Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: Today, on Abounding Grace, we'll examine the works of the flesh, and it would be good to examine our lives as we do. If these things are the manner of your life, God has given you a pastor today to warn you. It is the biggest red flashing light of warning in your life if you think it's okay to live in the flesh. That's not consistent with a believer. A believer wants to get away from the flesh, even though sometimes it trips us up. A believer runs away from the flesh. A believer never runs away from God. You choose, "I don't want this in my life. I want to run away from my flesh, not from God."

Announcer: From Calvary Church in Aurora, Colorado, comes Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. We're making our way through Galatians, and today we come to a passage in chapter five that describes the works of the flesh. They include the misuse of drugs, sexual sin, idolatry, hatred, jealousy, and outbursts of wrath. Pastor Ed breaks them down into three groups for us: the sexual sins, the religious sins, and then the social sins. Let's take this opportunity to examine our lives to see if the works of the flesh are evident in us.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Uncleanness, uncleanness. When they used this word in the ancient world, in the medical realm, they used this word to describe an infected, oozing wound. So when you think about it in the sexual realm, this is getting involved in an immoral, infected, oozing, sinful sexual lifestyle. Just a whole just kind of describes your whole life, which goes to the next one: licentiousness. Licentiousness then is all of these sins and you living in an unbridled, uncontrolled excess because it doesn't just stop with one thing.

It begins to impact the entirety of who you are. But the flesh needs to find an opening. It needs just a little opening to get in to show you. If you're reckless in one area, you'll be reckless with two. And if you're reckless with two, you'll be reckless with three. And before you know it, you have a licentiousness about you where you're uncontrolled. What's dangerous for us as believers is we show up and go, "Oh, look at, I'm in control." And now you're hypocritical, and you're not close to the people that love you, you're not close to God anymore.

These are important things to pay attention to because this is the pathway to victory for so many of you. The works of the flesh are evident. The essence of these sins is any illicit sexual relationship physically or in the mind. The thought life, the heart, the heart is the soil by which the seeds of uncleanness will grow. Number two, the religious sins, verse 20 now. The first listing of these religious sins in verse 20 is idolatry.

Paul moves on now to show you how the flesh not only separates you from others but separates you from God. One of the first works of the flesh is idolatry. What is idolatry? It is the worship of anything or anyone other than the one true God. You can create for yourself your own religion, your own philosophy. Why? Because it's your personal technique to get whatever you want whenever you want it. And so when you think of idolatry, don't think of just little statues or pictures on the wall.

Think of a god that you've created in your own image to deal with the reality of conviction in your life so you can get what you want. You know how it sounds in Christianity? The Bible will say something very clear, and you'll say, "Well, that's not how I read it." But, bro, how else can you read it? What other language are you using? Use that language. It says the same thing: Thou shalt not lie. Yeah, but I'm not feeling that right now. No, I just I don't really see that. I was kind of reading the Bible, and I watched this YouTube video, and it said lie doesn't really mean lie, and it could be white, it could be blue, it could be purple. What are you talking about?

You're idolatrous because instead of receiving the simple teaching of the word of God, you have created something else that you've given your devotion to. Why? So you can sin. You know, you say, "Hey, pastor, we're in church right now. We don't think like that." Actually, we think about it far more than we admit so we can get away with things. We'd be willing to give up our relationship with our parents that way. We'd be willing to give up our relationship with our siblings that way.

You've got all these personal techniques to do your own thing instead of doing the right thing and just working through things, allowing the Lord to work it through and show up and give him the glory. Not you the glory, but him the glory. Idolatry, it's very important. You don't just worship false gods. I mean, you could worship money, you could worship careers, you could worship your kids, you could worship sports teams. You can do a lot of things where you give your devotion far more than your worship of God.

Idolatry. Next one, another religious sin is sorcery, which to many of you right now, you're going, "Oh, great, I'm glad that one at least one doesn't apply. Okay, good. I'm never going to be a witch or a warlock. Yes, never even thought about it." Ah, but this is another one of those English words that we gain a lot more insight when we look at the Greek, the original language. You know what this word is? *Pharmakeia*. Does that sound familiar? Pharmacy. Yes, this is a reference to drugs. To drugs, mind-altering drugs. Yes, and this is a reference, sorcery, to the misuse or abuse of drugs, both legal and illegal. That's a work of the flesh.

I think of legal drugs. Very popular, very unfortunate, but very popular. You get injured, you get a prescription, they give you the prescription, and it really helps you get through that season after surgery. You get through it, but then there comes a point in time where you know you don't need it, but you like it. And so you go back to tell the doctor, "Well, it still hurts." "Okay," and they write another one. And then those behind making drugs, they know that they can put something in there—I don't quite understand the whole thing, but they can put something in there—that will make you addicted to them.

