Works of the Flesh

Beloved, there are millions of people who've made professions in the faith who aren't anywhere near the kingdom of God. A profession of faith never saved anybody. Anybody who is saved is called to make a profession of faith, but just because you make a profession of faith doesn't mean that you possess the faith that you need to have in order to be justified.

Lip service never saved anybody. It can be so easy to rationalize the remaining sin in our lives. We compare ourselves to others.

Well, I'm not as bad as them. We point to our circumstances. Jesus understands it's a hard season right now, but that is not how Jesus instructed us to combat sin, and it's not how the Apostle Paul speaks of our battle with the flesh. You're listening to the Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind, as each week we feature the preaching ministry of R.C. Sproul. We're currently in a short series in Galatians, and this week we're in Galatians Chapter 5.

If you'd like to walk through the entire letter with R.C. Sproul, be sure to request his hardcover commentary with your donation of any amount at renewingyourmind.org. So how do we deal with the remaining sin in our lives, and is there such a thing as a carnal Christian? Well, here's Dr. Sproul in Galatians 5. Well, this morning I'm going to continue with our study of Paul's letter to the Galatians. I'll be reading from chapter 5, verses 13 through 21, and I'd ask the congregation please to stand for the reading of the Word of God. For you were called to freedom, brothers, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.

For these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident.

Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. These warnings are very dire, coming from the pen of the Apostle Paul. And so we need to be alert and diligent to understand what is involved here in the warfare between the Spirit of God and human flesh. This is the Word of God.

Please receive it as such and be seated. Let us pray. Again, O Lord, we ask for Your help because we need it to understand what is at stake here in the spiritual warfare that consumes all who dwell on this planet. Give us an understanding of what it means to be in the flesh and what it means to be in the Spirit, for we ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. In our days, we have seen very serious matters of war and conflict. Some of you will remember World War I and World War II, followed by the Cold War, and Korea, Vietnam, and a host of other hotspots in this world. These wars of which I have just mentioned were dreadfully catastrophic, but they're nothing compared to the warfare of which the Apostle Paul speaks here, where we're talking here not about battles between the allies and the axis, but rather the cosmic conflict between the Spirit of God and the flesh of man, which two entities are in sharp antithesis, an ongoing and constant battle. And if you sign up for this war, you have signed up for the duration because the end of that war will not take place until we get to heaven. But in the meantime, we're not fighting against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities, spiritual wickedness in high places.

And our fundamental battle is between God and ourselves. Now when Paul speaks here in this text about the warfare between the Spirit and the flesh, I want to pause for just a second to give some definition to what the Apostle Paul means when he talks about the flesh. What is the flesh here in this text? It's easy to jump to the conclusion that the flesh refers to the physical nature of our human bodies, but that would be a fatal rush to judgment because that's not what the Apostle is talking about here when he speaks about the flesh.

Now let me back up for just a second. When we look at the New Testament and we look at the Greek of the New Testament, we see there are two distinct words that are used to describe the physical nature of human people. There is the word soma, which is the normal word that is used to describe the physical body. We have that word taking into our English language when we speak of psychosomatic illnesses, that is illnesses that are of the body, but they originate in the psyche or in the mind. But the normal standard of describing human bodies is the word soma.

But the other word that is the word sarx can also refer simply to our physical nature. Paul, for example, when he said that he never met Christ during his earthly ministry, he said he never met Christ cata sarca, that is according to the flesh. He never saw Him in His bodily incarnation.

Christ appeared to Paul later after His ascension into heaven. And so there are occasions where the term flesh does refer simply to our physical bodies, bodies, but not always. And in fact, the main use of flesh in the New Testament is not with respect to our physical bodies, but with respect to something else. It refers to our fallen human condition, our corrupt nature. In theological terms, it describes what we call original sin. Let me remind you, beloved, that original sin does not describe the first sin that was committed by Adam and Eve. Original sin refers to the result of the first sin committed by Adam and Eve, that is the visitation of God's judgment upon the human race that was represented by Adam and Eve, so that it was visited by the corruption in which we are all born. That is original sin, our fallen condition. Now note this point, that when Adam and Eve sinned, what they did did not just affect them, but it affected the whole human race.

