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Good morning. Thank you. Glad to be back. Please turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. Finally, getting back to Galatians. I'll be looking at verses 19 through 21 today. Galatians chapter 5, verse 19. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I've got three riddles for you this morning. I've got to guess what I am. Three riddles. First one, I am something in this room. I am invisible. You cannot see me, but I impact everyone here. A person, but every person depends on me. I can be good or bad, hot or cold, wet or dry.

I am not alive, but none of you can live without me. What am I? Air. Thank you. I am the air you breathe. An unseen physical presence. Think about that for a moment. There's an unseen physical presence here today that impacts all of us. Riddle number two. I am something in this room.

I am invisible. You cannot see me, but I influence everything you do. I am alive. I am always working. I can be good or bad, bless or curse, free or enslave. What am I? That's nature. That's what the biblical concept is: nature. Everything you do comes out of a nature.

There is the nature of fallen Adam. There is the nature of Jesus Christ. And everything you do or say or think arises out of what the Bible calls. Nature. Riddle number three. I host a lot of people. I have many rooms, accommodation areas, and staff to ensure my guests are looked after.

My goal is to keep people in me. I have fences, towers, walls, guards, and checkpoints to ensure my success. What am I? A prison. In fact, I am a maximum security prison. And some of you, even though you are here in this church today, you live in a maximum security prison.

And there is an influence that keeps you there. An unseen influence that is in this room. And it has imprisoned many of you. And so, what I want to do today as we get back into Galatians, I want you to see the hidden influence that has imprisoned many of you today.

It's like a prison complex. It confines. It keeps you from enjoying the wide open space of God's freedom. Its aim is to keep you from serving the Lord both now and to keep you from The kingdom of God later when Christ returns in glory. An influence that imprisons you.

Remember, freedom, just by way of review of Galatians, where we've been, freedom in Galatians is freedom not to do what you want to do. It's a freedom from God's wrath, a freedom from God's judgment, the guilt of sin, freedom from the power of sin, freedom of fear, the fear of death, the fear of man, the fear of Satan, the fear of hell.

That is freedom. It's not a fleshly freedom to do whatever you want or to protect your pet indulgences. No, that's still bondage. If you're operating under that paradigm, you are still in this maximum security prison. Prison by the flesh. Freedom in Galatians is that, is life in that wide open space of those unlimited possibilities of pleasing God, the unlimited possibilities of enjoying God, that wide open space of running in the way of Christ's likeness.

Let me tell you something, there wasn't anything that bound him. In this realm, he calls us to follow him. And we need his spirit to do so. Some of the major contrasts that we've come across in Galatians so far: law versus grace, slaves versus sons, bondage versus freedom, and flesh versus spirit.

Two natures, flesh and spirit. Chapter five is about life in God's Spirit. As we first began, verse 5:1, it was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm. Chapter 5 is about life in God's Spirit. God has freed us for freedom. That's what he's freed us for.

Then in verses 7 through 10, we are free to run in the way of Christ's likeness. And then in verses 11-15, we are free to love like God loves. This is freedom. And we could do so because we are joined to the Spirit of freedom who opposes the incarcerating works of the flesh.

Look at verse 16. But I say, walk by the Spirit. And you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another. Two natures. Two different paradigms of life at war with each other.

Now, in verse 19, Paul shifts gears. He moves from the abstract. He's been talking about law, grace, slave, son, bondage, freedom, and more specifically about these nature between flesh and spirit. And then he gets very tangible. He moves from the abstract to the tangible outworkings of the flesh.

You see, he begins to stop talking about that abstractness of the workings, inner workings between flesh and spirit, and then he spells it out in the discrete products, distinct and discrete products that these two influences create. There are the works of the flesh, and then he'll go on to talk about the fruit of the spirit.

The works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. This morning, we just want to look at the first of these, the works of the flesh. Look at verse 19. Now, the deep. Of the flesh are evident. The deeds, the works, the manifestations, the outcomes, the evidences, the manufacturings, the outward results.

You get the picture, the deeds of the flesh. This inner influence that you cannot see then manifests itself in unmistakable ways. And it's in the place of emphasis, evident, clearly seen, clearly visible. It's like we don't have an excuse to be ignorant of who the people of God are and who they are not.

Clearly seen, apparent, visible are the manifestations, the deeds, the works of the flesh. They are evident. And they are the results of the inner influences that play upon the hearts and minds of humanity. And so this morning, I'm going to go through Paul's list of these works of the flesh.

