A Survey of the Old Testament Law: God Starts the Fire

OK, so we’ve finished the first five chapters. And that brings us to chapter 6—which we’ve actually already covered. So then we will move on to chapter 7—which we’ve already covered. We have covered chapters 6 and 7 as we talked about the various offerings, so we’ll move on to chapters 8 and 9—which we have already discussed. In chapters 8 and 9 we read the account of Moses carrying out the consecration of Aaron and his sons, which we read about in Exodus 29-30. We will, however, talk about just the last three verses in chapter 9, which will serve as a springboard to take us onward. After Moses consecrates Aaron and his sons, we read Leviticus 9:22-24—22 Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and peace offerings. 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people, 24 and fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

This will be one of many times when God reveals Himself to Israel in such a manner. God will send down fire to burn things for various reasons. In 1st Kings 18:17-39, we read the account of Elijah and the 450 prophets of Ba’al atop Mt. Carmel. After the prophets of Ba'al had spent all day dancing and prancing around their altar, singing and mutilating themselves for a god who could not hear them, 1st Kings 18:30-35—30 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name." 32 Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, "Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood." 34 Then he said, "Do it a second time," and they did it a second time; and he said, "Do it a third time," and they did it a third time. 35 So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water. Now it was time for God to show Himself. He had put up with the pagans’ shenanigans all day long, proving what Peter said in 2nd Peter 3:9—The Lord is not slack…as men count slackness…but is longsuffering. This is one of those places where I almost wish I could know what God was thinking. These men had spent all day trying to summon their deity. God had been patient, watching from His throne, unimpressed with all the prancing and prating and cutting.

And now, God was about to show Himself in an instant. So after Elijah builds his altar, and drowns it with water—and, by the way, wasn’t God just so lucky that in the middle of a drought someone could find the water to do this? I speak as a fool. We have the sacrificial animal drenched with water; we have the altar drenched with water; we have the wood for the fire drenched with water; we have the whole thing surrounded by a trench filled with water. So where was the fire going to come from? 1st Kings 18:37-39—"37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again." 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "YHVH, He is God! YHVH, He is God!" God shows Himself faithful to His people, accepting of their sacrifice, devouring it with fire from Heaven.

We see another example in the mediation between David and God, after David commits his sin of numbering Israel. Listen to David’s plea in 1st Chronicles 21:16-17—16 Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. 17 And David said to God, "Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O LORD my God, be against me and my father's house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued." Let me just stop right here a minute. Do we not have a picture of our great Mediator in the words of David? David had sinned, God was ready to destroy Israel for that sin, the Angel of YHVH was standing between Heaven and earth—and David begs God to take out His wrath on David, and not the people. How much more greater the intercession of our Great Mediator—it was our father Adam who sinned, and yet the Angel of YHVH, suspended between Heaven and earth, who never sinned, took the wrath of God on Himself rather than let it fall on us! And when God commanded David to build Him an altar, he did so, and offered the oxen of Ornan on that altar. And how did God demonstrate His acceptance of that sacrifice? 1st Chronicles 21:23-26—23 Ornan said to David, "Take it to yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. Look, I also give you the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing implements for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering; I give it all." 24 Then King David said to Ornan, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing." 25 So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. 26 And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the LORD; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering.

After Solomon finished building the temple in Jerusalem, he brought animals to be sacrificed on the altar. And as he prayed, he cried out to YHVH, 2nd Chronicles 6:40-7:3—“6:40 Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place. 41 Now therefore, Arise, O LORD God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, And let Your saints rejoice in goodness. 42 O LORD God, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed; Remember the mercies of Your servant David.” 7:1 When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD's house. 3 When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the LORD, saying: "For He is good, For His mercy endures forever." After which Solomon offered 22,000 bulls and 120,000 sheep as sacrifice. Why that many? Because that’s what God wanted. But again, we see the sacrifice of the faithful being accepted by God, and God showing His approval by sending fire down on that sacrifice. And although it isn't spelled out in Scripture, that may have been the way God showed His acceptance of Abel’s sacrifice, Genesis 4:4—Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering. It may very well have been—although I ain't gonna take a bullet for it—that God showed His respect for Abel’s offering by consuming it with fire from Heaven.

God began the fire that was burned on the Altar of Burnt Offering. He showed His acceptance of their sacrifices by sending fire down and consuming it. Now, Who was the ultimate sacrifice for us? Who was the Lamb that God provided as our Burnt Offering, our Sin Offering, our Peace Offering, our Trespass Offering? As Christ died on that cross, suspended between heaven and earth, what did He cry out at the ninth hour? Mark 15:33-34—33 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" What did the people do when the fire came from Heaven and devoured the first sacrifices on the altar of Burnt Offering in Leviticus? They fell on their faces and worshipped. When the fire of YHVH fell upon the altar on Mt. Carmel, what did the people do? They fell on their faces and worshipped. When Solomon dedicated the temple to YHVH, and God accepted his sacrifices by sending fire down upon it, what did the people in the temple do? They fell on their faces and worshipped. When the spotless Lamb of God, our offering for sin and trespass; the offering that brings peace between God and man; when God showed all creation that He accepted that offering for our sins, what did creation do? What did the moon and the stars and the sun do? They fell on their faces and worshipped. The very earth under their feet trembled, fell on its face and worshipped, fearing that God would send His wrath upon it as well.

Yet what did sinful man do? They mocked Mark 15:36—Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink, saying, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down." Even the rocks and the moon and stars knew what we foolish humans cannot understand in our fallen state—that Jesus Christ, very God of very God, was consumed by the fire of YHVH in His wrath, being offered up an altar that we call “the cross” to expiate our sins and make atonement for the many rebellions and insurrections we devise and execute against the holiness of Almighty God. And God sent His wrath—His fire, His judgment—upon the Sun of Righteousness, showing His acceptance of that sacrifice. And as David pleaded “Let Your hand, I pray, O LORD my God, be against me…but not against Your people that they should be plagued,” so God the Son pleaded, “Forgive them Father, they know not what they do.” And Paul the apostle confirmed this when he wrote in 2nd Corinthians 5:21—He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we may become the righteousness of God in Him.

Now, let’s move forward to the book of Acts, which chronicled the very first days of the church. Remember this: God started the fire on Golgotha. He consumed the body of our Lord, that fire coming down from Heaven even as the fire came down from Heaven consuming the first sacrifices laid upon the altar of burn offering in Leviticus. In Acts chapter 2, when the people are gathered in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, what was the miraculous thing that happened? Acts 2:1-3—1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. This was a fire which was to “always be burning…it shall never go out.” Now, today, we may not have little flames coming up out of our scalp. We may not see fire dancing above our heads. But we keep that (spiritual) fire burning within us because that same Holy Spirit that sat atop the heads of those gathered at Pentecost is now dwelling in us. That is one of those “better promises” (Hebrews 8:6) that we Christians have under the New Covenant. We don’t have to work to gain our salvation. We don’t have to work to keep our salvation.