And here's the key point, that the constitutive nature of humanity was changed and changed radically in the fall. And so the normal way in which the Apostle speaks about that corrupt and fallen condition is by the use of the term flesh. Now if you ever read the New Testament and you see the word flesh there and you're not sure whether the word soma lies behind it or the word flesh lies behind it, you're not sure which Greek is there and you're not reading your Greek New Testament, that's okay. But if you ever see a contrast expressed in the New Testament by flesh and spirit, that's a sure tip-off, that's a signal that what the Apostle is talking about is the Holy Spirit versus the fallen nature of our humanity, namely the flesh.

I labor this point because it has so much importance not only to understanding what Paul is saying to the Galatians, but again, as I said, this whole conflict that we're engaged in between heaven and hell. Let me go back and refresh your memory from the teaching that we find in the Gospel of John, in John's third chapter, where we read the story of this visit of this Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night. And he complimented Jesus. He said, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God, for no one can do the things that you do unless God is with them. Jesus interrupted the flattery that he was just hearing and went directly to the point with this theologian and ruler of the Jews. And Jesus said, truly, truly, any time you see Jesus saying, truly, truly, that's like now hear this.

I mean, this is critically important. He repeats this word truly, amen, amen. Listen to it. Pay attention. Pay attention. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Let me pause right there. There's so much misunderstanding about what it means to be born again. Have you ever heard Christians describe themselves as, I'm a born-again Christian?

That's what we call a tautology. A born-again Christian is like stuttering. That's like saying I'm a Christian Christian, because everybody who's born again is a Christian, and anyone who's not born again is not a Christian. So it's an unnecessary adjectival qualifier to say that you're a born-again Christian. If you're born again, you are a Christian. And if you're not born again, you're not a Christian. Now, you have all kinds of people who profess to be Christians, and that's why this distinction has come along in our culture. We say, I don't mean just Christian in general. I mean born-again Christian. I mean a real Christian, a true Christian, one who has been regenerated by God, the Holy Spirit. But in the meantime, Jesus says emphatically to Nicodemus, unless, and you've all heard me labor the meaning of that word, unless, that's a necessary condition for a consequence that has to come after it.

Unless, unless what? Unless you are born again, and you can't even see the kingdom of God, let alone enter it. I hear people all the time tell me that they believed, and then they were born again.

No. If you're not born again first, you will never come to faith. You can't even see the kingdom of God. Without the prior work of God, the Holy Spirit, who changes the disposition of your soul. And then Nicodemus said to him, well, what are you talking about a man being born again?

Can we enter a second time into our mother's womb and be born? Jesus ignored this ridiculous concept and responded again, truly, truly. I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. He can't see it. He can't enter it.

Why? Now Jesus answers the question that is so relevant to our study of Galatians. That which is born of which is born of the flesh, and if John MacArthur were in this pulpit this morning, you know what he would be saying next? That which is born of the flesh is what? That which is born of the flesh is what?

I can't hear you. Flesh. If it's born of the flesh, what is it?

It's flesh. And so he says, that which is born of the flesh, this is Jesus talking now, is flesh. And that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. So don't marvel when I say to you that you must, you must be born again.

Because if you're not born again, you're in the flesh, and only in the flesh. And elsewhere Jesus says, and the flesh profits nothing. Martin Luther commented on that citation from Jesus where Jesus says, the flesh profits nothing. And Luther said that that nothing is not a little something. It's not.

It's nothing. Unless the Holy Spirit changes the disposition of your soul, you are flesh, and nothing but flesh. And if you are nothing but the flesh, you will perish and profit nothing.

Now, I'm going to say something here that's going to be a little bit controversial, but it shouldn't be. There's been a concept that's been invented in the late nineteenth century and made popular in the twentieth century and is now spread to every country on this planet that describes the condition of a person as being what is called, quote, a carnal Christian. Let me just elaborate for a second on what is defined as a carnal Christian. A carnal Christian is defined as somebody who's converted but still in the flesh. He's a carnal Christian because he hasn't been filled by the Holy Spirit, and his constituent nature has not been changed from flesh to a spiritual nature.

This is one of the most dangerous errors that I know of invented in modern times. Now, it was invented to account for the fact that so many people under the course of evangelism make professions of faith. They make decisions to become Christians. They raise their hand in a meeting. They sign a pledge card.