And now you really want them. And before you know it, you're living in another world because you're always on drugs. And, "Hey, man, you're out of your mind. You're not even here all the time." "Well, you know, I'm taking drugs." Dude, you've been taking this drug, and you've been out on this drug for two years now. You haven't been the same. Right? It's evident. The work of the flesh, it's evident to everyone but the person. And even to those that are addicted today, and I've just described your scenario, and you really are at a loss.

You say, "I just don't know what to do." I'll tell you the very—I don't actually know what to do yet as well, except talking to your doctor, praying through. There's, you know, God's obviously given you the victory. But dealing with the addiction, here's the thing: one thing that you can do is choose to obey God. And he'll meet you right there. Choose to obey God and see what has happened to you and take ownership of your part. That's what confession of sin is. You agree with God. You take ownership. Until you have godly sorrow, there'll never be repentance.

And just see. I know it didn't start out that way, and I know you didn't intend that way, but that's what the flesh does. Nobody ever intends, no one ever wants to get to the end of sin. They don't start that way because they never think they'll get there. But they do. And it's true. I think of illegal drugs—well, not actually they're not legal anymore—but I think of just some, you know, this is a work of the flesh. You had a hard day, you have a hard job. So what do you do? You go home, you smoke a joint. Smoke a joint.

"Oh, it just makes me feel better. Smoke a joint." Really? You think it's okay to be out of your mind and, you know, like I want you to process this for a second because thinking about smoking a joint. You say, "Do you call your kids in? 'Come on, kids, bring the pot. Let's roll up a doobie, man, and let's I want you to see your dad smoke pot. I want to teach you when you're old enough, you can smoke pot with your dad.'" Does that sound like God to you? Well, nobody does it. So then let me ask you, why don't you do it?

Why don't you let your kids watch you and see it? Why not? Well, because intrinsically you know that's horrible. Why would you want to do that? And yet towards your kids, you have a higher standard than toward God. Toward God, you're inviting like this is a work of the flesh that has become all more common because things are legal. Who cares if things are legal? You don't want to be outside of your mind so that you can gird up the loins of your mind, Peter said. Gird them up, man, and be ready. Be ready to fight the good fight.

So this one, sorcery, and I do think they translated it as sorcery because drugs and witchcraft are often linked together: the occult and paganism and hallucinogens. And now what is being made legal, at least in our state, are now mushrooms and how you can be out of your mind with all this hallucinogens. And I'm just telling you, it's a work of the flesh. It is another personal technique that you can develop to get what you want. I mean, maybe it's something what you want, you just want peace. But you're going after drugs to get peace where you're not really even getting peace.

You're just being disruptive to your own spiritual life. So now you're doubly pained, and you pay triple and quadruple and then you finally give up and don't stay sensitive and you harden your heart toward God until there's a big crash. Now he goes on to the next section, and that is social sins. The first one is hatred. So let's just be real about that. If today you're listening to me and you have hatred in your heart for a brother or sister, another person, you're in the flesh. It's got to be dealt with. If you hate someone, you hate a people group, you hate whatever, it is a work of the flesh.

It did not come from God. It didn't come from God. Again, even saying this out loud, you can start to maneuver and you can start to look. "Well, wait a minute, didn't God hate? And wait." Okay, you're not God, okay? Number one. You're not God. So stop. This is what you have to repent. This is what I have to repent from. I can make so many excuses for my behavior when God is really trying to do something in me. Like I went from as a new believer, "God, change me, shape me. I am so messed up. I don't know how to be a man. I don't know how to be a dad.

I don't know how to be a husband. I don't know. Lord, you just tell me, I'm all yours" to "Well, I don't know, I was watching this YouTube video, and that guy said, and you know, I was listening to the radio, and they said yeah maybe." What happened to us? We need to desire to walk in the spirit. And when we walk in the spirit, we don't fulfill these things. We'll see later that the fruit of the spirit answers every single one of these and more. As you walk in the spirit. Hatred. Next one is contentions. This refers and hatred has a progress. You see it right here.

You go from hating to fighting. That's what contentions are: arguments, bitter conflicts, deep-seated animosity, resentment toward people. Very, very important. To the next one: jealousies. Jealousy is a form of anger and hateful resentment caused by coveting for oneself that belongs to others. I deal with this in the book that's coming out in October. I deal with a section—I don't develop it—but I deal with anger because anger is such a big barrier in dealing with your past. Anger, bitterness, resentment, these things, they all go together.

