Are You Sowing to the Flesh or the Spirit?

Good morning, I greet you in the name of Jesus this morning. I want to thank many of the brothers here for this past week, encouraging me, sending me messages. I'm praying for you, praying that God gives me words to speak that are from Him and not from me.

Brother James, thank you this morning for picking that song, Man of Sorrows, what a name. The last verse in that song, it's a beautiful song. Every time I sing that song, it just feels like heaven has come down.

Verse 5, it says, When He comes, our glorious King, all His ransom home to bring, Then anew this song we'll sing, Hallelujah, what a Savior. That's my prayer this morning. This past week, I was reading a book.

It's a relatively older book. Well, I say older book. It's been around for probably 15 years, called Radical Together by David Platt.

Many of you have read that a long time ago. I've had it on my shelf, never read it. David Platt was challenging the American church culture because the American culture has become very lax, very comfortable, and very lazy, ultimately.

This morning, as I walked into church, I was thinking, What can I do, what can we do as a church that is radical, that's out of the norm, that is uncomfortable? And I looked around, and this song came to mind. Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown when Thou camest to earth for me. But in Bethlehem's home there was found no room for Thy holy nativity.

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee. And it goes on and over and over. It says, there is room in my heart for Thee.

And I thought, OK, radical, there's room in my heart for Thee. What would it look like if we, as Christians in America today, specifically here at Effort of Christian Fellowship, if we left as much room in our heart for Jesus as we leave empty seats up front? So I'm faced with a decision, in fact, possibly a conundrum. Do I move the pulpit to the back of the church, where a vast majority of you are? Or do I ask you to be radical, do something out of the norm, and move forward at minimum one row? OK, that's a little uncomfortable, but I feel like I'm speaking to some people way, way out there.

I prefer personal relationships. I see like three and a half rows right here, sisters. If we would leave as much room for Jesus in our hearts as we do the front seats, I think we would grow a lot.

So, if you don't mind, if you see seats that are empty in front of you, do the uncomfortable thing and move forward, if you don't mind. I prefer to speak to people up close. If you can do it without making yourself too uncomfortable, I'm not asking you to sell all that you have and give to the poor.

I'm not asking you to leave father and mothers and houses and lands, for my name's sake and the gospel. Just asking you to move forward a little bit. A little something radical for the cause of Christ today.

I prefer to speak to you up close, not up there. If that's all right, that's what I'll do. When brother Nathan asked me if I could share a message with you, I was very overwhelmed.

I thought, who am I? I'm just a young man. There's plenty of older men here that are much more qualified to do the job. And the passage of Scripture that came to mind is when the Lord came to Moses and he was talking to him about delivering the children of Israel.

And he said, Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am full of speech and tongue. And the Lord said to him, Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seen or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go. Now, therefore, go and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.

And he said, Oh, Lord, please send someone else. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against him. Don't want that to happen this morning.

If you would, let's rise for a word of prayer and invite God's presence into our midst this morning. Heavenly Father, we come to you this morning, Lord. I pray you would anoint my mouth, Father, to speak the truth of your word.

Father, that it would not be out of selfish ambition or vain deceit, Father, but that you would be honored and glorified and that each one of us would draw closer to you. That we would be filled with your Holy Spirit, Father. That we would leave here, Father, changed to become more like you, Father.

We ask you into our midst. We invite you today, Father. Just ask this in your name, Jesus.

Amen. You may be seated. Father Gideon, thank you for... I'm not going to say an intro to my message, but for a little bit of a springboard.

One of the things that came to my mind as you were sharing about headship order and authority before God is it all boils down to a proper view of ourself before God. If we do not have a proper view of ourself before God, the headship order will not look anything like it should in Scripture. And the reason, in the example you gave of Jesus healing the centurion's son, I believe, the reason Jesus healed him was because of his faith.

He said, I believe he said, if I can quote it, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel. And then also my mind was drawn to where Jesus cast out the demon out of the young boy. Nobody could control him.

He was casting himself into the fire. He was uncontrollable. And Jesus said to the man's father, he said, do you believe? And he said, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief.

And I feel like that fits me a little bit. You know, Father, Lord, I believe. I believe in your word.

I believe in your Holy Spirit. I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe in the Gospel.

But sometimes I doubt. Sometimes there's unbelief. That's not the message this morning.

For a text, we're going to go to one of my, currently one of my favorite books of the Bible, Galatians. The book of Galatians. I know I spoke on that before.

The book of Galatians has been kind of personal to me in recent months, partially because I've taken a lot of time and studied it. I think within the past four months I've read through the book of Galatians well over 20 times. I did some in-depth study on it.

And so, therefore, as I was pondering what to share, I thought I'm going to go to something that is relatively familiar and see what the Lord has to speak to us this morning. In the late 1700s, early 1800s, there was a great preacher from England. You may have heard of his name before.

His name was Charles Simeon. He was accredited to bringing the Bible back to the Church of England. He died in, I believe it was 1836.

But a quote that he said, and kind of resonates with me, he said, My endeavor is to bring out of Scripture what is there and not to thrust in what I think might be there. I have a great jealousy on this head never to speak more or less than I believe to be the mind of the Spirit in the passage that I am expounding. My friends, this morning, that is my desire, is to expound on the Word of God and to keep my personal opinions for active service.

And I desire to, with God's help, to humble the sinner, to exalt the Savior, and to promote holiness in our lives. So, looking at the book of Galatians, there was a passage towards the end of the book that I really wanted to focus on today, specifically in chapter 5 and 6, but I didn't feel like I could do that passage justice without giving a brief overview of the first four chapters in Galatians. And there's a tremendous amount packed into six chapters.

I think I could probably, if I had the opportunity, probably there's a minimum of twelve messages, if not more, that could be preached out of the book of Galatians. But for proper context, I don't want to take something out of context, so I'm going to give, as briefly as possible, skim over the first four chapters and then jump into the main text of chapter 5 and 6, part of both chapters. Kind of a brief overview of the book of Galatians, kind of encapsulate all six chapters together, could be described as, you could say the central message of Galatians is a person, you and I, is not justified by works of the law, the Old Testament law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

That's all of it encapsulated, but there's a lot to dig into. And that central theme of a person not being justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, comes from Galatians 2, verse 16. It says, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.

Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Most of the scriptures that I'm reading out of today, do come out of the ESV.

So if it's slightly different wording, if you have King James, that is why. So beginning of Galatians, Paul just gives a greeting. We're not going to look too far, too much into that.

But one of the reasons Paul wrote the book of Galatians, to the Galatian people, that would be in what is now modern day southern Turkey, would be where Galatia was. So Paul jumps right in after he gives his formal greeting, and he says, I am astonished, chapter 1, verse 6, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ, and are turning to a different gospel. He comes out of the gate swinging, he's a dozen feet around the bush, he says, I spoke to you, I taught you the gospel, and leading up to this, for prior context, Paul had preached the gospel, the true gospel to the Galatians, and he had left for a time, and then he came back and discovered there were some issues.

He says in verse 7, Not that there is another gospel, but that there are some who trouble you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ. Some false teachers had come in. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

So he's saying, I preached this gospel to you, it was the true gospel, and so quickly, you have deserted him who called you, you have rejected the true gospel, and latched on to a different one. But by the way, there is not another gospel. He's saying, Guys, I'm so sure that I taught you the true gospel, the correct gospel, that even if an angel, even if a spiritual being fell out of the sky from heaven, and said something different, I'm so sure that I know what I said was correct, that I'm saying that individual, that spiritual being who's preaching a false gospel, let him be accursed.

And he says in verse 10, For am I now seeking the approval of man? Am I doing this for selfish gain? To gain approval of the people around me? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. He's saying, I wouldn't be where I am now. I would be back in my old ways.

And Paul goes on, well, first I want to touch a little bit in 11 and 12, for I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that I preached, that was preached by me, is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation from Jesus Christ. It was the true gospel from Jesus, undisputed.

And then Paul goes on in the next several verses until the end of the chapter, establishing his credentials. He's saying, I was the best of the best. I was well learned.

I was a Jew. All these things were going for me. So why would I be following Christ and preaching a gospel to you if I were doing this to try to please man? If that was the case, I would go back to my former life where I was approved by men.

I was well esteemed. And sometimes today, following the true gospel gets you a little bit of... not everybody likes you. It's not popular.

Later on, I'm going to talk a little bit about easy Christianity that's very prevalent around us. Paul talks a lot about the freedom. The freedom, the freedom, the freedom.

That we have in Christ. We're not bound by the law. We're free in Christ.

And I'll touch on this a little bit later, but that's where a lot of the easy Christianity that we see around us today comes from. I'll jump into chapter 2 a little bit. I'm just going to, like I said, skim over, give you a brief overview of the beginning of the book.

We're going to skip a bunch that is not super relevant to what I want to get to. In chapter 2, verse 4, he says, He says, Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery. So that they might take our freedom that we have in Christ and bring us back into that yoke of bondage, that slavery that we all experienced prior to a walk with Christ.

And some of you, this morning, are still walking in that slavery, that bondage. And my desire is that as you hear the Word of God expounded upon, that your heart would be convicted and that you would reject that bondage that comes from a life apart from Christ. A life apart from the Spirit of Christ.

So these false teachers had seen the freedom that the church in Galatia was experiencing, the freedom in Christ, and they slipped in. They got their foot in the door and they began to spread very carefully and very convincingly. It seemed convincing.

They began to spread a false gospel so that they could bring those people back into slavery. The slavery of the law. In verse 9, And when James and Cephas, that was Peter, he's referred to as Cephas in the book of Galatians several times.

When James, Peter, and John, who seemed to be pillars, I thought they were pillars in the church, perceived that the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and to me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. Paul was very passionate about remembering the poor, the needy people among us.

And he goes on in chapter 6 to talk about caring for the needs of brothers and sisters in the church. I'll touch on that a little bit. And when, in verse 11, But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.

So Paul had a little bit of a problem with Peter because there was something he had done that Paul was not okay with. It was contrary to the true gospel. For before certain men came from James, he, Peter, was eating with the Gentiles.

But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, for he feared the circumcision party. Peter, up until this point, he had no problem with the uncircumcised people. But then when those false teachers came in to spy out the freedom they had in Christ, Peter became a man-pleaser all of a sudden.

Is that a timer for me? Okay. Peter, he became a man-pleaser. He was trying to keep everybody happy.

So, at the fellowship meal, they were having a fellowship meal here at the Church of Galatia, and Peter was there and Paul was there and John and James and whoever else. And Peter's sitting there, eating with the uncircumcised people. They were following Christ.

Paul, they were mingling. As Paul says, there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbaric. I'll get to that scripture here in a little bit.

I'm getting ahead of myself. But Peter, he's sitting there eating, had the fellowship meal, and he sees these false teachers come in. And he goes, uh-oh, I'd better find a way to escape.

He separated himself, it says, from the circumcision party. That had to have been one of the most uncomfortable fellowship meals ever recorded in history. And along with Peter and some of the apostles, the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him.

So that even Barnabas, another pillar in the church, was led astray by their hypocrisy. That's in verse 13. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter, or Cephas, before them all, if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? So, Peter was a Jew.

Previously, he had been okay with the fact that, you know what, we're not bound by the law, the old law, where circumcision must take place. But now, you're backtracking a little bit. You're all of a sudden thinking that these Gentiles need to live like the Jews.

But he's saying, Peter, you're a hypocrite. You're a Jew and you're living like a Gentile, but you're trying to make the Gentiles live like the Jews. He says, for we ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

So here's that theme verse that I talked about. Kind of sums up the whole book of Galatians. So, we also have believed in Jesus Christ in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law.

But because by works of the law, no one will be justified. But if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too are found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not. For if I rebuild what I torn down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

For through the law, I died to sin so that I might live to God. For if I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. So Paul is saying, whoa, whoa, whoa guys. We've got a problem here.

You're trying to bring the old law and mix it with the Spirit, the faith that does not bring bondage, slavery to the old law. And by doing this, you're making a, as Gideon said, a chicken soup of just a mess. And if this were true, then Christ died for no purpose.

The whole reason Jesus came was worthless if that is true. So Paul is disputing the false doctrine that was being spread. Paul stresses that righteousness comes through faith in Christ, not by observing the law.