They walk down an aisle. They say the sinner's prayer or other technique of making a profession of faith. And so the pastors are able to say, well, that person made a profession of faith, he counts.

He's in the kingdom. Beloved, there are millions of people who have made professions in the faith who aren't anywhere near the kingdom of God. A profession of faith never saved anybody. Anybody who is saved is called to make a profession of faith, but just because you make a profession of faith doesn't mean that you possess the faith that you need to have in order to be justified. Jesus said, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Lip service never saved anybody. But then we talk about this concept of the carnal Christian. Person is really a Christian, made a profession of faith, but the Holy Spirit has made no change of their constituent nature.

That, dear friends, is not just a theological, but a manifest impossibility. Anybody who is born of the Spirit of God is a changed person. Now Paul says, you're carnal, sold under sin.

Yes. Paul talks about our ongoing battle with carnality, and anybody who is a Christian still has to be involved in this warfare every day of the Spirit against the flesh. But the carnal Christian describes somebody who's only flesh. I talked to a young man once who claimed to be a Christian.

He was doing drugs, selling drugs, and was living with a girl that was not his wife, cohabiting. I said, how in the world can you be involved in these things and be a Christian? He says, don't worry. He says, I'm a carnal Christian.

Don't worry. Your life hasn't changed. There's no such thing as a carnal Christian in the sense of somebody who is 100 percent flesh. It's that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and it stays flesh unless God the Holy Spirit changes the constituent nature of that person. Now here's what happens when you are converted, and if you are in Christ, you're not just in the flesh, but the flesh has not been destroyed. The flesh hangs around, and we battle with the flesh from now until the day we enter into heaven where then we are glorified. But in the meantime, we still have battles and issues with the remaining vestigial remnants of our fallen nature of our flesh. So, how do we know where we stand in terms of the kingdom of God? Well, here Paul gives the answer. He said, you are called to freedom, only don't use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.

Yes, we've been liberated, and we're the Spirit of God. There is liberty. But at the same time, we talked last time about the sin of legalism where people think that by obeying the law they can enter into the kingdom of God.

It's a dreadful error. But the other side of the horse you can fall off is the side of antinomianism where I'm free from the law. I can live however I want to, and they call that libertinism. It's one thing to have liberty. It's another thing to be a libertin. To be a libertin is to somebody who says, okay, I'm free from the law, and now I can just indulge my flesh as much as I want to. Such a person is far from the kingdom of God. Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

The whole law is fulfilled in one word. You love your neighbor as yourself. But here Paul's already beginning to describe fleshiness. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out. Be careful that you're not consumed by one another.

This is your first hint of a work of the flesh. The flesh, the remaining flesh, even among Christians, has the power to violate and vitiate the great commandment and to love our neighbors as ourselves so that we begin to bite each other and devour one another like we're wild animals, not just nipping at the heels of other people, but biting them, consuming them, eating them alive. Paul says, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. And then he gives the command, but I say, walk by the Spirit.

And here the Spirit is capitalized, and I think rightly so in the text. Walk by the Spirit, that is by the Holy Spirit. If you've been born of the Spirit and the Spirit of God dwells in you, then we need to walk according to the Spirit of God, not gratifying the desires of the flesh. You know, I've heard people say, come to Jesus and all your problems will be over.

One of the happiest days of my life was the day I came to Jesus, that that was the day my life really started to get complicated. Augustine says, when you're still in the flesh, you have a rider on your back. He's the devil.

And as Paul elsewhere speaks of in Ephesians, you walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. You are the devil's disciple. The devil's riding on your back. He's got the reins.

His bit is in your mouth. You do what Satan wants you to do. Then you become a Christian. And when you become a Christian, it's not like Satan jumps out of the saddle and runs away. And now the Holy Spirit is in the saddle.

He grabs the reins, and Satan does everything he can to rip those reins out of the Spirit's hands and to dominate your life. But if you walk in the Spirit, you're not going to gratify the desires of the flesh. Now, again, I said to you, when Paul says you're not going to gratify the desires of the flesh, the first thing we think about is physical desires, sensual desires.