The priests under the Old Covenant had to perform the work of going out and finding wood to keep stoking the fire. But we have promises from God that HE is the one who keeps the fire stoked. Philippians 1:6 (NASB)—He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? I mean, does it not sound as though God is the one who starts the fire by sacrificing His only Son for our sins, and He is also the One who is going to keep perfecting us until the last Day? Well, there’s a reason that it sounds like that is what he is saying—and that’s because that is exactly what he is saying. If Paul had said, “If you begin a good work in you, then you will need to perfect yourself until the day of Jesus Christ,” then some may have a point to stand on for thinking we “earn” or “merit” our salvation.

But that is NOT what he says—that would be absurd on so many levels. That line of thinking makes shipwreck of the words of our Lord in John 10:27-29—“27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.” The exegetical gymnastics and the linguistic hoop-jumping that goes on when people want to ignore the clear and simple words of our Savior are astounding. How anyone can take the precious truths and make them say things that Christ never intended them to mean is to make one a hireling, one who leads people away from the truth and into believing in a “God” who is not able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, as though He does not always live to make intercession for them (see Hebrews 7:25). Rather than make Him a Mediator of the new covenant (Hebrews 8:6); rather than exalt Him as "a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek" (Hebrews 7:21), they relegate Him to being a priest who needs daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's (Hebrews 7:27). And rather than accept the simple fact that by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified (Hebrews 10:14), they see themselves as the one who has to save them, since by their words they declare that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year (Hebrews 9:25). But if there were something we were to do to add our own filthy human works to the cross of Christ; if His one sacrifice was not enough, then it is true that He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world (Hebrews 9:26).

But these things are not so. We do not keep the fire going ourselves. The Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us does that. 1st Corinthians 3:16—Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Ephesians 2:19-22—19 Now, therefore, you are… fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20…Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. 2nd Timothy 1:14—That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. And because the Spirit of God dwells in us, and because we are kept by the Holy Spirit, and because we cannot entirely quench the Holy Spirit, then we can do as Paul commanded us, and present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1).

Systematic Theology--Lesson 4, God the Holy Spirit

Today we’re going to finish up our look at the Trinity by reading about the One who may be the most misunderstood of the three Persons of the Godhead. We have seen that the Father is the One from whom all things proceed. We have seen that Jesus is our Savior, our Lord, the fulfillment of the Old Testament laws and sacrifices. But many people don’t quite understand the Holy Spirit. Before we begin, I want to make something abundantly clear. If you were to ask a Baptist what he believes about the Holy Spirit, then you asked a Pentecostal what he believes about the Holy Spirit, you would get two very different answers. Just to be clear—this is not a Baptist vs. Pentecostal thing or a debate about tongues. There is one doctrinal difference that I think needs to be cleared up, and we will talk about it later. My purpose today is to show who the Holy Spirit is in relation to the Trinity and in relation to us. When it comes to the Holy Spirit—Holy Ghost for all the KJV folks out there—there is always a danger that we can fall into one of two extremes. We can either focus on the gifts too much, or we can give the Spirit less than our full worship. We need to always remember that the Holy Spirit is God.

One of my favorite authors is A. W. Tozer. You won’t find him on any NY Times bestseller list. But when it comes to putting our relationship to God into words, there aren't many better than Tozer. He didn’t write big, huge volumes. Most of his books were about yay thick—but they'd make you feel about yay high once you got done reading it. One book in particular is called “The Divine Conquest.” And he devotes more than half the book to talking about the Holy Spirit. In fact one chapter about the Holy Spirit is entitled “The Forgotten One.” The Forgotten One. That title alone ought to make us stop and repent. We know that the three Persons of the Trinity—each one of them is God. We believe the Father is God, and we refer to Him as Lord. We believe the Son is God and we refer to Him as Lord. We believe the Holy Spirit is God. But how many times do we ever refer to the Holy Spirit as “Lord?” Tozer writes,

“Our blunder (or shall we frankly say our sin?) has been to neglect the doctrine of the Spirit to a point where we virtually deny Him His place in the Godhead. This denial has not been by open doctrinal statement, for we have clung closely enough to the Biblical position wherever our [creeds] are concerned. Our formal creed is sound; the breakdown is in our working creed…the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as held by evangelical Christians today has almost no practical value at all. In most Christian churches the Spirit is quite entirely overlooked…Brief reference is made to Him in the Doxology and the Benediction. Further than that He might as well not exist. So completely do we ignore Him that it is only by courtesy that we can be called Trinitarian. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity boldly declares the equality of the Three Persons and the right of the Holy Spirit to be worshipped and glorified. Anything less than this is less than Trinitarianism.”

I dare say anything less than this is less than true worship of God. On the other hand, there are some who take their devotion to the Holy Spirit altogether too far. Back in the late 90’s there was a movement that went by many names. Brownsville Revival. Toronto Blessing. There were many strange phenomena associated with it. Holy Laughter. Being “Drunk in the Spirit.” People were falling out on the floor laughing, acting like a fish out of water, like wild animals. More recently the same thing happened in Lakeland, FL with a fellow named Todd Bentley and the “Lakeland Revival.” All these people were claiming that all of this nonsense was “a move of the Holy Spirit.” The same Holy Spirit that led Paul to write this command to the churches, to Let all things be done decently and in order (1st Corinthians 14:40) was supposedly the same Holy Spirit that made all these people act like wild hyenas. Well, they were under the control of a spirit alright. But it wasn’t the Holy Spirit. The role of the Holy Spirit is not to whip people up into a frenzy and cause all kinds of chaos. God is not the author of confusion. The role of the Holy Spirit is to glorify God, testify of God’s truth, and lead us in righteousness.

We begin by looking at the Holy Spirit’s Person. First, His Deity. We know that God has been eternally God. He has always been a “Tri-unity.” He has always been Father. He has always been the Son. But He has also always been Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not just some new manifestation that happened on the day of Pentecost. In fact, where do we find the first mention of the Holy Spirit? Genesis 1:2—And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. The Holy Spirit played a role in creation. There are many other places where we find the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Isaiah 40:13—Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as His counselor has taught Him? 7 times we read about YHVH dwelling “between the cherubim.” Isaiah 37:16—“O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.” The word “cherubim” is the plural of “cherub,” angels. The angels that God is said to dwell between are the angels on the top of the Ark of the Covenant. These angels would be facing each other with their wings stretched towards the other. In between the wings of these cherubim, whenever there was a pillar of smoke in between them, that pillar was the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God IS God. We see when Solomon finished building the temple. 1st Kings 8:10-11—And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of YHVH, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of YHVH filled the house of YHVH. The Holy Spirit filled the temple.