He concludes that if righteousness could be gained through the law, then Christ died for nothing. It was all a big joke. And then Paul calls them some names in chapter 3. Oh, foolish Galatians.

Oh, stupid people. Who has bewitched you? What's wrong with you? It was before your eyes that Jesus was publicly portrayed and crucified. So there possibly was people there that had witnessed the death of Jesus on the cross.

And yet they're so quickly latching on to a false gospel. One that replaces the liberty and the freedom that Jesus came and brought with a bondage to the old law. The one that kept the people in this oppressive bondage that there couldn't be freedom in Christ.

But Jesus brought something new. And Paul, you guys are so dumb. Like, what's wrong with you? Let me ask you this only in chapter 3, verse 2. Did you receive the Holy Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, so you started off your walk with Christ in the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? So, I'm going to ask you this question.

Have we accepted Jesus, the gift that He has given us, the one that we cannot repay? Nothing we do can repay the free gift of salvation. But yet too often we say, Lord, I accept you. Thank you for the gift of salvation.

But it's through my works and it's through the good things that I do and the people I help and the number of times I go to church and how I abide by the standards. But thank you for that free gift, but it's just not quite enough. I'm going to perfect my salvation with the works of the flesh.

Verse 10 in chapter 3 says, For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. So, basically if you are relying on the works of the law to bring salvation, there's nothing you can do to be perfect.

In the Old Testament, over and over and over again, God's people failed and they broke this law. There were so many. They couldn't, by the best of their abilities, keep everything, keep all their I's dotted and their T's crossed.

And he says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. So, that curse, by not following the law to a T, brought a curse on you and I. If we lived in Old Testament times and we were not obeying everything, if you broke one thing, you were a transgressor of all. So, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hanged on a tree.

And Paul is pointing back to Deuteronomy 21. Verse 23 says, His body shall not remain all night on the tree. Again, this was one of those things in the law that they had to follow.

But you shall bury Him the same day for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God has given you for an inheritance. That is really amazing.

It's strange, but yet amazing that the act of crucifixion in the Old Testament, in and of itself, was a curse. And how was Jesus crucified on a cross, hanged on a tree? By Old Testament standards, that counted a curse. But Jesus took that curse away from you and me so that we did not have to experience that curse.

Christ took that curse, died a shameful death, and took on Himself that curse so that you and I might be free in Christ. That's the key. In Christ.

Romans 5.19 says, For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. All of us here. By one man's disobedience in the beginning of creation, many were made sinners.

So by the one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. Okay, so Paul points back to Adam. Adam's sin.

The fall of man. That one man brought sin to all. But Jesus, in the form of man, took on Himself that curse, and by His obedience to Christ on the cross, you and I can be made righteous and experience that freedom in Christ.

Verse 23, For before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming of faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came in order so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God. Sons and daughters of God. Through faith.

Through Christ. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek.

There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring and heirs according to promise.

So this was a big deal to the Jews. That you were an heir according to promise. It only came through blood.

You were an heir of the promise through the seed of Abraham. But Paul was saying, you don't have to be a Jew and to abide by all these strict laws. These things that are impossible to keep.

And he was using the topic of circumcision because that was one of the things they were arguing about. And he says, there's Jew nor Greek. There's no nationalities in heaven.

There's no bond or free. You don't have a higher position than the brother beside you. There's no gender in heaven.

You are all one in Christ Jesus. It's a straight line. I've heard different people talk about levels in heaven.

Where am I going to be? I think that's a joke. Paul says, in Christ, we're all the same. Going on in chapter 4, verse 9, But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless and elementary principles of the world? Whose slaves do you want to be once more? He's saying, you came to know God, you experienced the freedom, the freedom from the bondage of the law, and how can you turn back? Why would you go back to those empty, worthless things and become a slave again to them? You observe days and months and seasons and years They were making a big deal out of small things.

I want to maybe challenge us as Christians. Are we taking away the power of the Spirit of God in yours and my life? And say, well, the power of God is good. The Spirit is good.

But it's not enough. We need a little more control over your life. Brothers and sisters, if Christ is not the head of your life, and controlling your thoughts, your actions, your deeds, the way you dress, the things you talk about, the passions, the hobbies, the things we spend our time and money, etc.

on. If Christ is not the forefront and center of your life, you could have the whole Old Testament and all the laws and regulations stacked right up, put in front of you. Abide by these.

Come on, boys and girls, read this. Do it. It's worthless.

Weak elementary principles of the world. And Paul says, after all this, in verse 11, he says, I'm afraid I may have labored in vain over you. Like, all this teaching that I've given you years and years, Paul poured into the church, the Galatian people, and he taught them the truth of the Gospel.

He laid it out for them. And he's like, have I just wasted all that time? Is it gone? Have I labored in vain? Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am. For I have also become as you are.

You did me no wrong. So, Paul's not saying this out of pride, like, oh, become as I am. Look at me.

No, no, Paul was saying this out of a place of humility. He was saying that he was free from the Old Testament ceremonial regulations, that Jewish law that kept people bound. He says, I'm not bound by the Jewish law anymore when he was ministering to them.

So, when he said, become as I am, it was not from a place of arrogance, but humility. He's saying, look, I became as you are. I rejected the old law and took on the Spirit of Christ.

So, please, I hope I haven't wasted my time. Please, become as I am. I entreat you in love.

And Paul's talking about, in verse 17, he's warning them a little bit of these false teachers that had come in. And what it was, these false teachers, they wanted to be in a position of authority, but yet they couldn't be in a position of authority with the Jewish leaders. So, what they were trying to do is they were coming into the Galatians and they saw this as an opportunity to prey on some people's weakness and become somewhat in a position of authority over the Galatians and also to be viewed in a positive light by the Jewish leaders.

So, they were, in a sense, you could say these false teachers that had come in very deceitfully. They had slipped in. They did not have the good of the Galatians in mind.

They did not have the good of the hearers in mind. Paul says in verse 17 of chapter 4, they make much of you, but for no good purpose. They don't care about you.

They want to shut you out of the Kingdom of Heaven that you may make much of them, that you may put them in a good light, that you may make them look really good with the Jewish leaders. That's what they were really after. They didn't care that the Galatians were being led astray.