And if you stay there, the Bible says that a root of bitterness develops in you and you defile many. If you're ever going to make progress in your Christian walk and you're ever going to let go of your past, you've got to deal with anger. Even if you're not an angry person, but there's anger inside. Sometimes it's outside, you know, some of you have as we'll see in a moment, these outbursts of wrath, but many people actually internalize their anger and it begins to destroy them on the inside. And they begin to dislike and actually hurt and harm others because notice from jealous, hatred, contentions, jealousies, the next one is outbursts of wrath.

Outbursts of wrath, this is an important one. It refers to those sudden unrestrained expressions of hatred and anger toward others. You know, in the real deep throes of our time of grief, Marie and I—especially mine—I was reading these books on grief trying to learn, see what the Lord wants to show me, and I learned a principle. It was very powerful. Talking to me about anger because I was just so angry that this happened. I'm so angry the way it happened. It was just it was hard. And there were two ways that you deal with anger, this author said.

One was outbursts of wrath: punching holes in the wall, kicking things down, and that used to be me before I got saved. Fortunately, I don't do that anymore, but that's how I used to. You'd come to our house for dinner on Saturday, and the picture would be on one place on the wall. And then you come the next Saturday, and Marie would move the picture down there because she was trying to cover my out-of-control anger. That's just how our marriage was before we got saved. And so the outbursts of wrath God has really dealt with.

But they said the other way, there's two ways that you can deal with your sin or your anger sinfully. One: outbursts of wrath, kicking the door, yelling, screaming. The other sinful way is to internalize it. And they say there is a word for internalized anger: it's depression. You don't know what to do with it, and so you take the brunt of it, and you punish yourself. And then the internal instead of walking in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us, changes us, fills us, overwhelms us with a sense of relief and peace and newness of life.

God's path for you is not hatred. It's freedom, to walk in the freedom that God has for you, to enjoy him, to enjoy what he's given you. The works of the flesh are serious. Notice now it says outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, which is really the essence of the flesh to begin with. This is interesting. It really means desiring an office or putting yourself first. It's the exact opposite of being a servant. It's the exact opposite of living for Jesus who he came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Mark chapter 10, verse 45.

This selfish ambition is a dangerous one. I mean, they're all dangerous, but this is especially dangerous for churches. Because if you're a guy or a girl rolling into this church and you have selfish ambitions as a work in your life, then you're going to clamor for title and position, and you want authority, and you want power, and you want recognition, and you want everybody to see you. And you want subtly you start to draw people to yourself, and then while you're drawing people to yourself, you're like, "Well, you know, I don't like that church, and I don't like that pastor, and why don't we just go do our own thing?" which is not the right way to plant a church, but many people try to do that. And then they head off, and it brings great pain to the people.

Now let me tell you what that looks like in a smaller church, okay? A church of 500 or so. You know, I'm sure you've heard of church splits. Have you guys heard of church splits where the nastiness in the church gets so much that people just, "I don't want this anymore because this doesn't seem like Jesus to me." A church split. Guy comes in with selfish ambition and he's drawing people after himself, maybe being like an Absalom. A church split doesn't split. When you hear of a church split of a church of 500 people, it did not split into two churches of 250 strong believers. So now we have two churches and oh, it's really great. Look at what God has done through this man with selfish ambition. That's not what happens.

You know what happens? The man with selfish ambition leaves with maybe 20 or 25 people that don't end up staying with him for very long. And the other 475 never set foot in church again because of the hurt that they felt by being misused by the work of the flesh, selfish ambition. So in light of this church, I just want you to know there are no positions of power here. There's nobody's given a position to lord over or to take advantage of people. There are only openings in this church for bondservants and servants of the Lord. And if that's what you're into, this is the place.

And if you've been given a position of leadership or oversight, you want to know what that means? It doesn't mean that you serve less; it means that you serve more. And what I mean by that is to whom much is given, much is required. And so now you have more. Why? The Bible says this in the church: if it's happening in the spirit, this is what the Bible says. God raises up one and puts down another. So that if God raised you up, why do you think he chose to raise you up? Because he saw faithfulness in you. So maybe you were faithful with two, and now he's given you four.

You have four, now he has eight. Now you're overseeing ministries and you're overseeing people. Why? Because God saw that in you. He did not give it to you because of your selfish ambitions. He didn't give it to you so you can have a title. You can put on your desk, put on your card, "Now I have a card and this is my title." You know what my title is? Servant. That's how I started. That's how I'll continue and hopefully one day, I hope to hear these words: Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord. The flesh will stop me from that. No positions of power.

