SLIDES

The Letter to the Galatians 5:17-18

(Part 23)

Introduction

There are doctrinal issues and other things that are addressed in the New Testament that are not directly addressed n the Old Testament. There are also other biblical things that are clear in the New Testament but are not as clear in the Old Testament. Take Sampson for example. If you only had the Old Testament, you would think that Samson would be at the Great White Throne Judgement destined for the Lake of Fire (Hell) for an eternity. But then we turn to Hebrews 11, the hall of faith chapter that parades “so great a cloud of witnesses” (12:1). There the author of Hebrews illustrates how believers by faith may patiently endure. He introduces this great theme by showing the connection between faith and endurance. In Hebrews 11:1-2.

  1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for (a confident expectation), the conviction of things not seen.

  2 For by it the men of old gained approval.

Faith or trust is the assurance of things hoped for but cannot be seen. The word assurance or substance is referred to as a title deed in the ancient Greek language before the New Testament was written. The title need as a piece of paper is worthless, but it is the one standing behind the title deed that gives it worth. In this case it is Yahweh. We trust in the promise of our great God, Savior, and Creator with conviction, assurance, and confidence that He will keep His promises, particularly of unseen future things such as heaven or the Messianic Kingdom. The phrase “gained approval” means they “gained a good testimony.”

Back to Sampson. Did he gain a good testimony by his endurance? Let us read Hebrews 11:32-34.

32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,

33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,

34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Wow, Hebrews 11 certainly gives a different picture of Sampson, does it not?  Let us not be so fast in Judging people. As with Sampson, who would have thought he was a man of faith that endured. Sampson is glad that the LORD, not us, is judging him.

Two of the doctrines that is not mentioned in the Old Testament are the doctrines of the old nature and the new nature. Rabbinic theology has no doctrines concerning men being born with a sin nature or for a man to receive a new nature. Even though it is not mentioned in the Old Testament, we can certainly see it at work in the Old Testament in the lives of biblical characters on just about every page. We can see how men and women acted and can see the sin nature in action, but the doctrine of the old nature is not mentioned. (Adan and Eve are the only two humans who were created without a sin nature. They received theirs when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When they ate and sinned,  it was not because of a sin nature that was urging them to do so.)

The new nature as we know it from the New Testament is also never mentioned because the Holy Spirit did not indwell people except for few people like Sampson and John the Baptist. The Holy Spirit came upon people for different reasons to give them strength and wisdom, but did not indwell them. The only thing that comes near to it is that the LORD spiritually circumcised people’s hearts as in Deuteronomy 30:6

Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.

King Saul is another one that may surprise some. He was a disobedient scoundrel, but it says in 1 Samuel 10:7-9.

7 “It shall be when these signs come to you, do for yourself what the occasion requires, for God is with you.  8 “And you shall go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you should do.”  9  Then it happened when he turned his back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart; and all those signs came about on that day.

I think that King Saul is an illustration of a carnal or fleshly Christian.

Even though the rabbis do not teach that man has a sin nature, we certainly can see it every day in the lives of the non-believer and the believer as well.  As believers in Christ, we all have a new nature which is the Holy Spirit, but we also know by experience on a daily basis that the sin nature does reside in the believer as well as the unbeliever.

Some of the characteristics, works, or deeds of the old nature spelled out by Paul are found in the portion of Scripture we are going to study today. Let read Galatians 5:19-21.

19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,

20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,

21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Paul now lists some of the ugly “works of the flesh.” (You will find similar lists in Mark 7:20–23; Rom. 1:29–32; 1 Tim. 1:9–10; 2 Tim. 3:2–5.) The flesh is able to manufacture sin but it can never produce the righteousness of God. Jeremiah 17:9 says “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer.17:9)

In Paul's list of the characteristics of the old sin nature or the ugly works or deeds of the flesh, he groups them into four categories of sins: sexual sins, religious sins, social sins, and personal sins. Paul begins with sexual sins.

Sexual sins (19)

This includes things like uncontrolled lust, adultery, fornication, homosexual practice, prostitution, and pornography.

• Sexual immorality - The Greek word translated sexual immorality is porneia which means all types of forbidden sexual relationships. Adultery is illicit sex between married people, while fornication generally refers to the same sin among unmarried people

• Impurity - all moral uncleanness in thought, word, and deed.

“A Welshman said, ‘I cannot help it if a bird alights on top of my head, but I can help it if he builds his nest in my hair,’ and so you may not be able to help it if evil thoughts come surging into your  mind, but you can help indulging in those thoughts.”