They didn't care circumcision or uncircumcision, eating with this person, eating with that person, observing that day, this day. They wanted to put themselves in a positive light, a heart of pride, a spirit of pride. And as a result of that, the Galatians were losing their salvation.

And Paul is feeling so heavy about this. He's feeling so burdened about this. He says in verse 19, My little children, who I am in anguish, again, in the anguish of childbirth, until Christ is formed in you.

So, guys, until you can latch on to the true Gospel again. It is so heavy on my heart that I feel as if I'm giving birth to a child. A very heavy, painful experience.

But when that reward of a baby is brought into the world, the most beautiful, joyful, amazing miracle that man has ever witnessed comes to life. And Paul is saying, I am so burdened by this that I feel like I'm going to be in childbirth until you return again to the faith, unto Christ who is formed in you. And he wraps up chapter 4 by saying, So, brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman.

Prior to that, he goes into, I'm not going to read all of that. He explains Hagar and Sarah and Abraham. He takes the Jews, the false teachers, and the Galatians on at their level and says, let's go back to the Old Testament.

Let's look at the promise of Abraham, who you guys believe, only the promise can come through Abraham. But I'm arguing that it's not just the seed of Abraham. It's Jews.

It's Gentiles. It's bond. It's free.

It's everybody. We're not children of the slave, but of the free woman. Again, he's pointing back to the New Testament throughout the book of Galatians over and over again.

I mean, there's so many examples. I only pulled out a couple of them. But Paul is meeting them on their level saying, hey, that's fine.

We'll go back to the Old Testament and you will look how the Old Testament points forward to the New Testament. So you can't dispute that the message that I brought of the gospel of Jesus Christ is separate. No, it's fulfilled.

It's fulfilling the Old Testament, the law that you guys are holding. Chapter 5, for freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand therefore, stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to that yoke of slavery.

Again, he's saying, guys, don't go back. Don't go back. And Paul repeats himself multiple times.

Again, he says, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. Earlier we looked at Christ died for no purpose, for no effect. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

Again, they couldn't keep that whole law, old law. You are severed from Christ. You who would be or think you would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace.

For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. And again, in verse 6, Paul's bringing out that there's in Jesus Christ, okay, earlier, there's neither Jew nor Greek, bond or free, male or female. For in Jesus Christ, chapter 5, verse 6, there is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything but only faith working through love.

When it all boiled down to the heart of the issue that Paul was getting to, it didn't really matter whether they practiced circumcision or uncircumcision or observing this day and that day and this month and this holiday. It didn't matter. What matters, and what mattered to him was whether they were holding the law above the free gift of salvation that Christ had done for us by becoming a curse for us and taking the curse of the law upon himself.

Okay? And he did that so that we can experience a life free from bondage to the heavy, unrealistic expectations that the law put on them. Okay? So, these little things down here that they were squabbling about, should you be circumcised, should you not, should you do this, should you not, no, you shouldn't, yes, he should, no, she shouldn't. No, no.

It didn't matter. At the end of the day, Paul's like, it doesn't count for anything but only faith through working of love. And he says, guys, in verse 7, you were running well.

You were doing so good. What hindered you? Who hindered you from obeying the truth? Like, guys, you were doing great. Last time I was here, he doesn't say this, but I left and things were good.

I come back, and you foolish Galatians, you have latched on to false teaching that false teachers brought into your midst. What happened? You were doing so good. This persuasion is not, capital not, I'm inserting that, from Him who calls you.

This is not of God. This lie that you have bought into is not of God. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

A few lies, a few morsels of deceit causes the whole body, the leaven, he uses the example of bread, leavens the whole lump. It causes the whole thing to have problems. And that's what was happening in the church of Galatia.

They were doing so good. They had believed the true gospel. And then they had some problems.

Verse 13, for you were called to freedom, brothers. For you were called to freedom, brothers. I'm just going to stop right there.

And I had mentioned earlier about this easy Christianity that we see around us. Maybe you and I at times have bought into that lie. It's all about freedom.

Oh, my freedom in Christ. I have some good friends. Many, many good friends.

Gideon, you mentioned you have some friends that decided, you know what? God's Word doesn't actually say what it says. We don't need to do this. We don't need to do that.

Jesus didn't really mean that we should love our enemies. Jesus didn't really mean that we should sell all that we have, give up the things that are dearest to us for the purpose, for the cause of heaven. I don't think Paul meant this, but I do believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

No. So, this. Verse 1 in Galatians 5, For freedom Christ has set us free.

And verse 13, For you were called to freedom, brothers. I'm stopping there intentionally. That is a lie that the devil wants you and I to believe.

Is that in Christ there is no structure. There is no law. There is no rule.

Jesus came and fulfilled the old law. Jesus came and brought to us a law that I would argue at times is even harder than attempting to abide by all the sacrifice this, do this, don't go here, stay away from that person. Because Jesus requires a heart of obedience.

He requires all of you, everything from the depths of your heart. He requires you to give all. Okay, verse 13, I stopped.

You were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serving one another. So, if we were to just stop there in the middle of verse 13 and say, oh, that's it.

We have freedom in Christ. Go out, guys. Live your life.

Party it up. Have fun. Do what you want.

It's all freedom. That's a lie. That is how the devil convinces many Christians, in quotes, that they are on a good path.

That they are more spiritual than they ever were before. I can't tell you the number of people that once knew the truth and in an effort for freedom in Christ, over a period of time, they rejected Christ altogether. They rejected the message of the Gospel.

They rejected the Holy Spirit. For the whole law of verse 14 is fulfilled in one word or one sentence. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

It's fulfilled in one word, that word being love. This, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, is, if you recall, the second greatest commandment. In Matthew 22, Jesus said to the rich young ruler, wait, it wasn't the rich young ruler, it was the lawyer that came to challenge him.

Sorry. He says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. He requires everything from you.

So it wasn't just the law. Do the law. Do the good works.

He required all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. Your whole body. Spiritually and physically.

This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it. And here we have verse 14 of Galatians being repeated from Matthew.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The second greatest commandment. And on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Everything that you've ever known. Everything that you've ever practiced. He was speaking to someone who was very familiar.

The lawyer was very familiar with the old law. He had it all up here. And he says, on all of that, hang all the law.