Next we look at His Personality. The Holy Spirit is NOT an “impersonal force.” The Jehovah's Witnesses teach, “To a certain extent [the Holy Spirit] can be likened to electricity, a force that can be adapted to perform a great variety of operations.” No. The Holy Spirit is a person. He has a Mind. 1st Corinthians 2:10-11--But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. He has Emotions. Ephesians 4:30--And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. He has a Will. 1st Corinthians 12:11--But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

Now, let's take these verses and read them how the Watchtower would translate these passages:
1st Corinthians 2:10-11--But God has revealed them to us through His Electricity. For the Electricity searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the Electricity of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Electricity of God.
Ephesians 4:30--And do not grieve the Holy Electricity of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
1st Corinthians 12:11--But one and the same Electricity works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

Doesn't make much sense, does it? Just like a lot of their theology, this idea that the Holy Spirit is some vague, impersonal, force "like electricity" does not match up with the clear teachings of Scripture. So, that’s the Holy Spirit’s Person. Next we look at The Holy Spirit’s Provision. He provides what we need. What do we bring into this world? Nothing. What do we take out of this world? Nothing. What do have in between that does not come from God? Nothing. We’re going to look at just a few of these. Most importantly, We Need Salvation—He Carries It Out. First, The Preparation. 1st Corinthians 2:14—But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1st Corinthians 12:3—Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. 1st John 4:2—By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. If we confess Jesus Christ as Lord—if we continue that confession until the end, that is something we did not understand by our own wisdom or intellect—it is something that we can only understand because of the Holy Spirit.

And in order to accept salvation, we need to understand we need salvation. Again, that can only come if the Holy Spirit shows us. In John 14-16, Jesus tells His disciples about the coming Comforter—Helper, or Counselor. The Parakletos. Literally, One who is called to your side. The Holy Spirit. John 14:25-26—“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” John 16:7-8—“I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” The Holy Spirit shows us that without Christ we are sinners all, and all equally guilty before God. Because of the Holy Spirit, when we look at something that is sinful, we see it as sinful, because in our own eyes, nothing is sinful. That’s the preparation. Next The Consummation. Once we’re saved, it’s up to us to keep ourselves saved. Right? Absolutely Not! We can no more keep ourselves saved that we can save ourselves to begin with! Titus 3:5--not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Philippians 1:6--being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. HE is the one who started the good work. HE is the one who will keep it going. HE is the one who will finish it. Romans 12:2 (NASB)—And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove—lit., recognize, approve of—what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. How do we continue to know what is good, acceptable, and perfect? Only by the Holy Spirit.

Which brings us to Our Need Is Christ’s Presence; He Indwells Us. John 14:16-17--"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." 1st Corinthians 6:19-20--Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. Hebrews 13:5--Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Romans 8:11—But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. From the moment we are saved by the grace of God, we are not only filled with the Holy Spirit, but we are baptized into the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in us, and us in the Holy Spirit.

And this is where I want us to stop and examine this for a moment because there are many who say that there is a separate “Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Let me say again, I am not seeking to start an argument, and that my goal is to speak truth in love. And this is something we can disagree on and still be brothers and sisters in Christ. Here goes: all believers are baptized into the Holy Spirit at the moment they are saved. There is no second “Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” What happens is, people who believe this doctrine read what John the Baptist said in the gospels, that Jesus would “baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33). In Acts 1:5, before Jesus ascended to Heaven, He told His disciples, “John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit—not many days from now.” This promise from Christ is to His disciples as a one-time event. It happened on the Day of Pentecost for a reason—to spread the gospel quickly to many different nations who spoke different languages.

There are 4 instances in the Book of Acts where people were said to have been “Baptized in the Holy Ghost.” Once on Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), once with Samaritans (Acts 8:9-17), once with a Gentile named Cornelius (Acts 10:44), and once for the church at Ephesus (Acts 19:1-6). But if you read closely, you see that the reason the Holy Spirit fell on these people was (1) for the Jewish believers to take the gospel back to their own countries, (2) the Samaritans saw the gospel was for them, (3) Cornelius showed the gospel was for Gentiles also, and (4) the Ephesians had not heard about the Holy Spirit. But don’t think that these events are the pattern for every believer. For the believer, the pattern is this: the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins, shows us our need for God’s forgiveness, frees us from our slavery to sin, compels us to call on Christ to forgive our sins, comes to dwell within us so that we can do what God has for us to do.
1st Corinthians 12:13—For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
Ephesians 4:4-5—There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
Romans 6:3-4—Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Galatians 3:27—For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Now, are we to be “Spirit-filled?” Absolutely. Our Need Is Power; He Fills Us. Ephesians 5:18--And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. Well, what is The Meaning of Being Filled with the Holy Spirit? To be filled with the Spirit means to be empowered by the Spirit, permeated by the Spirit, and controlled by the Spirit. Then there is The Means of Being Filled with the Holy Spirit. First, We Surrender Control. Romans 6:11--Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Colossians 3:5 (ESV)—Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Luke 9:23-24—“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” We give up what we want. We say, “I don’t want to be controlled by what my flesh wants. I want to live according to what God wants.” There is a Swapping of Control. Ephesians 4:22-24—Concerning your former conduct, put off the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. We put off the old, we put on the new. 2nd Corinthians 5:17—Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Then there is A Sustaining of Control. Galatians 5:16--I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

And this brings us to our last topic, Our Need is Security, He Seals Us. Ephesians 1:13-14 (KJV)—In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. 2nd Corinthians 1:22 (KJV)—Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. 2nd Corinthians 5:5 (KJV)—Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. There is one word that is common to all these passages and that is the word “earnest.” Other translations call it a “guarantee” or a “pledge.” The word “earnest” in the KJV carries with it an implication that what has been paid is a promise that the full purchase will be completed. 1st Corinthians 6:19 tells us that we have been bought with a price. That price was the blood of Jesus. God has given us the Holy Spirit so that we may know, as we walk through this life, that because He lives in us, we will one day live with Him. Sealed—If you think a saved person can be lost, then you believe there is a greater authority than God. Earnest—The promises of God are yes and amen.

Do not neglect to confess the Holy Spirit as Lord. But, do not be caught up in a bunch of frenzied activity that masks itself as a "move of the Holy Spirit." Next time, we will look at Angels. Here's a hint: they're NOT babies with wings!