Oh, they're included, no question. But when Paul talks about gratifying the desires of the flesh, he's talking about the desires of the fallen sinful nature and that those evil desires don't just include the body, but they include the mouth, they include the heart, they include the mind, they include the whole person. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit. And the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other. Flesh, Spirit, Spirit, flesh, war, fighting, struggling. And this is a struggle that is not simple. In our sanctification, we're to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that God's at work within us to will and to do, but at the same time, this is a cosmic battle. It's a battle for our soul every second. But if you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. Now, now, the works of the flesh are evident.

What does he mean? He says they're not subtle. They're not mysterious. You have to search with the lamp of Diogenes to find out what the works of the flesh are. They're manifest.

They're plain and simple. Listen to the list and the catalogue that Paul gives here to describe the works of the flesh. The works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, that's a general term. The Greek he uses there is porneia, pornography. Porneia refers to a whole category of sexual impurity. In some of the texts, the text clearly defined in distinction from pornography or porneia, the word for adultery. If I can simplify it, what he's saying is adultery, fornication, impurity, dirty minds, dirty mouths, sensuality. Now listen to the next one, group. In this list, idolatry.

Idolatry is whoredom against God. Sorcery, people trying to use magic. Now listen, enmity. That's not a physical thing, but it's a fleshy thing. Enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger.

Listen to this catalogue. Does this describe you? Are you subject regularly to fits of anger? Are you consumed in your heart by jealousy, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy? Isn't something that God included in the ten most basic prohibitions or commandments to all of humanity is command against coveting? We live in a world consumed by the politics of envy. Envy is another person's job, another person's wealth, another person's house, another person's car, another person's bride or husband. That's the flesh.

That's our corruption coming out. Drunkenness. In Catholic moral theology it says there's no… drinking is not a sin. Tipsy, being tipsy is a venial sin. Being drunk is a mortal sin.

I don't know where the line is between being tipsy and being drunk, but you better know the difference because drunkenness is of the flesh. It's a sin. Orgies. He doesn't enumerate all the rest. He said and things like these. But like he's saying to the Galatians, you get the point of talking about human corruption. Now here's the final warning. Don't ignore this.

I warn you. I, the Apostle Paul, I, speaking in the name and authority of Jesus Christ, issue this warning as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Last couple of weeks, the local minister was at a discussion with two fellows that were married, involved in same-sex marriage. One said to the minister, I'm going to go to heaven, aren't I? And the minister said, the cross covers everything.

No, it doesn't. If you live in a lifestyle of constant, impenitent sin, gross and major sin, you will not get into the kingdom of God. Now Paul is not saying here that if you've ever been envious, if you've ever been involved in fornication, if you've ever committed adultery, there's no hope for you, you're finished. He's not saying that these are unforgivable sins. We know that these are forgivable sins. The whole list of sins that he gives us here are forgivable. They're forgivable, but they must be repented of.

They're not just automatically forgiven. And if your life, it's not just a question where you fall into this sin or fall into that sin, but if your life is characterized and defined by these sins, you're in the flesh. And if you stay in the flesh, you will never see the kingdom of God, let alone enter it. Then Paul turns his attention by contrast to the work of the Spirit, which we'll undertake the next time. But in the meantime, we need to look at this very carefully about what it means to be a Christian and what it doesn't mean to be a Christian. And on which side are we on? On the side of God the Holy Spirit, or on the side of the flesh?

A penetrating question worthy of sober reflection. This is the Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind, and I'm glad that you're joining us today. What you just heard was a sermon from R.C. Sproul's Line by Line series in Galatians, sermons preached at St. Andrew's Chapel in Sanford, Florida. Dr. Sproul's sermons in Galatians and his decades of study formed the basis of his expositional commentary on Galatians, and you can add the hardcover edition to your library when you give a gift of any amount at renewingyourmind.org, or when you click the link in the podcast show notes. Take your time studying Galatians, meditating upon God's Word, and reflecting upon Dr. Sproul's exposition as you seek to understand and grow from this portion of Scripture. Visit renewingyourmind.org and give your gift while there's still time, and know that your generosity keeps Renewing Your Mind freely available every day to Christians around the world, including our weekly Spanish language edition. Thank you. We've learned about the works of the flesh, but what about the work of the Spirit? That's next Sunday, here on Renewing Your Mind. you