• Sensuality or  Indecent behavior - the open, shameless display of these sins. Indecent behavior is close to our word debauchery or lasciviousness. It speaks of a wanton appetite that knows no shame. All of these sins were rampant in the Roman Empire.

Paul probably began with these because of the prevalence and apparentness of these sins in Paul’s time. They were much in evidence in the pagan background from which the Galatians had come. They were sanctioned in the rites of pagan worship.

Religious sins (v. 20) - This includes such things as occult involvement, false religions, New Age spirituality, superstition, idolatrous materialism, and cults.

•    Idolatry - worship of anything but God and the practices associated with that worship. Idolatry is simply putting things ahead of God and people. We are to worship God, love people, and use things, but too often we use people, love self, and worship things, leaving God out of the picture completely. The Christian who devotes more of himself to his car, house, or boat than he does to serving Christ may be in danger of idolatry (Col. 3:5).

•    Sorcery  or Witchcraft - The words sorcery and  witchcraft are from the Greek word pharmakeia, which means “the use of drugs.” Our English word pharmacy is derived from this word. Magicians in Paul’s day often used drugs to bring about their evil effects. Of course, sorcery is forbidden in the Bible as are all activities of the occult. (Deut. 18:9–22)

Societal sins (20–22)

• enmities or hostilities - It means “enmity,” the attitude of mind that defies and challenges others.

• strife - antagonism and the outworking of hostilities.

•    jealousy - self-centered animosity. How tragic when Christians compete with one another and try to make one another look bad in the eyes of others.

• outbursts of anger - temper eruptions and strife carry with it the idea of “self-seeking, selfish ambition,” that creates divisions in the church.

•   disputes or  selfish ambition- putting others down to get ahead

•   dissensions- disputes over issues or personalities

•    factions- divisions over issues or personalities. 1 Corinthians 3:1-4.1

1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now. And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?

•   envying - a resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage

“The Arab said, ‘Once I felt bad and I complained because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.’“

Personal sins (21)

• drunkenness - excessive use of intoxicants)

•    carousing - parties involving excessive eating and drinking.

Other sins ( 22) -This includes sins against one’s own body, such as drug addiction, workaholism, alcoholism, barhopping, gluttony, and other forms of self-destructive behavior.

• And things like these (similar violations of God’s moral will)

The common feature in this list of vices seems to reside not in the precise ways in which these fifteen items manifest themselves but in the self-centeredness, egocentricity, and putting self first that underlies all of them.

Paul says that people who “practice” these deeds of the flesh “will not inherit the kingdom of God” (5:21). Does Paul mean that true believers who get entrapped in some of these sins will lose their salvation? Certainly not! Christ died for all of our sins—past, present, and future. No Christian, not even the most mature, is sinless. Every one of us struggles on a daily basis with deeds contained in Paul’s ugly sin list.

Paul means that those whose lifestyles continually demonstrate indulgence in the deeds of the flesh do not have the Spirit of God. Paul is not talking about an act of sin, but a habit of sin

Those who don’t have the Spirit of God do not have eternal life and will not enter the Messianic Kingdom.  He’s not talking about the saint who has a problem with jealousy, or the father who has a temper, or the working mother who becomes hooked on prescription drugs. Paul is talking about people who abandon themselves to a lifestyle habitually dominated by these deeds. The context shows that Paul is talking about a lifestyle. Paul didn’t mean for his list of dirty deeds to become a checklist for determining whether a person is saved or not. If any of us were to be caught on a bad day, week, or month, we would all fail such a test and be judged by others as outside the kingdom of God.

The fact that the believer is not under Law, but under grace, is no excuse for sin (Rom. 6:15). If anything, it is an encouragement to live in obedience to the Lord. But how does the believer handle the old nature when it is capable of producing such horrible sins? The Law cannot change or control the old nature. Then how is controlled? Walking by the Holy Spirit. Verse 24 gives us more insight into this. We will discuss that next week.

So, there are two views on this verse. One that we just discussed is that a person who abandons themselves to a lifestyle habitually dominated by these deeds are lost and will not be allowed to enter the Messianic Kingdom. The second view revolves around the term inherit. One who continues to habitually be involved the sins we just discussed will enter the Messianic Kingdom but will have no rewards and will not rule and reign with Christ there.

Since believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. which is our new nature, we have a choice to sin or not to sin. I think is should be a selling point when encouraging someone to trust in Christ as their Savior. Becoming a Christian is much more than a ticket out of Hell. We can have fellowship with God and have the power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom in our daily lives and the power not to sin.