Operator, Well Could You Help me Make this Call?

Remember these old pay phones. Remember in the old black and white movies when big news was made, all the news reporters made a mad dash to the nearest pay phone. There were usually a dozen or so pay phones in the nearest hallway.

They hardly have any use anymore because most people nowadays have cell phones with them everywhere they go. Most of the places that had them before have had them removed or the pay phones were destroyed by vandals.

I was pleasantly surprised when I drove up to this one, lifted the receiver and “baaaaaah,” I hear a dial tone. So there is still a phone available to anyone else out there who doesn’t carry a mobile. It will cost you some change but you should be able to use it to call anyone you wish. That’s what I call retro-progress!

God tells us that there is a line that is always open to him too.

For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.  Jeremiah 29.10-14

God is telling his chosen nation that he still loves them, has a good plan for them and will restore them to their land.

Because God loves you and has a perfect plan for your life as he did Israel of old he is saying “Call upon me… pray to me and I will listen." If you seek him with all your heart, you will find him.

And it won’t cost you a dime.

How Can I Know I'm Filled with the Spirit of God?

The Flesh and the Spirit - Part V

How can we know that we are filled with the Holy Spirit and operating by his influence? How might we be aware if we are functioning by the energy of our own flesh?

The Bible gives us lists both of the works of the flesh and of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:19-22). These will clearly identify for us which we are walking in.

Though these lists are not exhaustive they do seem to encompass the whole realm of both states. Notice the words “and the like” in verse 21. Any expression of fleshly conduct has many cousins that can show up any time.

The “works of the flesh” are plural. The flesh can manifest itself in so many, many ways. For example, once you think you have conquered sexual sin, the flesh may manifest itself through envy. Or if you think you have conquered drunkenness, you may find yourself being drawn back into contentiousness.

The “fruit of the Spirit” is singular but is like a many faceted diamond. I think this means that when God’s Spirit is in control of your life, each of those attributes will be present because that’s what God’s Spirit produces.

I also believe that love is the main thread which holds the garment together. If you have God’s perfect love, you will manifest all of the other things too. However, not one person, that I am aware of, always perfectly portrays the fruit of the Spirit. It is something we must allow God to perform within us daily. We cannot do it ourselves.

Here are the lists:

The Works of the Flesh:                                  The Fruit of the Spirit

Adultery                                                           Love                                

Fornication                                                      Joy

Uncleanness                                                   Peace

Lewdness                                                       Longsuffering

Idolatry                                                            Kindness

Sorcery (can include drug abuse)                   Goodness

Hatred                                                             Faithfulness

Contentions                                                     Gentleness

Jealousies                                                       Self-control

Outbursts of wrath                               

Selfish ambitions (strife)                                 

Dissensions (seditions)                                             

Heresies (sects)                                             

Envy                                                    

Murders                                               

Drunkenness                                        

Revelries                                             

The Apostle Paul also gives us a final statement about both conditions. Concerning the works of the flesh he writes, “…those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” If you continually live your life in living in sexual sins, Spiritual disregard, malice, self-centeredness, unjustified anger, disrespect for human life, alcohol and drug abuse, doing only what feels good to you – all without repentance, it is not possible that you are a Christian.

Concerning the fruit of the Spirit, he writes “Against such there is no law.” This means that when walking in the Spirit, we will not go against what God has already shown in His law (the Ten Commandments). We have already seen that the law cannot enable us to do God’s will but only reveals our inner moral failure. God’s Spirit, however, does empower us to live according to the standards of God as shown by the law. We must give him control of our lives.

If You are Led by the Spirit, You are Not Under the Law

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Gal 5.18)

In Galatians 5.16-17, Paul has been contrasting the flesh and the Spirit. “Flesh,” meaning relying upon and yielding to the desires of self as comes naturally for us all.

The principle of “the Spirit,” means to be under the control of the Holy Spirit of God.

But now, in verse 18, He instead contrasts the law with the Spirit. Although we know that the law is holy [i], to bring ourselves under its domain will only bring either pride or despair to our flesh. In pride we will convince ourselves that we can meet the law’s demands. In despair we will become demoralized that we cannot.

When we think we can make ourselves right with God apart from grace, it is because this is how the flesh thinks. We may rely upon the law’s demand toward us to fully obey God. The flesh will tell us that we can do this but the law reminds us that we cannot,[ii] The Spirit of God shows us that Jesus has met those demands in our behalf.

This is not only true concerning our justification (becoming righteous in our standing before God), but also our sanctification (becoming holy in our thoughts, actions and ways before God).

The law cannot empower the flesh to be righteous and holy; it can only bring to light our failure. Only the Holy Spirit can empower us to do so. That’s why we must rely on and submit to God’s work of grace in us.

Concerning this passage, Charles Spurgeon wrote.

He who looks at his own character and position from a legal point of view, will not only despair when he comes to the end of his reckoning, but if he is a wise man he will despair at the beginning; for if we are to be judged on the basis of the law, no living flesh shall be justified. How blessed to know that we dwell in the domains of grace and not of law! When thinking of my state before God the question is not, “Am I perfect in myself before the law?” but, “Am I perfect in Christ Jesus?” That is a very different matter.[iii]

Later, he writes:

Ah! believer, it is safer always for you to be led by the Spirit into gospel liberty than to wear legal fetters. Judge yourself by what Christ is rather than by what you are. Satan will try to mar your peace by reminding you of your sinfulness and imperfections: you can only meet his accusations by faithfully adhering to the gospel and refusing to wear the yoke of bondage.[iv]

God’s word teaches us that we cannot live up to the requirements of the Ten Commandments or the many other moral demands of the law. We are so far behind that we can never catch up. So let us hitch a ride with the only person who ever met those demands successfully – the Lord Jesus Christ!

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[i]  Ro 7:12 - Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

[ii] Romans 7.18 - For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

[iii] Morning and Evening – Charles Spurgeon

[iv] Ibid.