"Blessed Be"--Come ye blessed of My Father (The Fruit of the Spirit--against such there is no law)

Well, today, we finally finish our look at the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. We’ve looked at those 9 qualities that make up the pattern of life of a true follower of Christ. Love and joy and peace and patience and gentleness and goodness and faithfulness and meekness and temperance. Now let’s look at that last little phrase in verse 23. Against such there is no law. I have read this passage I don’t know how many times over the years. And I had always just skimmed past this phrase. See that? Then I started thinking, “What does this mean?” It’s almost like Paul is saying, “All those works of the flesh I told you about a moment ago? All of those things that are against the Law of God? Well, if you avoid those things, and walk in these things, the Law will do nothing to you.” Look at verses 16-18, and this is what Paul is getting back to—16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. That, my friends, is the heart of the gospel. That is the thing that so many people do not understand. People that say that every time you sin you “lose” your salvation. But what does it say in verse 18? Who are the people that are led by the Spirit? So if you are saved—if you are truly saved. Somebody will point to a person who “prayed a little prayer and asked Jesus into their heart” and they go right back to their old sins. They’ll ask, “Is that person still saved?” They never were. If you are saved—if you are truly saved—you are not under the Law. And if you are not under the Law, then your sins must already be paid for in advance. Who paid for those sins? When were they paid for? Do we have to pay for them again?

When we are saved, what are we saved from? The wrath of God. Why do we deserve His wrath? Ephesians 5:5-6—5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Fornication and uncleanness and coveting and idolatry. They are against the Law of God. And I don’t just mean those Ten Commandments, but all of those 613 commandments that so many people tried and failed to keep for all those years? That law that could make no one perfect. That Law that could make no one righteous. Why was it given? Galatians 3:19—19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions. 1st Timothy 1:9-10—9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.

Some people think that they do good by “keeping” the Ten Commandments. Ask someone if they're saved, they may tell you, “Well, yes. I try and live by the Ten Commandments.” Guess what? By trying to “keep the Ten Commandments,” they are in fact condemning themselves. Other than Jesus Christ, who has kept the Ten Commandments perfectly, from the day they were born until the day they died, never ever breaking even one commandment, not even once? There is none righteous, no not one. None means none. Why is that? Why is it that we cannot keep the Law? Because we are bound and held captive by this icky, yucky flesh. Romans 8:3 tells us the law was weak because of the flesh. So the Law was not given to show us how good we are, or how good we can be. It was not meant to give life. In fact, it could not give life. Galatians 3:21-22—21 if there had been a law given which could have given life, righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has locked up all people under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. All people are under sin. The Law was given because of our sin. And if someone tries to get to heaven by “keeping the Law,” then they will in fact condemn themselves because they can't do it.

That was why Christ came. He came to fulfill the Law of God, to be our lamb without spot or blemish (1st Peter 1:18-19), to redeem us from under the curse of sin, becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13; 2ndCorinthians 5:21), doing what no human being in the history of all the world could ever do. He then returned to the Father, and sent the Comforter, the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to guide us into all truth (John 16:13).

Because the Law was not given for the righteous. The Law is against sinners. The Law was given because we are all unrighteous, we are all unprofitable, there is none who does good, no not one. And if were up to us, we would never know how to please God, because we would never want to. Romans 3:18—there is no fear of God before their eyes. Our flesh is always going to war against the Spirit—if we belong to Christ. If we are led by the Spirit, if we have been made alive by the Spirit, then we will not want to do the works of the flesh. If you read Romans 7:13-24, Paul is agonizing over doing what he does not want to do and not doing what he does want to do, he says in my flesh dwells no good thing. And he ends by saying O wretched man that I am! Who shall save me from this body of sin? But…

I love that little word. Whenever Paul is running off some list of sins or punishments for sinners, and then he writes “But…” You know he’s about to say something good. We have another passage that shows us that if we belong to Christ, not only that we are free from the law, but how that freedom should manifest itself in our lives. Now, if I’m saved, can I do whatever I want? No. Galatians 5:13 says that we should not use our freedom in Christ as an excuse to live in sin. Romans 7:4-5—4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. Look at that—you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ. If you confess Christ as your Lord and Savior, then all of the things you have done in your life that are against the Law of God, that should cause you to be condemned by the Law—and all the things you will ever do—the Law won’t touch you. Your sins have been atoned for by the body of Christ as it hung on the cross. If you belong to Christ, the Law cannot touch you. But that does not mean that we are free to go on sinning for the rest of our lives. What it means is that when we do fall into sin, we do not need to be “resaved” because that sin, because that sin was already paid for.

Romans 8:6-11. In this passage, Paul shows us the difference between our natural mind and our new mind. We see the difference between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Romans 8:6-11—6 to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Until a person bows their knee and confesses Christ as Lord and Savior, that person will not subject themselves to the Law of God. The Law is still against them, but they don’t care. It’s like people who get in their car and drive 80 MPH on the interstate. They know what the law is, but they do not submit to that law. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Look at that if indeed the Spirit is in you. There are a lot of people who say a little prayer and ask Jesus into their heart, and they're no different now than they were before. You see, salvation is not an end—it is a beginning. God has saved you, paid the debt you owed Himself, and you can now follow Him and obey Him. He has saved you from death that you may walk in life. He has saved us from the curse of sin—now we need to live like it. You are in the Spirit if the Spirit is in you. That doesn’t make sense. To us. Go figure. You are baptized into the Holy Spirit when you turn from your sins and commit your life to following Christ Jesus.

I want to look at that word “indeed.” The KJV says, “if so be.” We really do not have a word like it in the English language. We could do an entire study just on this word alone. One of the dictionaries I use has this huge, long write-up on this word “indeed.” “The idea of the word to which it is connected must be taken to its fullest extent.” The word it is connected to is “if.” What is the fullest extent of “if?” If and only if. Kinda like “the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” He’s saying “You are in the Spirit if the Spirit is in you—and only if the Spirit is in you. If the Spirit is not in you, then you are not in the Spirit and you are still in the flesh and you are still under the law.”

You see, the Law is like a mirror. When we hold it up to ourselves, we see all those things that we do that are sinful. That Law shows us where we fall short of God’s glory. The Law shows us all the places where we fail to please God. If we were to list all 613 commandments, and start going through the list to see if we’ve EVER EVER broken one of them, it wouldn’t be too long until we saw a whole bunch of checkmarks. And we would look at our list and say, “Wow! I’m slime!” The Spirit shows us that our sins actually hurt and grieve the Spirit of God and are contrary to His Law. If it were not for the fact that the Holy Spirit has renewed our spirit, has shown us that sin is not something that just hurts us, or another person—then we would do those things that are against the Law of God every time. But the Spirit—if He is dwelling in us—He will do more than tell us, “You know, you really shouldn’t do that.” He will pull and tug at our brain and scream, “Don’t do it!! Don’t do it!!” And we hear that, and being the dumb animals we are we say, “Hmm. Something’s telling me I shouldn’t do this. But I want to. No, I better not.”

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. Hmm. Now, wait a minute here. you are…in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. Are there two different “Spirits?” Is there a “Spirit of God” and a separate “Spirit of Christ?” No. It’s the same Spirit. The Spirit of Christ IS the Spirit of God. This is another illustration of the Trinity. Listen to these words of the apostle Peter, in 1st Peter 1:10-11—10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. Did you catch that? The Spirit of Christ was in the Old Testament prophets. And Who was that “Spirit of Christ?” The Holy Spirit. Listen to what this same apostle writes in 2nd Peter 1:21—for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. That same Spirit is in us, that same Spirit that was testifying to the prophets beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory to follow, is testifying to us afterward of the sufferings of Christ—and of the glory that will follow.

Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. The body is dead. What did God tell Adam would happen if he ate from the tree of Knowledge? Did you know that even while our bodies are growing and developing, they are dying? Cells in your body are dying every second. As soon as the doctor cuts the cord, the clock starts heading toward zero. But, because the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you, He is life. Every single person who has ever been born is guaranteed an eternal existence. Long after we get put in a box and start feeding worms. And it will be in one of only two places—when this body gives out, we will either go to Heaven, or we will go to Hell. We will all stand before God. And He will either tell us, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into thy rest.” Or He will tell us, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels! Depart, ye worker of iniquity, I never knew you!” If the only spirit we have living in us is our own spirit, we will be told to depart. No matter how many “good deeds” we bring to Him, if our spirit has never been renewed by the Holy Spirit, we will be condemned because we will still be under the curse of the Law, we will bring all of our sins before the Great White Throne of Judgment, and be thrown into the lake of fire.

But if the Holy Spirit is in us; if we are walking being led by the Spirit of Christ, if His righteousness has been deposited into our account, and our sins have been paid for on the cross—then our eternal existence will be with God Himself! Because the Spirit of Christ—the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit—IS life. In other words, those who are still under the Law of God are dead to God. Romans 7:9—when the Law came, sin revived and I died. When he knew what the Law of God said, and he learned what sin was, he became a walking dead man. But those who have received the Spirit of God are dead to the Law and alive to God. Romans 7:4—you are dead to the Law by the body of Christ. But when the Holy Spirit took over his life, the Law had no more power over him.

Finally, 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. There’s that word “if” again. You may be asking yourself, “Well, how do I know if the Holy Spirit is dwelling in me? How do I know I’m saved?” A real easy way to test yourself to see if you're saved—and if you are saved, it is a good way to be reassured that you are—is to go to the book of 1st John. Not right now—when you get home. 1st John is filled with tests to show whether or not what you have is a true, saving faith. Or if you're one of those who said a little prayer and asked Jesus into your heart. Are you comfortable with your own sins? If so, you're probably not saved. Do you think of His commandments as more like “suggestions?” If so, you're probably not saved. Do you hate someone? Anyone? For any reason? If so, you're probably not saved. Would you rather listen to Oprah Winfrey, or God? If you would rather listen to Oprah Winfrey—well, you probably need to have your head examined. I say that in all seriousness—she is a cult.

If you can go through 1st John—it takes about 20 minutes to a half-hour—if you can go through that book, and if you have the characteristics of a true follower of Christ, and you trust Him as your Savior AND YOUR LORD—your Master, the one who has complete control of your life—then you are probably saved, and you probably have the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwelling in you. And He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Because Jesus rose from the grave, and was resurrected, brought back to life, never to die again, then we who are His will also be raised again to life, never to die again, because He is the Firstfruits of our own resurrection. His resurrection guarantees our resurrection. And the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will raise our bodies, after they have been dead and rotting in the grave, and we will be given new bodies, that will never grow old, never get sick, never die, never perish—eternal life with God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. And that eternal life begins now. We don’t have to wait until after we die. If the Son has made you free, you are free indeed. Right here, right now.

If we are living our lives in a way that pleases God—and out of a love for God, not just trying to stick to a bunch of rules about what we can and can't do. We won’t need to remember all 613 commandments, because we will have that Law written on our hearts. When we are faced with a decision, our first thought is not “Well, let’s see. Is this one of those 613 commandments?” Our first thought will be, “Lord, should I do this?” And even in those times we are not sure, the Holy Spirit will gnaw at our conscience so that we say, “Well, I’m not really sure, so I’d better not.” This is why Jesus had to return to the Father. Because in the body of flesh He lived in, He could not answer everybody’s questions at the same time. But now that we have the Holy Spirit living in us (1st Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19), the Comforter, Helper, the one who convicts us of sin and righteousness, are dead to the Law and we are alive to God.

"Blessed Be"--Come ye blessed of My Father (The Fruit of the Spirit--temperance)

So far we have seen that if we have been “born again,” if our dead, lifeless spirit was quickened by the Holy Spirit—which happens when the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ, and He leads us to confess Christ as our Savior and Lord—that our lives will be marked by 9 distinct qualities. While we are walking around in these bodies of flesh that we get when we are born, we want one thing and one thing only—we want what we want and we want it now. We don’t know the things of God—they are foolishness to us. We don’t want the things of God. So in order for us to know and understand and even to seek the things of God—it is the Holy Spirit that begins the work. The Holy Spirit who breathes Christ’s life into our dead flesh.

And if we have been raised up. If we are no longer walking according to the ways of the world. If we are no longer slaves to the prince of the power of the air. If He has indeed made us alive together with Christ—then our insides will be changed, and this change will show itself in outward manifestations. Galatians 5:22-23—22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. We’ve studied these qualities of the fruit of the Spirit. Today we are looking at temperance.

Faithfulness, meekness and temperance are all built on the same foundation. If we are faithful to God, then we will serve Him in humility and meekness. If we are faithful to Him, and if we serve Him in meekness, we will serve Him not only in the things we do, but in the things we don’t do. If we are a humble and faithful servant, we will consider the things our Master forbids us to do, and we will consider it an honor to put to death out own desires and do only those things that please Him. Every time we get an urge to do something that would bring shame to our Master’s name, we would take that thought and crush it. 2nd Corinthians 10:4—the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty through God for pulling down strongholds and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Faithfulness— “I have promised my life to God, and I’m going to go where He leads me.” Meekness—“I would be well within my rights to do this. I could do it if I wanted to. But I’m going to put that other person’s needs ahead of my own.” Temperance—“I shouldn’t do this. I would be sinning against God if I did this.”

The word temperance is really an umbrella for all kinds of fleshly things. Paul wrote in 1st Thessalonians 4:4—That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour. When our flesh rises up and says, “Hey, what’s this about a new picture of Jessica Alba on the internet? Just check it out!” I think we all know our flesh pretty well. Will our flesh be happy with just a peek? But you see, that’s how Satan works. He knows that if you belong to Christ, and you are truly living for Him—if you are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ—it’ll be pretty hard to get you to sin. So he doesn’t lead you in through the front door. In fact, before he tries to tempt you, he comes up with a plan.