And then you see the rest of them: dissensions—this is another word for arguing—heresies, false teaching, twisted teaching. Envy is jealousy on steroids. And now you're wanting to hurt people because of envy. And then you have murders. And you're like, "Wow." You see the progression. You may not physically murder but in your heart you just write people off. You just discard them like they're nobody. That is not from the Lord. Never, ever, ever. God has put the church on the earth to be salt and light. But more importantly, to be a manifestation of his tangible love.

So that we know how much he loves us, and then we go and love others. The next one: drunkenness. That's an obvious one. You can never say that God is telling you to get drunk. Never. Never, ever, ever. You're under the influence and control of an intoxicating drink. That's not from the Lord. Again, so much damage has been done by this particular work of the flesh. Or how about revelries? Revelries is just like a troublemaker. Like you just become a troublemaker. That's a work of the flesh.

You're just kind of a carouser partying—like I use the word carousing and partying, but you know that may not apply to most of you. So the reality of carousing is this troublemaker, just always looking for trouble, stirring up trouble, never just always like divisive and difficult. That's what this word means. You're just on the roam. And so now we're done with the list as we're entering into communion, and you're like, "Oh yes, he's done. He's done, and he didn't talk about my flesh. We got away, yes. We faced it, it's no problem. None of those things apply to me."

Really? Well, Paul was thinking of you when he said this in verse 21: "and the like." And the like. Guess what? That's you too. Whatever it is that you have created in your life to get your own way instead of God's way and call it God's way. The flesh hates the narrow road. The flesh hates the narrow road. That's why it's so tempting to go on the broader road. It's so tempting to expand it just a little bit. Just a little bit wider, just just it was narrow, but I got this thing in my life so if I can make it a little bit wider, then I can still be on the narrow road. No, no. That's the flesh. The flesh hates the narrow road.

Announcer: That is Pastor Ed Taylor on Abounding Grace. We just heard his message, "The Works of the Flesh are Evident." You can hear it again at aboundinggraceradio.com. Pastor Ed, as you rightly pointed out, we all deal with the flesh to some degree. So how do we deal with it as God would have us?

Pastor Ed Taylor: I don't want to oversimplify the answer to this question, but it will sound that way. How do we deal with the flesh? We must repent. Repentance is the key to victory because repentance acknowledges that we have or are currently in the flesh life. We are to reckon the old man dead. We are to crucify the flesh. We are to walk in the newness of life. And in order to do that, repentance is it's just underrated: the power of godly sorrow over the areas. I mean, think about it. We're learning it in Galatians, but think about it: adultery. What do you do with adultery? You repent. Fornication, sexual sin: repent. Uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, hatred.

How many today—and this might just be a word from the Lord as I read through Galatians 5—how many of you listening right now have true hatred in your heart for someone? And you haven't repented, you don't want to repent. So what does that make you? A man or woman living in the flesh. You can't be in the flesh and the spirit at the same time. It's one or the other. And John said it even—he said it even stronger when he wrote his letter in 1 John and he talks about hate and love and he's like, "How can you hate your brother and say you love God?"

This is just I think I know the question was one direction, but I really believe this is a word from the Lord, a rhema word. 1 John 4:20: "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he's a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he's not seen?" How do we walk in the spirit, not walk in the flesh? We choose to repent and live a life of repentance and humility and obedience each and every time the Holy Spirit shows it to us or reading the scriptures and it is revealed to us that this is the way of spiritual growth. And it's vital that you repent. I've done Bible studies on our website or on our app about godly sorrow and repentance. I encourage you to go there and listen to them and let the Holy Spirit help you.

Announcer: Very helpful. Thanks again, Pastor Ed. Today we'd like to tell you about *The Jesus Person Promise Book*, authored by David Wilkerson. With well over a million copies in print, this book is a wonderful tool for everyday use. It brings the truth of God's word into virtually every spiritual and personal problem encountered today. You'll read over 800 promises from the Bible arranged topically, making it easy to use when you're in need of encouragement. And we'll gladly send you a copy for a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace.

Call toll-free at 877-30-GRACE. That's 877-30-GRACE or order it online at calvaryco.store. Please remember this ministry is made possible through the support of our listeners, and we're grateful for whatever the Lord leads you to do. It would be great to hear from you during these summer months. Call toll-free 877-30-GRACE. Donations can also be made online at aboundinggraceradio.com. Glad you've taken time out for our study in Galatians. This has been Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed. And we'll look for you tomorrow as we open the word together in search of God's abounding grace. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church Colorado here in Aurora.