Because we need to identify the works of the flesh, and we need to be able to identify the root cause behind these works of the flesh. And only then can you break free from your fleshly desires. Live that wide open space of the Spirit-led life. And that's where Paul wants his people to be living, not in this incarcerated prison of the flesh, but in the wide open space of the Spirit-led life.

Same spirit that Jesus Christ had when he walked. Let me tell you, nothing bound him. Paul's list, verses 19 through 21, has 15 definite deeds of the flesh. And each one is distinct from the other. And yet, there's, I make some groupings here, and that's what I want to do for simplicity.

I'm going to group the 15 into four categories. And they do, in some ways, they all connect, in some ways they're all distinct, they all add a little color or nuance to the operations of the flesh. But we can think of these as those incarcerating influences that are designed to keep you in this maximum security prison.

Now, just in case you don't know what a maximum security prison looks like, here's one from a couple hundred years ago, 150 years ago, a sketch of it. There's several things. There are, the thing about a prison is that there are many layers of security. Security. And so, what I want to do is illustrate how do you break free?

What are some things? What are those influences, those elements that try to keep a person down and in the flesh? You can think of part of a maximum security prison as there's an individual cell, individual cells. You can see those up there. Then there's a larger building complex, a unit.

So if you're going to get out of the individual cell, if you're going to make a break for it, you're going to have to get out of the individual cell. Then you're going to have to get out of the building complex. And all the security and all the things that are there to keep you in.

But then beyond that, there's the courtyard with its constant patrols and its towers, watchtowers that are there to see and view what's going on. And then you're going to have to break free, cross over that external security wall. So you've got to make a jail break. It's a pretty complicated thing because the maximum security prison is intended to keep you in.

And the flesh, the flesh is so much like that. It intends to keep you in into a small, confined space and to keep you from that wide open space of living for God's glory. Our friends, if you will follow the Spirit, You'll make the break because God will make the break because he wants his people serving him and running in the wide open space of the freedom that he gives.

So we'll look at these. We'll just walk through. We'll look at the first group. Deals with sexual sins. You are in Christ. The Spirit frees you from sexual sins. Freedom from sexual sin. Look at verse 19. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, and sensuality.

Three words. All with a strong sexual sin relationship. Immorality. Well, that's the unlawful sexual intercourse. Involves things like prostitution, immorality. The word unchastity speaks of this, which speaks of any kind of sexual acts outside of God's design within the marriage. That's what this word refers to. And it's the misuse of every kind of sexual activity, whether it's prostitution, homosexuality.

Bestiality, and any other ism that is a perversion of what God has in mind for sexual activity. Immorality. Second word in this group, impurity. Impurity. Impurity, the word can be used in a literal sense. Anything that's filthy or dirty. I like to use the word foul. My kids laugh at me when I use this word, and they know I'm upset when I start coming in.

This place is foul. It's like there's such thing as a cluttered room, and then there's such thing as a messy room, and then there's such thing as a foul room. You know what I'm talking about? The difference? Foul, rotting food, stinky trash, moldy drinks, all that. That's foul.

It's one thing to have a little messiness, that's different. But that's what this idea of impurity is, it's foul. Foul. Impurity. Can also, the idea in that, there's a literal sense, but then in that figurative sense, it refers to all that is morally foul. And it's especially related to.

Sexual immorality, the crude, the off-color jokes, the innuendo, the sexually immoral entertainment. All of that is impurity. And many of you are enslaved to it. And its design is to keep you in and to keep you out of, yes, entertainment is important. What you set before your eyes is very important because if you gravitate to that which is unclean, guess what?

That is coming from an influence within you. You have to deal with that influence there. Because all the filters and all the other ways and means cannot keep a heart away from that which it desires. Sensuality, that idea is the lack of self-constraint or restraint. It's conduct that just goes beyond all the bounds of that which is really socially acceptable and certainly biblically acceptable.

But it's that idea of self-abandonment. Just, okay, I'm coming unhinged. I'm going to do whatever I want. It's wantonness. You remember from Pilgrim's Progress, the agent of disgrace, wanton. She was a wanton. She had this wonder lust, this self-abandonment to do become unhinged. But it's the idea of lustful indulgence.