It depends. All the law and the prophets. I think there's a reason why Paul says to the Galatians that the whole law, the entirety of it, was fulfilled in one word.

And that is love. In verse 15, we see an example of a lack of love. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

You're going to destroy yourselves. If you keep going at it, guys, you will destroy each other. And before you know it, you're going to have a church split.

And right here, in the next verses of chapter 5, and into 6, is where we get to the meat and potatoes of my main message. That was just an introduction. The title of the sermon that I'd like to share with you I titled it, Are You Sowing to the Flesh or to the Spirit? And that comes out of Galatians 6. I believe it's verses 7, 8, and 9. I think it is.

Are you sowing to the flesh or the Spirit? Verse 16 says, But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. The flesh is at odds. In our life today, we experience this.

The flesh is at odds with the Holy Spirit. They can't go together. They butt heads.

It's like oil and water. Walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. So, here's kind of where Paul transitions.

The first four chapters, more or less, he's just talking about the freedom. Guys, stop being bound. Stop trying to get everyone to go back to the slavery that you once experienced.

There's freedom. Not of works. But here's where in chapter 5 and 6, Paul brings some balance.

And if you just read the first few chapters, you can walk away with, oh, freedom in Christ. Freedom in Christ. Nothing matters.

Stop being a bigot. Stop holding me accountable. There's no law.

There's no rules. There's nothing I have to do. There's nothing I can do that can separate me from Christ.

That's not scriptural. So, Paul brings a little balance and we'll get to that. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit in verse 17.

And the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these, like I said earlier, are opposed to one another. They don't go well together.

The desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit are against one another. no, not okay. To keep you from doing the things you want to do.

And think of James. He says, how can bitter water and sweet water come out of the same well? And I ask you this in your life. How can the fruits of the Spirit and the fruits of the flesh be coming out of the same person, out of the same mouth? How can you bless God and how can you curse men who are made after the likeness or similitude of God? If you are led by the Spirit, Paul says, you are not under the law in verse 18.

I ask you this question this morning. Do you have an active, personal involvement of the Holy Spirit in your life? And is that relationship, that active, personal involvement of the Holy Spirit in your life, is that guiding you away from the desires of the flesh and towards the Spirit of Christ? Is that spirit, that relationship guiding you away from the desires of the flesh and towards the Spirit of Christ? Or do you find that within you, within your mind, you feel a strong pull towards the desires of the flesh, the works of the flesh, the carnal desires? You know, it takes a deliberate effort to allow the Holy Spirit and to breathe the Holy Spirit in your life. What comes naturally to you and I from birth is our carnal nature.

You don't have to teach someone how to be selfish. You don't have to teach someone how to sin. You don't have to teach a young man or a young woman to have unpure sexual desires.

These works of the flesh, anger, these works of the flesh are not something that you have to work very hard at. But the works of the Spirit are something that you have to daily make a deliberate decision. I'm going to choose the Spirit of God over the Spirit of the flesh.

The next verse would be verse 19. But what I'm going to do is temporarily skip over the rest of chapter 5. We're going to circle back to it. And jump over to chapter 6, if you will.

Verse 7. Chapter 6 and verse 7. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever one sows, that will he also reap.

Paul's saying, guys, don't buy onto this lie that you can play stupid games and not win stupid prizes. Okay? God's not mocked. Whatever you sow in life, that's what you're going to reap in life.

That's a little bit of a hard one for some people to swallow. I know God is a God of mercy. God is a God of grace.

He's forgiver of sins. He covers them in His blood. But, there is a reaping that comes from a life of sin.

Even a life of sin that is forgiven by Christ in washing the blood of the Lamb. It may be diminished. That suffering may be less than it could have been in a life apart from Christ.

But there's still repercussions. I myself, there are things in my life that prior to me surrendering my life to Christ, things I did, things I said, still sometimes come back and bite me. Still sometimes bother me.

And I have to remind myself, I'm forgiven. I'm washing the blood of the Lamb. But those choices do bring consequences.

Guys, don't think you can fool God by doing one thing, and thinking you're going to reap something else. Whether you sow to the flesh, you're going to reap the flesh. Or you sow to the Spirit, you're going to reap the Spirit.

Okay, verse 8. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Okay, so Paul in verses 7 and 8 uses an example of agriculture.

Putting a seed in the ground and reaping a harvest. I recall as a young man, I think I was maybe 7 or 8, I had a desire to grow pumpkins. My great-grandfather grew pumpkins.

He had a huge pumpkin stand every fall. He'd sell pumpkins out by the road. He'd sell to different nurseries.

And my great-grandfather, I remember working with him in the field some time. I thought, boy, I want to grow my own pumpkin patch. So I went to my dad and I said, Dad, I want to grow pumpkins.

He said, alright, well, I'll buy you the seeds and you can have this plot of land. It was maybe a quarter of an acre. You can plant your pumpkins and see what happens.

And so I planted pumpkins and I reaped pumpkins that fall. I did not harvest grapes. I didn't harvest apples.

I reaped pumpkins. I harvested pumpkins and I sold them for $400 the first year. I was very tickled as a 7 or 8-year-old young boy.

So Paul uses that example that you sow a seed of the flesh, you are going to reap the flesh. You sow a seed in the spirit, you're going to reap the blessings and the joy and the reward of the spirit, ultimately eternal life. So, right here is where I want to jump back into chapter 5 and look briefly at what are the works of the flesh? What is the fruit of the spirit? Because Paul uses this example as if they know what he's talking about.

He says, if you sow to the flesh, what does sowing to the flesh look like? You could kind of sum it up and say, oh, well, it's sin. Alright, well, it's sin, but expound, alright? So, we're going to go to chapter 5 and where we left off in verse 19, we're going to look at what are the works of the flesh that he's talking about and what are the works of the spirit. Okay, bring some clarity to that.

Now, the works of the flesh are evident. If the works of the flesh are happening in your life, there's probably going to be some indicators of that. Sexual immorality.

Duh. Alright. Impurity.

Sensuality. We kind of know, alright, that is a deviancy from a beautiful thing that God made. Sexual relations in a God-ordained form is a very beautiful thing.