In Ephesians 6:11, when Paul is talking about the armor of God, he says, Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. That word “wiles.” What was the name of the coyote on Road Runner? How did he always try and catch the Road Runner? He always had some plan that involved a rocket, roller skates, and some kind of snare. He came up with a plan to trick and trap his enemy. Sound familiar? Who is it that sets up traps and snares for the Christian? Proverbs 22:24-25—24 Make no friendship with an angry man, and do not go with a furious man, 25 lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul. 1st Corinthians 15:33—Evil company corrupts good habits. If we are not exercising temperance—if we are not keeping ourselves as far away from sin as possible, we are giving Satan all kinds of opportunities to reel us in. Speaking of fishing…

When someone goes fishing, do they jump into the water and start grabbing for fish? They tie a hook to a line and attach something to the hook. What do they call it? They throw it into the water. The fish sees it and says, “Hmm. That looks good! I think I'll chase that!!” Next thing you know Big Mouth Billy Bass is hanging on Bubba’s wall. The same thing happens with Christians. But unlike the fish, we know better. Or we should. Think about fishing lures. What do most of them look like? Shiny; got bright colors. We’re sounding more and more like fish every minute, aren't we? And too many times, we chase after those lures. And we wind up being a trophy on Satan's wall. Don’t believe me? Ask Ted Haggard.

The last words in 1st John—Little children, keep yourself from idols. An idol is something we appreciate and respect and revere more than we do God. Not all idols are American. The world is one big, huge, bright shiny object. And we dumb, stupid fish get distracted by bright, shiny objects, don’t we? Listen to what happened to one man who got distracted and lured in by the world. Philemon 1:23-24—salute Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus; Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers. About 5 years later, he wrote 2nd Timothy 4:9-10, Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me: For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica. A man who walked with and learned from the apostle Paul himself, looked at the Cross and looked at the world and said, “I don’t want your Cross. I want the world.” There are so many people in the church who are like Demas, when they should be like Joseph, who was tempted by Potiphar’s wife and cried out, “How can I do this wickedness and sin against God!” (Genesis 39:8-9). He wasn’t afraid of offending Potiphar. He wasn’t afraid of offending Potiphar’s wife. His one and only concern was sinning against God. And that’s what is missing in so many churches these days.

And this is my biggest beef against people like Joel Osteen who call themselves preachers, but will not preach against sin no matter what. They would rather stand up there and say with that big grin, “God loves you just the way you are and has a wonderful plan for your life!” Excuse me while I go throw up. If a person does do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, if they do not repent from and turn their back on their sins, God has a plan for them—but it ain't too wonderful. If a person is a sinner; if they have never been born again and have never confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, that person is in God’s crosshairs. As surely as I stand here, they are the object of God’s wrath.

“God hates the sin but…” Wrong. With the word of God as my witness, every person who is a sinner and who will not repent of their sins is the object of the very hatred of God. Psalm 5:5—You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, you HATE all workers of iniquity. That ain't just my opinion—that’s the Word of God. And when someone who claims to be a Christian is taking part in the works of the wicked, they may not be under condemnation, but God will make them real uncomfortable. Think your daddy swatting your backside was bad?

I’m not saying we shouldn’t have friends who aren't saved. Just the opposite. We should be an influence on them. But if a person claims to be saved, and they are doing wickedness, listen to 1st Corinthians 5:11—I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. If someone claims to be saved, claims to belong to Christ, but their life doesn’t match up with that claim, we should avoid that person like the plague. Even more, actually, because the plague is just a physical disease. If we are hanging out with people who claim to be “born again,” yet you look at their whole life and it does not match up with Scripture—their sin will cling to you (Psalm 101:3).

Listen to 1st Peter 2:11-12—11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. In other words, if we conduct ourselves in such a way that our life looks like Christ, then on the day when the Holy Spirit calls that person to salvation, they will know what they need to do by looking at your example. And they will glorify God. Temperance. Self-control. 1st Corinthians 9:27—But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. If we are going to go out and tell people the gospel, we need to tell them the whole gospel. Especially the bad parts. Like all that Hell and damnation stuff. God’s wrath. And all of that repentance stuff. Now, how can we tell someone that they need to repent in order to be saved when we ourselves are swimming in sins of our own?

When we give our lives to Christ, the world is going to call us backwards. They're going to call us fanatics. They're going to call us losers. But if they knew what we’ve got, they would give away everything they had to get it.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face.
Then the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.

Our temperance—self-control—shows the world that we don’t need that stuff anymore. In fact, we now know that we were slaves to that stuff. But we aren't slaves anymore. Because we have been set free by the blood of Jesus Christ. And if the Son sets you free… Can I get a witness? 2nd Corinthians 13:5—Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. We don’t like to test ourselves. We don’t like to examine our life. We don’t want to think that there is something in our life that God considers sinful. Is there something in our life that we shouldn’t be doing? Sneaking peeks at pornography? Getting drunk—but only on the weekends? Sleeping with someone we're not married to? Sleeping with someone who’s married to someone else? Giving in to our fleshly appetite rather than obeying what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us? When the Spirit begins telling our flesh to stop doing what we're thinking of doing, do we just stifle that voice that’s trying to lead us into righteousness?

1st Thessalonians 5:19—Do not quench the Holy Spirit. That word “quench.” Literally means “extinguish.” In the Old Testament, they always had a lampstand in the Holy Place, where the priests ministered. This lampstand was symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Every day the priest was to trim the wick and top off the oil for the lamp to make sure it was always burning. Our body is a tabernacle—1st Peter calls it a tabernacle of flesh. The Holy Spirit lives and burns in us. We are not to “quench” the Spirit—we are not to extinguish or put a lid over the Holy Spirit. In the tabernacle, without the lampstand the Holy Place would be completely dark—no light. Without the Holy Spirit living inside of us, our spirit would be completely dark—no light. So when you hear that voice start trying to lead you away from sin—don’t stifle it. Don’t muzzle it. Don’t quench it. When you hear the Holy Spirit talking, listen. Bring your body into subjection to it.

You see, when we turn from our sins, start walking toward Christ the world is going to tell us we’re fools. They're going to wonder why we don’t “want to have fun anymore.” No, we just don’t want to have their kind of fun anymore. Let’s look at 1st Peter 4:1-5 real quick. 1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. In other words, if we belong to Christ, it’s as if we were on that cross with Him. If we have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20) we are dead to sin (Romans 6:11).

And if we are dead to sin, then we need to live that way. We need to see the lusts of the flesh for what they really are—traps that Satan has set for us. He’s just standing there, in the shadows, waiting for us to walk into it. Peter should know. And that’s what he’s saying. “You belong to Christ. You are in Christ, you are in the Holy Spirit. Stop being all wrapped up in satisfying your fleshly lusts. Put all that stuff away, stop being a slave to it, and seek the will of God.”

3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. How many of us would love to have back all the years we spent doing these things? But guess what? Even though some of us wasted all those years, God can restore them. He can still use us far more than we could ever imagine. I love Joel 2:25—I will restore to you the years the locust has eaten. Some people who don’t get saved until they're 31, 33, 42 years old, we may think there’s not a whole lot of time for us to do much for the kingdom. Oh, there’s plenty of time.