So think about this in our maximum security prison analogy. Think of this as the individual prison sale, at least for today's lesson. Hopefully, this will help. But sexual impulses are strong. Some of the strongest appetites, then resident in humanity are these impulses for sexual desire. And there's good reasons why those desires are strong.

Number one, God wanted there to be a unique and intimate union between husband and wife. One that would reflect all the other unions that go along with it. All of the spiritual union, the mental union, the relational union. And that sexual union was to be part of the greater union between man and woman, and a unique union, exclusive union.

So the strong sexual impulses are there for a good reason. But a second reason, God wanted the earth populated, and he made sure it was going to happen. You see, sexual relations under the guidance of the power of the world. Of the Holy Spirit, good. We're not to think of sex and sexual feelings as something that's bad unless they're misused, like everything.

But sexual relations under the guidance of the Holy Spirit are good, but if guided by the flesh, they destroy, they incarcerate, they imprison. But the good news, we don't have to succumb to sexual sin. The God who made us, the God who made you, knows how to guide you.

And that's why he's saying, walk in the Spirit and you will not fill the desires of the flesh. Second, we are freed from the sins of creating our own gods. The sins of creating our own gods. The fact that verse 20, the next two in the list are idolatry and sorcery.

Idolatry and sorcery. And these two are linked to the worship, pagan worship systems. The whole idea of idolatry is image worship. And it really boils down to an excessive interest in the cultural idols of the day, cultural icons, cultural images to esteem. But it. In ancient times, and really manifestations of it today, but certainly in it boils down to man-made understandings of God.

A man-made understanding of God rather than a divinely inspired revelation of God that is coming under his word and letting God reveal himself, it is the idea of man making gods and what he thinks God ought to be like. But the silliness of this and the absurdity and the absolute sinfulness of it is that we are made in God's image.

God said, I will make an image. I will make an image of myself. And guess what? It's you, it's me. And even though fallen, we still bear that image. Perfect image, Jesus Christ. But we are made in his image, and guess what? God doesn't go making other gods, he doesn't bow down.

Yeah, the image-bearer is not to make a God. First of all, they won't ever, they can't possibly be God, and inevitably, they'd be gross manifestations of ourselves. So, you think about even in the context of Galatians and even lumping ourselves. In with that, whether it's pagan idolatry, Jewish idolatry, or Christian idolatry, all religion that is not based upon God's Word and an approach to God's Word that allows His Word to speak to us and reveal the God of the Word, all religion that doesn't allow that is itself idolatry because it is based upon man's thoughts and inclinations and imaginations, not upon divine revelation.

Martin Luther said it like this: All the highest religions, the holiness and most fervent devotions of those which do reject Christ the mediator and worship God without his word and commandment, are nothing else but plain idolatry. But a true statement: the core of idolatry is self-pursuit. Choose a God you want to serve.

That's the problem with making gods in your own image. Is that you eventually, oh, I think God will ought to look like this. This is what I want God to do. And if we're not careful, we do that. We start manufacturing that we are God-makers, and then we bow down to the gods we make.

Sorcery. Sorcery is the word. That we get pharmacy from, pharmacia, apothecary in the Latin. But it's generally a use for any kind of drugs or potions or spells. And in medieval times, very much, and the word apothecary, Latin, drug place, potions, Aristotle, even long before that, connected this idea with, as a synonym for witchcraft, potions, black magic.

And these, but it basically amounts to an excessive interest in substances for spiritual guidance and spiritual healing. It's a way to connect with the spiritual realm because God, you don't want to go to the self-revelation of God. You want to get into that spiritual realm and get some answers, and so you force the answers through all kinds of different means.

And this was true of many of the pagan temples. You remember Apollo? In worship of him, there was gas that would be inhaled, and then the Pythia would give out an oracle, and then that oracle would be interpreted, and that would be considered the word of God, spiritual light.

Remember Bacchus, the God of wine. And all the substances, but it was, you remember Asclepios, the snakes, and the healing associated with all of that. But all of that kind of comes into this category of sorcery. But whether it's the idolatry, the manufacturing of your own God, making God the way you think he ought to be, or conceiving God as the way you think he ought to be, and then worshiping that God, or whether it's through any other kinds of means like this sorcery, the result is a distorted view of God, either way.

You see, look, if you think about it, it is only a low view of God that seeks to confine Him to our imaginations, to our dictates of what we think He ought to be, or the traditions of fallen man. We are very arrogant to try to confine God to our imaginations.