But outside of God's plan, this is the works of the flesh. It could better be described as an unrestrained indulgence of physical appetites and carnal pleasures or a reckless abandonment of moral boundaries and spiritual self-control. Okay? We, probably every one of us here in our life, have fallen into one of these works of the flesh.

Okay, there's more to follow. But an unrestrained indulgence of physical appetites and carnal pleasure or a reckless abandonment of moral boundaries and spiritual self-control. So, as we're going through these works of the flesh, be thinking, thinking.

Okay? I guarantee you, probably one of these hits a little closer to home for some of us than the rest of us. And be asking yourself, are any of these works of the flesh evident, prevalent or present in my life today? Remember, the Spirit of Christ and the flesh does not go together. Okay? They're at odds with each other.

Alright? The works of the flesh are evident. Idolatry, in verse 20. Idolatry and sorcery, those two could go together, would be an effort to be in touch with the spirit realm.

Okay, idolatry, putting something above God, an effort to be in touch with the spirit realm by trying to skirt around God, trying to get in the back door, trying to skirt around God and the work of the cross. That, Paul's alluding to, a false gospel. Idolatry is a false gospel and idolatry is very prevalent in America today.

I think probably one of the biggest things is a worship of money, a priority of money over Christ. We have tremendous opportunity here in America, but very often, and it is here all around us. You don't have to look very far and there's idolatry.

There's idolatry within the church and outside of the church. Alright? Enmity, strife, and remember, be thinking, are any of these present in my life? Enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger. Do we have an uncontrolled emotion that is not in check with Christ? Enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, and divisions.

Rivalries, dissensions, and divisions. A little bit of a tongue twister. Start.

Those works of the flesh start when a person rejects God and the gospel that He so freely gave to us. Okay? So, we begin. Maybe God didn't mean what He said.

Maybe the Bible doesn't actually... Jesus said this. That applied to them back then, but it doesn't apply to us today. You know, Paul said these things are very important in the New Testament church.

But, hey, we're living in 2026, guys. Get a grip. Okay? Rivalries, dissensions, and divisions start when a person rejects God and the gospel that He so freely gave to us.

As humans, our tendency is to turn on each other and destroy each other to the point where we can't even stand each other anymore. And then you have divisions, a work of the flesh. And as a result of the work of the flesh, human beings suffer and some are destroyed.

And some walk away from the faith. Because you and I, as Christians, allowed the works of the flesh to take a foothold in our life. And again, ask yourself the question, are any of these, even a small bit of these prevalent, present in my life? Alright, we go on.

Envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. Again, an indulgence of envy, I should say, is when someone is not content with what God has given them. You're looking around and you're saying, hey, brother so-and-so, he's got what I want.

He's got more. If only I could have A, B, or C. Fill in the blank. Then I would be happy.

Then I would be more content. No, envy is a work of the flesh. So, envy is when someone is not content with what God has given them, but chooses to look around at others and desire what they have.

Alright, drunkenness and orgies. Those two things would be a distortion or a misuse of good things that God gave us in a destructive or sinful way. So, drunkenness, again, it's taking a good thing, the fruit of the vine that God has given to us, and it's a misuse, an overindulgence of that good thing that God gave us to the point of sin.

Drunkenness is clearly sin. Orgies, again, would be a sexual distortion of what God has given us to enjoy as a married man and woman in Christ. It's a perversion of the mind.

A perversion of the flesh. And he says there at the end of that verse, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. So, it's not limited to those works of the flesh that he named.

He lists a whole bunch of them. He says it's not limited to. There's things like these.

Things that represent darkness. Things that represent sin. And he says in things like these, I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

So apart from the saving blood of Christ shed for you and for me, we cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Because I guarantee you that one of these works of the flesh has been evident in your life at one time or another. So again, Paul is saying, it's not things that you can do.

You're trying to obey the law. You're trying to do all these things. Do this and do that.

No. Those who do such things, and right away, well, duh, we're all guilty of that at some point in our life. Hopefully not now if you're professing a victorious walk with Christ.

But he says those who do such things, those who make it a part of their life, make it something you do, maybe not even on a regular basis, but let's say once a month. Maybe even better yet, once a year, I get angry and I yell at my wife. I rebuke my daughter in anger and I sin.

I can say, It's only once a year. I did so good those eleven and a half months. But just once a year I got angry.

I said some things that were really hurtful. Things that were really wrong. Maybe I had this sexual deviant thought.

But I did so well. Come on. No.

Paul says those who do such things, those who allow the works of the flesh in their life will not inherit the kingdom of God. Okay, now we get to the good part. But the fruit of the Spirit.

Okay, so you're sown into the flesh. You're going to reap the flesh. You have these works of the flesh happening in your life.

Don't be surprised when all hell breaks loose and life comes crashing down around you and things don't go the way you plan them to go because God is rewarding you as you've sown. Now, again, I don't want to diminish the mercy of God. It is certainly a thing that we have all experienced.

But the law of sowing and reaping is certainly undisputably a fact. So, the fruit of the Spirit is love. And it's not coincidental that Paul says love is the first fruit of the Spirit.

The fruits of the Spirit, as we will see, are in sharp contrast. Very distinct. Black and white.

They are in sharp contrast to the works of the flesh. So, if you are led by the Spirit, there's not going to be this wishy-washy mix of black and white, mix of the flesh and the Spirit, and you're going to end up with something that looks gray. No.

The works of the flesh are in sharp contrast to the works of the Spirit. Love is listed first. Because why? It is the greatest.

In 1 Corinthians 13, So now, faith, hope, and love abide. But the greatest of these is love. That is what Jesus came to earth and gave Himself.

He died a shameful death. He took on the curse for you and for me because He loved us. First fruit of the Spirit.

Second fruit is joy. Love. Joy.

Why do we have joy? If we have the Spirit, why do we have joy? In Christ, there's no joy apart from Christ. There's happiness apart from Christ. But joy... There's a difference between joy and happiness.

Happiness is temporary. It often comes about by gratification of the flesh. Hey, I got a new car.

Hey, I got a new toy. Hey, I, I, God, give me. You know, now I'm happy.

Happiness is temporary. Joy is something that only comes through Christ. Now, throughout life, I meet people and there's many people sitting here right now that you can sense the joy in their life that just oozes out.

