Belonging to Christ: A Basic Study of Galatians 5:24, Pt 5

10.  Paul says we ought to put on our Lord Jesus Christ.  That is, He covers us in full and complete righteousness.  We ought to make no provision for the flesh or the sinful nature.  Do not give into the flesh.  You ought to know its ugly design to try to trip you up.  Be strong and courageous!  Do not give in to the flesh!  It takes a radical point of view to stand against the flesh.  Stand and be counted!  Do everything it takes to put sin to death.  We are to live as if sin is already put to death within us.  The Bible teaches that it is indeed put to death in a spiritual sense.  Temptations by the flesh or Satan would have you love to embrace it.  But you must not let it have its pleasure over you.  Remember the "ring" from Lord of the Rings?  No body could control the ring and its evil power.  It answered to "one master."  We ought to remember the sinful flesh is the same way, because it answers to Satan.  It cannot be controlled by human means; however, it is possible for some reprobates to resist sin for a time, but they cannot master it.  However, we ought to turn it on its head and answer to our Master Jesus Christ alone!  You ought to pray to see what God wants from you and make the Spirit's plans a main goal.  You might want to reform by grace the things you have been doing in your private life.  You might have to get rid of things that you once held dear.  The flesh likes to place things above its Divine and Incarnate Master Jesus Christ!   Spend time in devoted prayer on your knees and also listen to sermons daily.

11.  We ought to guard our hearts in Christ.  We ought to watch over our hearts with all diligence, because from the heart flows the spring of life.  We ought to keep the heart pure with profound diligence.  The affections of the heart soon become actions of the will.  We ought to never pollute it or dwell on the things of the world.  We must fix our eyes on Jesus and have faith in Him.  We ought to keep seeking the heavenly things above.  If we do this, we will no doubt perform godly actions and behavior.  If we do not focus on heavenly things, it feeds the sinful flesh.  Every sin we commit is an act of polluted idolatry.  However, Jesus will forgive us of sins we commit.  He is faithful and true.  We belong to Christ and no sin can undo that.  Are you walking in the fruits of the Spirit or the deeds of the flesh?  What do you seek?  Do you seek humility?  Do you confess before God, "Lord, I am a thoroughly depraved sinner.  I am radically corrupt and only evil continually.  I am a worm like Jacob and a lamb daily dying.  I have no good that dwells in me and I am not righteous.  I have nothing by which Thou canst delight in me but all I possess is filthy rages as my spiritual garments.  Would you help a poor sinner like me?  With all that I know, I love Thee because of Thy grace alone!  Amen."

12.  Paul says we practice what we hate.  That is, the good we would do we do not do it, but the bad we do not want to do that, that we do.  We cannot please God in the flesh.  We cannot merit heaven or do works of satisfaction.  We cannot go to heaven by simply doing "good" and not believing Jesus.  I suggest to you that we cannot do works of goodness at God's standard of perfection because we are entirely corrupted.   However, if we want to please God by His Spirit we ought to read His awesome Word.  The sinful flesh is a powerful enemy and it is thoroughly and desperately evil.  The flesh makes us less than nothing or nothing before God.  However, do not despair because we have a Redeemer Jesus Christ who saves perfectly!  But the flesh would seek to delay your coming to Christ.  However, all of our "human wills" are in His perfect and sovereign and Almighty hand.  We ought to know that the sinful flesh despises all about God and His Word.  It takes to taste and see that the Lord is good.  It hates to know Him.  It hates to love Him.  We need to be enabled to belong to Christ through the sovereign and divine guidance, direction and leadership of the Holy Spirit and the Word of the Spirit.  If we are not enabled to believe by God alone, no one would come to faith in Him.  The flesh fights against the Spirit.   It fights violently against the holy things of the divine Scriptures!  There is a battle waging against the Word and Spirit within us.  It takes the all-powerful Christ who is stronger enough to save to subdue us that we surrender by His design to Himself.  The flesh hates the mind knowing God but wants ignorance instead.  If you receive more divine knowledge, it would seek to puff you up.  The sinful nature loves the darkness and spiritual error.  The sinful flesh is the stiff-wickedness and stubbornness that holds us back.  The mere strength of the will of a sinner cannot successfully avail itself to true spiritual belief because of the nature of the sinful nature.  I tried to believe when I was not a Christian but it did not work.  In order to belong to Christ I needed to be born from above.  That eventually happened where I was born from above, but it took the Spirit and the Word alone to change my stoney heart.  We will always struggle with the sinful nature as long as we are in this body of death.  By His all-powerful grace, we ought to long for God and His Word.  We should continue to fight against the flesh.  We should continue to fight against sensuality, immorality and sexual evil.  We must never give in, because in it is serious danger.  I suggest to you that the divine grace of God is more powerful than our evil and corrupted flesh.  We are in a battle that prepares us for heaven.  We long for heaven more because of the battle.  If we did not have the battle, we may not long for heaven. We ought not to get comfortable and slack on the holy things of God.  We should seek to experience the depths of His deep, deep, deep love through our Savior Jesus!  He will empower us to do what is right and we ought to know that all of sanctification is by His gracious grace.  Amen.  (Sermon Reference:  Pastor Smith/"Crucified Yet Deadly"/Sept. 15, 2012).