Listen, you are not to make up God. These are the sins that are associated with telling God who He needs to be and what you want Him to do. Instead of listening to the God who has revealed Himself to the Scripture carefully and waiting on Him. You know what?

We are tempted all the time to tell God what we think He ought to do. And we'll find a God. And we'll find those who articulate the kind of God we want to serve. Looks different today, but it's the same root. But the good news is: guess what?

I don't have to define God. And wow, I would really mess it up if I did. Good news, God is good. We used to pray this all the time, and it's a prayer that's kind of fallen out of vogue, but God is great. God is good. You guys ever remember praying that?

By his hands we must be bed. Thank you, God, for our hate. God is great, awesome, powerful. God is also good. I don't have to define him. He's great, unlimited in power, and he is good. Very important to lay in the foundation of our minds. So if you think about the individual cells as those sexual sins, like, okay, if it feels good, do it.

I'm going with it. And if you think of that as that individual cell, and if you think about the building complex itself, that building unit, it's like saying, if you don't like God, make your own. Make him up. Serve him. From that. Third category of sins in this list that Paul announces are relational sins.

Deal with relational sins. And this is what really messes up society. You can think about these relational sins as the courtyard. They're in a great prison complex, and you've got eight guards on patrol. They're watching from the towers. They're coming up, and their influences are to keep you in.

Listen, as we go through life, guess what? We have to live in society, don't we? That means, you know what's in society? Other people. And you know what we have to learn how to do is relate to other people. And sometimes, as you go through life, it just may happen.

Don't be surprised if somebody offends you. It may happen. Of course it happens. It happens all the time. It happens like on a daily thing. People will provoke you. And you will be provoked to respond in the flesh. And there's the temptation. There's the fleshly nature wanting to imprison and to keep you from life in the spirit.

Let's look at them. Look at the first one. And there's eight of them. A little bit quickly. Enmities. See that first one? Emities. Deeds of the flesh are evident, verse 19, which are enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, and envying. They're the eight guards. First one, enmities, deals with hostilities, ill will.

And this is what begins to break down a relationship, is harboring that ill will. This is where someone wrongs you or you perceive a wrong and you begin to harbor ill will and can't seem to let it go. That's the flesh keeping that ill will and developing it.

And that's what starts this whole breakdown of relationships. Ill will. Emities. Look at the second, strife. Strife refers to discord, contention, quarrels. Well, naturally, well, where there is ill will, it'll start manifesting itself in strife. It's a war. Ill will, strife, jealousy. You know what jealousy is? At least in this context?

It's a longing to have something that someone else has or is. A longing to have something that someone else has, jealousy. It's being zealous for what somebody else has, embodies, is, be positions, possessions, anything, but a jealousy. And inevitably, guess what? As you go through life, you're going to encounter people who maybe have something you want.

Maybe somebody who has a position. Maybe somebody who's just prettier than you. Or maybe somebody that's got a better donkey than you have. Of course, that's a little antiquated, right? Or whatever. Somebody has something, whether it's a skill, whether it's physical disposition, whether it's position, whether it's possession, but it's a jealousy.

But it really boils down to something that somebody else has that you want. And by the way, this jealousy will erode and destroy your relationship with God. And why is that? Because this ultimately comes down to God. Why did you give him that and not me? God, why did you do that for her?

Why does she get this? Why do I not get this? And it becomes theological destruction. But all that is to keep you in the prison, is to tempt you to respond in the flesh for the purpose of incarcerating you so that you're free from, so that you are bound away from the life and the spirit.

But notice number four: outbursts of anger. Now, there's another guard that will provoke you. What are outbursts of anger? Well, they're expressions that release fury, rage. We call them temper tantrums when you're little. And that's what they are when you're old, too. But it's when a person gets in the way of something you want or offends you in some way.

And you know what? You're going to be tempted to vent your rage. But that's the flesh. And its designs is to keep you away from the life of God. The flesh and the spirit are at odds with each other. Then there's disputes. Number five. You know what disputes are?

They are selfish rivalries. It's the dispute, it's a fight to get your own way. You to be the one to win. What's interesting is it's also used to describe a day laborer. It's a noun. A day laborer. Now, what does a day laborer do? The day laborer shows up.

I do this work. I get paid now. That's what the day laborer does. You pay him at the end of the day, a day laborer. Pay now. That's disputes. It's the idea, I am contending for what I deserve, and I'm contending for it because I deserve it now.