And it's not just short-term happiness. Hey, it's a good day to be alive. No, it's the joy from Christ.

And each one of us, if we are following Christ, if we have the fruits of the Spirit in our life, joy is going to be one of those things. There's nothing worse than a grumpy Christian. I've met far too many.

As my dad would say, they had Limburger cheese under their nose. They just walked around with a sour face. I don't think you're experiencing the joy in Christ if that's part of your daily routine.

Okay? The next one is peace. Love, joy, peace. Why peace? How can you experience peace? We can have peace because we can rest in the promises of God that we are no longer slaves to the weak and elementary principles of the world, but we are free.

Why are you free? Only because of the blood of Jesus. You can't experience that freedom on your own power, on your own strength, on your own desire. It's only peace that comes through the blood of Jesus.

And we know that we can trust God, knowing that He holds us in the palm of His hand. God's in control. We have nothing to worry about.

You know, there's crazy things every day. If you are bogged down by the news, you know, it's discouraging. But no, we have peace.

We have joy in Christ. Apart from Christ, you won't experience peace. Patience is the next fruit of the Spirit.

How can you experience patience as a Christian? Because if you believe God is in control of everything, and you believe God directs your every thought, your every action, and He's in control, you know what? You got in a traffic jam, it's annoying, but God's in control. I'm sure He's probably got some reason here. Alright, Lord, I'm going to experience a fruit of the Spirit and be patient.

Alright, the next fruit of the Spirit is kindness. Kindness or goodness. Generosity.

Sympathy. There's many, many things that could fall into the category of kindness. And kindness is an attribute of God, from what I can tell.

Jesus was very kind. He was direct. He spoke the truth.

But He was always kind. And even when He rebuked the scribes and the Pharisees, I don't sense a divisive, mean, you know, gotcha. No, He spoke the truth very directly to them because He was kind.

He was loving. He had peace. He had joy.

And I would challenge you, just because something is difficult to say, does not mean it's mean. There's things that we might have to do that are difficult and they can still be done in kindness. And the next fruit of the Spirit, goodness.

Gentleness. Goodness is better described as working for the benefit of others. Doing something, working to benefit you, not myself.

That would be very selfish, self-centered. If I'm working to benefit myself, cushion myself, make me a better life, that's not goodness. Faithfulness.

You know, that's something I think I lack in a little bit, is faithfulness. Again, a better description of faithfulness would be reliable. Being loyal.

And following through on what we say we will do. Sometimes, you know, I realize life, things happen. You get in that traffic jam, you're late, maybe you don't show up at all.

But part of faithfulness is being a man and a woman, being a person of your word. If you say you're going to do something, follow through. The hard thing to do sometimes is to say no.

I tend to be a little bit of an overachiever, over-committer. Hey, I'm going to get all these jobs done by this date. And then the rubber hits the road and I go, oh boy, oh boy, I really stretched myself too thin.

I should have just been a little more realistic. And then I have to make embarrassing phone calls and say, hey, I'm going to be a month out yet. I'm not able to get to that job.

And that's why I say I have room to grow in faithfulness. We go on, verse 23, gentleness. Again, gentleness is an attribute of Jesus.

And we can look at Matthew chapter 11, verse 28 and 29. It says, This is Jesus coming to me. That's Jesus saying, I am gentle.

I am lowly in heart. But I am humble. Come unto me.

Jesus doesn't force it. He invites. He is gentle.

Self-control is the next root of the Spirit. Self-control is the power to overcome and resist the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Young men.

Old men. Young women. Older women.

Do you have self-control? It comes from the Spirit of Christ, the relationship with the Spirit of Christ, that you have the power, not on your own strength, but you have the power through Jesus, through a relationship with the Holy Spirit, to resist those desires. When that ad pops up on your computer, on your phone, when you're driving down the street and you see that underdressed woman, you know, there are so many things, but those things, I know they hit home for me, so that's why I say that. Do I have the self-control, the power through the Holy Spirit, to resist that? Say, no.

No. Flee from me, devil. Depart from me.

I have nothing to do with you. And so Paul says, through the fruits of the Spirit, against such things there is no law. If you are producing the fruits of the Spirit in your life through a relationship with the Holy Spirit, and they are evident in your life through that, through the fruits of the Spirit, Paul says, against such things, against those things, there is no law.

So guys, if you have the Spirit of Christ in your life, this old law that you so difficult, you know, you tried to do it and it just didn't work and you failed and you couldn't keep the whole law, you know, Paul says, if you have the Spirit, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If you belong to Christ this morning, have you crucified the flesh with its desires? That's a difficult thing to do sometimes.

My mind goes to 1 Thessalonians. When I think of belonging to Christ and crucifying the desires and the passions, Paul again in 1 Thessalonians 4, v. 1-8 says, Finally then, brothers, we ask you and urge you in the Lord that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave to you through the Lord Jesus.

For this is the will of God. Pay attention. For this is the will of God.

Your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality. That each one of you know how to possess or how to control His own body in holiness and honor. Not in the passions of lusts like the Gentiles who don't know God, who do not know God.

That no one transgresses or wrongs his brother in this matter. Why? Because the Lord is the avenger in all these things. As we told you before and solemnly warn you, for God has not called you, God has not called us to impurity but holiness.

God has not called us to unholiness but to holiness. And guys, if you disregard this, therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not man, but disregards God who gives His Holy Spirit to you so that you will have the power. God gives you His Holy Spirit so that you can have the power to overcome the desires of the flesh.

Guys, if the works of the flesh are a regular occurrence in your life, you need to get on your knees and cry out for the Holy Spirit to come into your life. For Jesus to breathe His salvation into your life. He gives us His Holy Spirit for the purpose of overcoming the desires of the flesh and producing the fruits of the Spirit.

Chapter 5, verse 25 says, if we live in the Spirit... We're back in Galatians 5.25. If we live in the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Or let us also walk in the Spirit. And when I think of this verse, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

A couple of things come to mind. One of them is a horse trotting. Clip-clop, clip-clop.

And you have a steady beat. It's like a metronome. And when I think of keeping in step with the Spirit, if the Holy Spirit is leading you and you are walking in His way, you are going to be keeping in step with the Spirit.