Look at what he calls the “will of the Gentiles.” lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. These are things the world says, “Hey, if you want to have a good time, you gotta do all these things.” All those beer and liquor commercials—all they ever show is people dancing, having a good time, partying. They don’t show the teenage girl sneaking into a frat party and being gang-raped. They don’t show people with their head hanging over the toilet. They don’t tell you about the people like the one man that lived in that apartment at the corner here who just drank himself into the grave. Peter says, “All that stuff is just a waste of time. It’s junk, It’s worthless. Run away from it!” Paul says in 1st Corinthians 8:18—Flee fornication. Don’t ask to politely excuse yourself. Run yelling and screaming away.

4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. “What do you mean you don’t want to light one up? Come on, I just rolled it.” They’ll ask you, “Hey, I got a cold one for ya. What? Oh, don’t tell me that.” Or you're walking down the sidewalk. Woman comes up to you, you used to be one of her customers, and she starts trying to get you back into the business. And what’s the line Satan loves to use to get you going? “You know you want to!” Same old lie, isn't it? “You know you want to! Come on! Thou shalt not surely die!”

Proverbs 23:27—For a whore is a deep pit, and a seductress is a narrow well.
Proverbs 20:1—Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
Revelation 21:8—But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And that’s when you have to make a decision. When you are offered that joint or that bottle or that roll in the back seat. Are you going to follow what the Spirit tells you to do—or are you going to listen to people who want to draw you away from God. Yeah, it might feel kinda good for a little while. Then it’s over with, and then what? You're not stronger than you were before. In fact, if you belong to Him, you're going to feel like crap. Not to mention the hangover, the possibility of being arrested, or getting AIDS. But that’s what the world says is “fun.” And that’s what the world says, “Hey, if you aren't doing these things, you're a loser. You're missing out on all the fun.” 5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

I got all the joy I need right here in this book. I got promises about eternity, about living with God, about meeting the one who gave His life for me. I got promises that God loves me, that I can find joy in Him, that I can be at peace with Him, that He will get me through the roughest storms, that if I’m kind to people, and if I do the right thing for the right reasons and if I am faithful to God, if I humble myself before Him, and if I bring my body into subjection to Him, I can have every promise in here. The world can keep its beer and its pornography.

"Blessed Be"--Come ye blessed of My Father (The Fruit of the Spirit--faith, meekness)

(Delivered this past Memorial Day weekend)

On Memorial Day weekend, many towns have parades, and festivals. People go to cemeteries and put flowers on the graves of soldiers. My dad was in the Army in WWII. And every year, me and my mom and my dad would go to the different cemeteries where my earlier ancestors were buried, and put flowers on the graves. This was an all-day thing because we had to do dad’s side of the family and then we had to do mom’s side. Memorial Day is a holiday where we remember the dead. And we pay our respects to them.

But you want to know something that’s really awesome? Every day we get to celebrate someone who died. But He ain't dead anymore! We honor our Lord who gave His life for us—much like the brave men and women who have and still are giving their lives for our freedom—but unlike those brave ones who would never return, our Lord has indeed risen! I love Revelation 1:18—“I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold I am alive and I live forevermore. Amen!”

1st Timothy 1:16 tells us that Christ gave us a pattern to follow. And what is this pattern of righteousness and holiness? What is the fruit that shows that we are a new creation in Christ? It’s in the text we are still looking at. Galatians 5. We are still studying the Fruit of the Spirit—not “fruits,” but “fruit.” If we are following Christ, our lives will reflect all of these attributes. Galatians 5:22-23—22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Our body is the temple of God. This body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. And all these things are ways to decorate that temple, so that it can serve as a memorial for the one who died for us. We decorate graves—we lay wreaths and flowers and other things—to honor those who have died. But if we are Christ's, our body is not a grave for a dead soul. This is a vessel for the Spirit of a living King! Shouldn’t the vessel that is inhabited by the Spirit of our Risen Savior be decorated as well? We decorate graves so people will see it and say, "The body of a fallen soldier lies in that grave." Shouldn’t our lives make people look and say, “The Spirit of the Living God and His Christ lives in that person!”

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. "Faithfulness" (NKJV, NASB) is actually the better translation here. When is it easiest to be faithful to someone? When everything’s going good. When they're our friend. If it’s not going to cost us too much. See, it’s really easy to be loyal to a person if you both have the same goals. Ever heard the phrase “Honor among thieves?” Or, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend?” Finish this sentence—“You scratch my back…” How about this one—“It’s not what you know…” These are examples of how easy it is to honor a commitment to someone who can do something for us. You do this for me, I'll do that for you. But the faithfulness that is the fruit of the Spirit doesn’t look to be paid back.

This faithfulness leads us to do the right thing even when it costs us something. When we make a commitment to someone and it turns out that it’s going to take more than we thought it would to honor that commitment. Ever had a garage call you at 4:45 and say, “I know we said we’d have it done today, but we ain't. The part just got here, it’ll take us an hour to put it in and we close in 15 minutes.” It’s almost like they're saying, “Need it for tomorrow morning? Tough luck.” Other places will say, “We said we’d have it done for you today. We just got the part in, and we may have to work over, but we will get it done today and we will not go home until it’s done.” All things being equal, guess which place gets my business? And that is the biblical way to run a business. One of the fellows I go to church with runs a hot-rod restoration business. I’m sure he's had it happen. Some part is going to be late coming in. But if he can get it done that day, he does it. Other than the fact that it’s biblical, why does he do it? Because that's his name on the business. That said, whose name do we have on us? If we can't be trusted in earthly matters, why should we be believed in eternal matters?

That should be the pattern of every part of our walk with Christ. Faithfulness. Loyalty. It goes back to integrity, or what we looked at least time—goodness. Psalm 15:1, 2, 4—1 LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? 2 He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart…4 he honors those who fear the LORD; he swears to his own hurt and does not change…

I wish we had time to look at the story of Joshua, when the enemies of Israel tricked them into taking an oath not to hurt them. Joshua found out, and he said, “We swore in the name of YHVH. We can't go back on it now.” Faithfulness. Not only to men but also to God. It’s easy to serve Him and be faithful to Him when He makes His face to shine on us. “God is good! God is great!” Let things start going downhill. Let a crisis come up where we have to lose something. Or He calls us to something we’re not comfortable with.

I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Abraham to walk Isaac up that hill. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Esther to court of the king, uninvited, to plead for Israel, knowing he had the power to say, “Kill her!” It wasn’t easy for Noah to listen to all the people laugh at him when he was building that boat. It wasn’t easy for Elizabeth Eliot to go to South America and take the gospel to the men who killed her husband. But these people—and so very many more like them that we will never hear about in this life, but we will meet someday—as Jonah said, paid the vows they vowed. They told God, like that old song we sing, “Wherever You lead, I'll go.” He led. They went.