And you can see how that flees into an outburst of anger, a selfish rivalry, a contention. I want what I deserve, and I want it now. That's disputes. Number six, dissensions. Dissensions. You see how these are all kind of related? Dissensions. Where do disputes lead to? They lead to dissensions.

Now, what is dissension? Well, it too is discord, but it has a larger group in mind. Sedition, overthrow, agitators. It's actually used in the political world to describe. Selfish campaigns. You know what? When a political person wants to get office, what do they do? They go around and canvass the neighborhood.

That's what this is about: sinful canvassing, going around to a group because you are having a dispute and because you are selfish in your own heart. And so you start going around canvassing to get others to support, make you feel better, to get on board. The idea is group splitting.

It's the idea of dissensions. To split a group. It comes out of these disputes, which lead to dissensions and these sinful campaigns, building coalitions. And by the way, this happens on a political level. It happens on a church level. It was happening in Galatia. It happens on a family level.

Side with this person, side with that person. It's a horrible thing when you see families breaking down and taking sides. It's an awful thing. But that's what the flesh does. Keep people out of the life that God has for them. Seventh is the factions. Look back, factions. What's a faction?

Well, it's a sect, it's a party. It's a school of thought, even religious dogma, something that categorizes a group. So think about what was happening in Galatia. There were those who were of the Judaizer sect. And then Paul's going to deal with this in other places. Constantly, those coming in, causing division, causing factions to form.

I am of Apollos. I am of Paul. I am of Christ. It happens in a theological setting. It happens in a national setting, a political thing. Factions, coalitions that are formed. So the disputes lead to dissensions and the sinful campaigning that then crystallize in factions, warring groups at each other.

It's all a work of the flesh. Destroy. Where do the warring factions come from? From the flesh. 8. Beginning of verse 21, envying, last on the list, envying. What is envying? Well, he's already talked about jealousy. Jealousy is a longing to have something that somebody else has. Envy is resentment towards somebody else's success.

So you think about jealousy is a longing to have. Envy is spite or pain when somebody has a pain. Else succeeds. How about you? Like, if somebody else succeeds, do you have this? Oof, I wish they hadn't succeeded like that. That's what envy is. It's like the die-hard Aggies, you know.

I don't care if the Longhorns are playing the Russians, you never root for the Longhorns. The idea is, we can have a good season if the Longhorns have a bad season. It doesn't matter how many games we win or lose. But that's the idea of this envying. When it pains you to see others do well, when you can't rejoice in their success.

You see, we have to live in a society where we relate to others, and people are going to provoke you to live in the flesh. And if you respond in the flesh, don't think you're doing God any favors, don't think you're doing yourself any favors, don't think you're doing anybody else any favors, because what that is, is that you're just an agent of destruction.

You've been incarcerated, imprisoned, and you're working to destroy. But the good news is, we don't have to harbor ill will. None of this even needs to get started. We can trust God. We can forgive because we have been forgiven. We don't have to harbor ill will. We can trust.

God to defend us and to take care of us. The good news is there's a way out of this if you'll just keep in step with the Spirit. Boy, let that flesh come up and it will bind you. So we've looked at sexual sins, sins of creating our own gods, the relational sins.

There's two more on the list. Sins of excess. Sins of excess. So you've made it out of the cell. You've made it out of the building unit. You've crossed this courtyard with all these patrol guards. And now you've got to get over the wall. Look at verse 21.

Last two on the list. Drunkenness and carousing. Drunkenness and carousing. Categorize these under the sins of excess. Intemperance. Indulgence. What is drunkenness? Well, drunkenness comes about being under the influence of alcohol. An excessive consumption of alcohol leads to drunkenness. Drinking binges. A man given to drink is disqualified.

From being an elder or a deacon. Why? Because such a man lives under the influence of alcohol. And even when sober, he is imprisoned to his fleshly desire, drunkenness. Ephesians 5:18, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. Paul is going to address this later in other places.

But drunkenness, excessive use of alcohol. Well, and this certainly has implications for all mind and body altering substances. But those who are led by the Spirit are under the influence of the Spirit. I can tell you, Christ was not under the influence, not controlled by any substance. He himself was controlled by the Holy Spirit, and this gave him mastery over all.

