you think about it, flesh is enticing with drunkenness. It says, “I deserve to feel good. I deserve to escape. No matter what kind of destructive effects it has on other people.”
Some people are such drunkards, that they just live under the haze of alcohol all the time. Why? To escape. Anaesthetize themselves. But at the root of it, what is it? “I want to feel a certain way. I want to escape. I don’t want life the way it’s given me, so I will make the pain go away.”
Orgies. That’s usually the result of abandoning all moral restraint. Usually because of drunkenness! The two are very closely associated. You saw that today, for example, in Romans chapter 13.
Here, flesh states: “I want to indulge myself. I would rather live for pleasure than for God’s glory. I want to indulge myself, even in the worst possible way. Because I’d rather live for pleasure than for God’s glory.”
But then, notice this in the text. When we come to verse 21, he says, “and the like.”
“And the like”, all right? By this phrase, God wants you to know that the list He’s given you is just representative. It’s not exhaustive. God has not listed for us every work of the flesh.
“And the like”. There’s much more. You don’t see murder there, do you? You don’t see worry there, do you? You don’t see stealing there. You don’t see disrespect there. You see, He’s just given us a representative list. You know, like a shortened catalogue. It’s not the great big catalogue, it’s the shorter one. But it’s enough to tell us what it’s all about.
But remember what he has said. He said, when we first started out: “The works of the flesh are” what? They are “obvious”. You don’t need an exhaustive catalogue to know what is a work of the flesh. Just take a whiff. Does it smell like that incurable addiction to self? Does it have the stench of flesh about it? If it does, it’s of the flesh. If it’s all about me, it’s of the flesh.
So, He doesn’t have to give us this incredibly detailed catalogue. All you have to do is say, “You know, the works of the flesh are like this. What other things are like that?”
Lastly, here’s what he says to us. Not just know the character of the flesh. Not just know the identifying marks of the flesh. But know the consequences of following the flesh.
Know the consequences. Heed the warning. Dear people, heed this warning!
“I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (v. 21)
Now, evidently, when he was first with them, Paul taught them the Gospel and he gave them this warning as he taught them the Gospel. That warning was simply this: “If you live like this, you will not take part in the kingdom of God. You will not know the eternal joy of Heaven.” It won’t happen. It’s not your inheritance then.
Now, that tells me something: That we have to be very careful how we talk about the flesh. When you say to someone, “Oh, that came from the flesh.” If you are in the flesh – you’re damned. That’s the long and the short of it. If your life is controlled by the flesh – you’re doomed.
The flesh is not just some sort of insidious little irritant that kind of pokes his snoopy nose into my business and somehow changes my mind. The flesh is an enslaving, all-encompassing corruption that deserves the eternal punishment of God.
Well, some might object, “But, don’t you receive the kingdom of God by grace and not by works?” Yes! Yes, that’s true! But notice this – the acts of the flesh are not only obvious, they can become a way of life. Because he says here in verse 21:
“Those who live like this”.
Translated literally: “Those who practice such things.” The Greek word there is the word “practice”. Those who practice such things. God’s reign – God’s kingdom – is moral in nature and those who consistently behave in ways opposed to that reign show that they have not accepted God’s rule through Christ in our lives.
You see, when we come to Jesus, we don’t just come to Him as our Saviour. We come to Him as our Lord. And to bow the knee to Jesus is not only to accept His forgiveness, but to submit to His rule. Now, you don’t submit to His rule before your conversion. But conversion means, “I am transferred from one kingdom to another!” It means, “I trade one king for another”. It means: “My affections are going to change. I’m going to love God and love Jesus more – not less.”
You see, the Gospel frees us not only from the law, it frees us from the flesh as well. There is a world of difference between you living in the flesh and the flesh living in you.
Do you know the difference? Living in the flesh – “I live in that realm. That is the piper that calls the tune. I march to the orders of the flesh.” That’s you living in the flesh.
The flesh in you is the remnants that are hanging in there, that still harass and bother you. But to live a life controlled by the flesh – dear people – to consistently live that way – leads to Hell. Frankly, I don’t like to say those things. But that is exactly what the Apostle Paul says here. “Know this: those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of Heaven.”
You say, “But – you know – I’m not sexually immoral.” You know, we always want to jump on those first three. “I’ve never been involved in debauchery.”
Oh, yeah? Have you ever hated your neighbor? Has there ever been a time where you lived by discord and jealousy?
Oh, my friends. The Apostle Paul wants us to understand here – God wants us to understand here – that to live a life according to the flesh is a life that leads to doom and judgment.
Dear people, God has opened up for you a catalogue displaying the products of the flesh. Does it describe you? Do you see flesh working in you to produce a life of living for self? If so, you need to heed God’s warning.
Now, there remains hope for you. There’s always hope. There will always be hope until that day when God brings down the curtain. And that hope is simply in Jesus Christ. It is Jesus that has died so that you could be forgiven, so that you will not pay the punishment that the flesh brings upon you. He will forgive your jealousies, your hatreds, your immorality – all the things that He listed here and all the guilt that comes with it before the judgment seat of God – all of that can be forgiven. Not one thing held against you. Slate wiped clean. The records destroyed. Not one thing held against you.
Jesus died to purchase that forgiveness. It is Jesus, through His Spirit, Who alone can break the enslaving grasp of flesh. And when you come to Him, He has given you the Spirit of God. That is more powerful than the flesh. You need to come to Him today and find freedom from the punishment due the flesh and the power of the flesh.
People of God, let me say to you: God gives us these so that we will know what it looks like. So that we, even fighting against that remaining corruption – “Not my king! Not my master! Flesh is no longer my master!” And yet, flesh is still trying to get on the throne. How do we know that? Because there’s still a struggle. There is still a struggle for these things.
There is hope for us. It is in Jesus, Who always lives to intercede. And Who has broken the power of the flesh so we can live – as we will see next – in a completely different way.
Let’s pray.
Father -- Father, how we thank You that Your Word is detailed enough to describe for us those things that are so dangerous. Father, we pray that You will help us to leave here – not without hope – but at least recognizing the danger of this thing called the flesh. Help us to heed the warning. You’ve put that there, Father, for Your people. For us to heed that warning. So that we will walk in the Spirit – and so, God, I pray that You would work in our hearts greater sensitivity. Lord God, I pray for Your people here. I pray, dear God, that You would – by Your grace – work and make them walk in the Spirit with ever more consistency. I pray for those, Father, who are here today who don’t know the Saviour. Even some who have deceived themselves, but are still walking in this fashion. God, I pray that You would awaken them. That they might see the great danger. That they might see the enslaving power of the flesh. God, grant that, we pray. Bring them to Christ. Bring them to the One Who can redeem them – our great Saviour, our wonderful Redeemer – Jesus. Grant that, we pray, in His Name.
Amen.