Now, let me just say a couple words about faith. Because faith is the root of faithfulness. Hebrews 11:1—Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. You see, faith is a lot more than just belief. You can have faith with everything in you that God exists. You can have faith with everything in you that Christ died for our sins. But if this faith is nothing more than belief, if it is nothing more than saying, “Yes, I believe these things are true”—you do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. Satan has a very good sense of theology. If Satan were to publish a Systematic Theology, it would probably make those of men like DA Carson or even Wayne Grudem look pale. Satan knows a whole lot more about God than we do. Satan believes God is real. He’s seen Him. He has talked to Him. Faith means you believe it and you live it.

You have faith that God is real? Good. How is that going to influence your life? This type of faith leads to faithfulness—like the faithfulness of a servant to his master. How many masters can we have? We can only be faithful to one master. Either the world is our master, or God is our master. Everyone has a master. Everybody serves someone. Everyone is a slave to something—or someone. If you ever feel convicted because you have a spiritual struggle going on inside of you—read Romans 7. You won’t feel so bad because you'll realize the apostle Paul went through the same thing. He said in Romans 7:25 with my mind I serve the Law of God but with my flesh the law of sin. As long as we walk around in these bodies of flesh we are always going to struggle with sin—if we belong to Christ. In our mind we will know what we should do. But our flesh wants to do something else. If we don’t belong to Christ, we won’t have a problem with sin. We are either a servant to God, or a servant to the world.

Luke 16:13—“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Jesus tells us this after giving us a parable about a servant that tried to please his master by making friends with the world. Sounds like a lot of churches these days. Either God is our master, or the world is our master. You’ve heard people say that someone is “walking with one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom.” Uh-uh. A person either has both feet in the world or both feet in the kingdom. There’s no middle ground. 1st John 2:15-16—15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

God deserves our faithfulness. Because—well, because He’s God! Also because He is faithful to us. Even after we know Him, and we go and do our own thing for a while, He will bring us back to Himself. Because He is faithful. If you ever want to point someone to a verse that affirms the security of the believers abnd the perseverance of the saints, point them to Philippians 1:6—He who began the good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

The faithfulness of God:

• Deuteronomy 7:9—Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.
• Psalm 119:89-90—For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.

The faithfulness of Christ:

• John 14:2-3—2 “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
• Hebrews 2:17—Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
• Revelation 3:14—"And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:'"

We are faithful to God because He is God. He deserves it. He deserves our faithfulness.

He is merciful to us—not because we somehow deserve it—but because that’s who He is—He is faithful and true. He is the Amen. If He builds us a house, we will live in it. And the evidence that the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us is when we are faithful to others and especially to God even when there is nothing to be gained by it or when it costs us.

The Fruit of the Spirit is…meekness. Oh boy. There’s another one our flesh doesn’t like. Our flesh HATES that word. Before we go too far, let me say this right at the start—meekness does not mean what most people think it means. Most people think that being meek means you’re a doormat, you can't think for yourself, you can't speak for yourself. Wrong. In fact, one who is meek is far stronger than someone who is constantly asserting their “rights” or always fighting to get to the front or get to the top. The person who is “meek” realizes that fighting to be #1 isn't always what it’s cracked up to be. See, meekness and faithfulness—and as we will see next week, temperance—are built one on top of the other. If we are faithful to God, we will subject ourselves to Him and bring our own bodies under subjection to the Spirit that is in us.

To be meek means that we understand just who we are. And in order to serve God a person MUST be meek. So many times people stand up to God when He calls them to do something they don’t want to do. As if our stubbornness will make Him change His mind. But if we are to love God, and He is to be our joy, and if we are to have peace with Him, we must be patient, have a gentle spirit toward Him, do the right thing for the right reason, and if we are going to say we will be faithful to Him, how dare we stand up to Him and say, “No, God, I ain't gonna do that! I’m too good for that!” Serving God is not about exercising our “rights.” Because if we think about it, God did not exercise His rights to condemn each and every one of us.

When we understand this, when we understand that every good thing comes from God, that He has given us far more than we deserve, we will seek to serve Him and Him alone—in faithfulness—and we will be at His every command, ready for Him to use us. We will humble ourselves before Him and ask “What would You have me to do?” Matthew 5:5—“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Blessed are those who humble themselves before God and seek His will, for if they are faithful with little, they shall be given much. Meekness means subjecting yourself to one who is greater than yourself. After God, who should we consider to be greater than ourselves? One another. Matthew 23:11-12—“11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” Matthew 20:27-28—“27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Even our Lord did not seek His own glory when He came. He could have. But He didn’t. He put His glory aside and came to serve us.

Philippians 2:5-7—5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, let go of His equality with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. We have no idea what it took for the Son—or as in one song we sing, the “Darling of Heaven”—to come to this fallen world, and clothe Himself in this filthy, disgusting flesh. No idea. Let THAT mind be in you. Meekness—always looking to do good for others even at our own expense. Because let’s face it—God will take care of us. We should be looking to do good for others.

There’s another misconception people have about the meekness of Christ. They think He was this kinda laid-back hippie-type slacker dude. Didn’t cause any waves. Just wanted everybody to get along. Is that the kind of person that makes a whip and drives people out of a temple? Does a person like that tell Pharisees that they are hypocrites, serpents, brood of vipers? But Jesus was meek in that when He could have saved His skin, He didn’t. Matthew 26:53-54—53 “do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? 54 How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” He could have called down 72,000 angels and they would have come and slaughtered every Roman soldier—not only the ones who were arresting Him, but every soldier in the entire Roman Empire. But He knew that fulfilling the will of the Father was infinitely more important than saving Himself from the pain and agony of the Cross.

And think about this: If Jesus had saved His own skin, where would we be headed? He allowed Himself to be sacrificed for us. For us. A bunch of liars and thieves and murderers and corrupt and haters of God. Yet HE served US. He humbled Himself for US. He gave us something we did not deserve. And He did not give us what we do deserve. That should cause us to be even more humble. Romans 12:3—I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Just so we don’t get too puffed up about ourselves, let’s remember the example Jesus gave us. Remember that we are just as imperfect and fallen as anyone else. If we do we will be able to help others who go through valleys. Galatians 6:1—Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. In other words, you see someone fall into sin—help restore that person. But don’t you dare look down on that person and judge them and condemn them—because someday, that could be you. Even the apostle Paul had to be reminded of that. 2nd Corinthians 12:7—7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.

If we love God, then knowing Him is our joy. Finding joy in Him gives us peace. Peace helps us to be patient. Because we are patient we can be gentle to others. If we are gentle to others, we will walk in integrity. If we have integrity we can be faithful to promises we make. If we are faithful we will humble ourselves and submit ourselves to His calling and purpose, realizing that without Him we can do nothing.