The last term is carousing. This word for carousing involves excessive feasting, carousing. It's merrymaking, reveling, orgies. But the idea is a lot of excesses, indulgences, even banqueting. Think of Vanity Fair in Pilgrim's Progress. You all ought to have that image in your mind. Carousing is a natural companion to drunkenness.

In fact, this is what the worship of Dionysus, the god of wine, involved that party scene, temple. There at that party scene, moral restraints were relaxed. Those moral relaxing of those restraints led to many indulgences beyond wine. And so intemperance, when you think about that, being under the influence of something else can be applied to a lot of other categories of life.

He just gives a couple here. It can be applied to food, screen time, work, speech, and many other areas of life, which in and of themselves could be good, but excessive indulgence is catastrophic. Reminded of Proverbs 25, 16 that says this: Have you found honey? Eat only what you need.

Need that you not have it in excess and vomit it. So, even something as good as honey, don't take it in excess. You can think of these sins of excess as these final walls in my little analogy here in this penitentiary. But the good news is that God meets all of our need.

He fills us with good things, he fills us overflowing with peace, overflowing with joy. He is enough, sufficient, and that is why he calls us into a relationship with him. Get outside the sexual sins, outside the sins of creating God in your own image. Get outside the relational sins and get out of these sins of excess and serve him.

All of these are designed to keep you bound to your fleshly desires. And it's clear, you see in verse 21, that Paul isn't trying to be conclusive here, because look at what he says in verse 21, and things like these. In other words, there's a whole lot more that could be said about these.

But look at what he says in verse 21: of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus said the same thing: you will know a tree by their fruits. You cannot practice these things.

Not everybody who says to me, Lord, Lord, is going to enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of his Father. Jesus himself said that, and Jesus is the judge of all of this. Why did Paul write this? Well, he wants to give us a severe warning that will jolt us, jolt the Galatians, and jolt us to an honest self-evaluation and repentance and desire to grow in the fruit of the Spirit.

And that's where he's going next. And we'll look at that next week. But let me ask you, do you want to go through life as a laborer on an assembly line in a sin-producing factory? It is the prison of the worst sort, yet that is where some of you are.

Think for a moment. Think for a moment if you were captured in war and then you were forced to work in a dark hole mining the raw materials that you knew were being used to bomb your own country. Wouldn't that be awful? It's the worst kind of captivity to be enslaved, but then producing those things which destroy your country.

Countrymen. Well, that's exactly what those who live according to the flesh are doing. Would you like to be freed from producing fleshy works? Would you like to be free from manufacturing that which destroys people, including yourself? Well, you need to escape that fleshly nature that is influencing who you are and what you do.

How do you do that? You receive the breath of God. Let the breath of God breathe upon you. The breath of God is necessary to break you free from two things. First, you have to be free from Adam's fallen nature. We inherited that from him. That's the fallen human nature that opposes God.

You have to be free from that. Second, you have to be free from the corruption of the flesh in which we still live. We still live in a corrupted, fleshly world. By receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, as you repent of your sin and accept him, that's how you escape the fallen nature.

It happens instantaneously. When you believe in Jesus Christ, he comes into your life and a new nature is born. You are born from above. You become a child of God with the same DNA as our Lord Jesus Christ. But the second, you need to accept, you need to escape the corruption of the flesh.

And how do you do that? You let God continue to breathe life into every situation you face by letting His Word shape your view of God, shape your view of yourself, shape the things and inform and purify your motives. Look, if you get a right view of God and you let Him shape that, and you receive His word about who it says you are, that will purify your motives, it will cleanse your thought, and it will bring joy and peace in your emotions.

And that happens daily as you walk in the Spirit. So you need to accept Jesus Christ to escape fallen human flesh. And you need to continually walk in the Spirit to avoid the corruption of the flesh. And you're invited to do both of that this morning. Never put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Pray where you are right now. Say, God, come in, forgive me, right where you are. I would encourage you to tell somebody. But if you have, be Said, Lord, I've walked a long time and these fleshly desires are incarcerating me. I see them all the way. Forgive me and show me the way.

And you will. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you, bowing our hearts and thanking you for the truth of your word, for your great goodness, your greatness, and your goodness. We celebrate this morning. Father, thank you that it is your desire that we get out of the small, confining space of our flesh-bound prisons into the free open space, the wide open space of life in your spirit with the many, many limitless possibilities of enjoying you and celebrating you.

Father, have your way in us this morning, wherever we are. Meet us. Transform us. In Jesus' name, amen.