It's not going to be the Spirit stepping and we're just all over the place and we don't know which way is up and down. No. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Let that be part of our being, our heartbeat. It's boom, boom. Holy Spirit lead me.

Holy Spirit guide me. We will be in sync with the Spirit of God. And let us not become conceited provoking one another, envying one another.

Again, this is not part of the Spirit. This would be more of the flesh revealing itself. Beginning of chapter 6 in Galatians, Paul addresses a brother or sister that's caught in transgression.

Someone that is... We see a brother beside us. We see a sister beside us. And we go, oh, I see the works of the flesh.

I see the works of the flesh. And Paul says, this is how you're supposed to relate. You who are spiritual should restore him in the spirit of gentleness.

But be careful. Keep watch, lest you too be tempted. And I've seen that happen here at Ephrata Christian Fellowship in a biblical way where a brother was caught in a transgression.

And in a very biblical, Christ-like way, that brother was restored to the faith. And it's the most beautiful thing when a brother or a sister errs from the faith and we come around each other like true brothers and sisters in Christ should. And we restore that one to the faith.

It is such a beautiful thing. Alright, I need to wrap it up. I thought I wasn't even going to get a half hour in.

So, skip down. Paul's teaching us to be humble if anyone thinks he's something when he's nothing. Humility.

Examine your heart. He jumps in. We already talked about the sowing to the flesh.

Sowing to the spirit. We have a clearer picture now what that looks like. And then he goes and he says, don't grow weary of doing good.

Let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season we will reap. Okay? Again, that image of harvesting, what we've planted. For in due season we will reap if we do not give up.

Doing good is another word for fruits of the Spirit. Don't grow weary of producing the fruits of the Spirit. Don't get tired of that.

Well, you know what? Sometimes we can get discouraged. That's human nature. But he's encouraging, don't get tired of it.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Alright? What's most important is that we are caring for each other. This doing good to everyone, especially those who are of the household of faith in verse 10, would be one of the fruits of the Spirit.

And that fruit is goodness. Doing good to the household of faith maybe can look something like blessing a minister with a financial gift after he's labored hours in the Word to teach us. I, this week, have a major appreciation for the ministry here.

I spent many hours and I'm like, whoa, if I had to do this every couple weeks, boy, oh boy, I think maybe my business would suffer. Maybe some other things would suffer too. But maybe that is one way we can do good to everyone.

Making sure the fatherless and widows are taken care of in our church. Visiting the sick and the needy. Maybe speaking encouraging words to a brother or sister in our congregation if we sense they're going through a difficult time.

Or, like I said, in meekness, restoring a brother or sister to the faith that has been led astray. That is doing good to everyone, especially the household of faith. If our salvation is based on doing good things or trying to fulfill the law on our own strength, you'll find that it's vain and worthless.

If we're relying on everything I can do, what can I do, I do, it's vain and worthless. Maybe an image that you can get from that is running on a treadmill and you're just getting nowhere. You stay in the same footprint for as long as you can continue to run.

And I think of that image as if we are trying to base our salvation in our good works. You're going to eventually give up and you're just going to hop off the treadmill. You're going to say, you know what, this faith that I thought was real, I can't do it on my own strength.

So, you're faced with two options. Either you give up or you go to the Holy Spirit for strength, for guidance. Paul says in Philippians, in regards to our faith and the works that he did, thought he was doing, he says, but what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ.

Yea, doubtless I count all things, but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. He gave it all up. And do count them but done that I may win Christ.

Verse 15, for neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. It's the new creation, the Holy Spirit molding you and shaping you and working in your heart that actually counts. It's not circumcision, uncircumcision, this day, that day, do this, don't do that.

No, it's a new creation. As a reminder, let's remember that our actions do matter to God. The way we live, the way we talk, and the way we spend our resources, it does matter to God.

The things we do today will affect our tomorrow. And remember that while salvation is not a product, salvation does not come through good works, good works are the fruits of the Spirit, will be a product of salvation. I'm going to say that again.

Remember that while salvation is not a product of good works. You can't win salvation through all these good works. But if you have the fruit of the Spirit, if you have Christ in your life, the fruits of the Spirit will be a product of salvation.

In closing, I want each one of you to ask yourself the question today, and this week, as you go through your daily life, am I going to accept the free gift of salvation that Christ gave and make a choice, a deliberate choice, to sow to the Spirit, to reap eternal life with Christ? Or, on the flip side, am I going to choose to reject the free gift of salvation, resort back to my old, selfish, sinful desires, and settle for short-term pleasure? It's fun. It feels good. Only to reap the promised reward of corruption.

Paul says, we need to remember this, those who do such things, the works of the flesh, Paul says, those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Today, what will you choose to feed, brothers and sisters? Will you choose to feed the flesh? Or will you choose to feed the Spirit? Remember, what you sow is what you're going to reap. If you sow to the flesh, and that is what is fertilized in your life, you will reap the flesh.

And it's not going to be pretty. If you sow to the Spirit, you'll reap the Spirit. And remember, last of all, God has not given each one of us, sorry, God has given us the choice to choose.

But God has not given us the choice of choosing what the consequences are to our choices. I'm going to read that again. God has not given us, I've got too many tongue twisters going on.

God has given us the choice to choose. But He has not given us the choice of choosing what the consequences are to our choices. He's already dictated, you choose this, you will get this.

You choose this, you will get eternal life with Christ. So, choose wisely. He understands after you spend days studying how quickly that clock moves when you get up here to share.

But what a message that was. And a great amount of things that could be said after it. I think the problem is He tried to preach 12 messages in one.

And you might need to listen to that one 12 times to actually get out a lot of what's in there. He covered a lot of things. And we don't have time for comments.

But I just want to distill it in addition to the questions He laid on you in His closing comments. How will I choose? You don't get to choose the results of your choices. You get to choose how you will do.

But ask yourself just three questions. How am I living? Let's take inventory of our lives. What's there? Is it after the flesh? Or is it after the spirit? How am I living? What was the second one? It just left me.

The third one is, God, You're all in all. And what would be in our lives as we consider that. And that ties right back to what Gideon shared.

So I feel like God has really been good to us today. And we have a lot to take home and think on and consider. And God bless each of you as you do that.

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