In the fifth chapter of Galatians you will find a commentary upon this
natural law. Shall we read it? 'Now the works of the flesh'--the fruit
of the flesh, if you like to put it that way--'are manifest, which are
these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions,
heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of
the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that
they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance', or self-control. The two sets
of verses taken together not only show in detail a cluster of virtues
which are like luscious fruit in a beautiful garden, but also a cluster
of evils, which are like poisoned berries upon the roadside bushes.
The contrast between the two clusters indicates how great is the
difference when one is changed from being a proud, fleshly, corrupt man
into a clean, holy, spiritual person; but the contrast also marks the
grace of God as the transforming power. No matter what change was
wrought in you at conversion, you cannot properly call yourselves fully
sanctified until the transformation is complete; that is, until you are
delivered from the works or fruit of the flesh, and produce the fruit
of the Spirit, and by your fruits you shall be known. Profession of
Holiness without appropriate fruit is no good. That would be just like
the tree to which the Saviour turned on one occasion when He found
nothing but leaves.
Let me put the matter very simply, but very definitely. Here is a man,
we will suppose, who says, 'I am saved'. That is good. I like to hear
men who are able to stand up and say, 'I am saved'. But if in that
man's dealings with those around him he tells lies--black ones or white
ones--well, then it is obvious that the man still needs Salvation.
Here is another who stands up and says, 'I have a clean heart'. That is
a testimony in which I glory. But if you see that man's bodily
appetites master him, or see him fall into uncleanness of speech or of
act, you know very well what even those who want to be charitable will
say, 'Either that man fails to understand the meaning of the words he
uses, or his profession of Holiness is a false one'.
Another person says, 'I love God with all my heart'--or as many do say,
'There is nothing between my soul and God'. But if you see the same
person running after those things which he knows God is against,
however charitable you may feel, you cannot help judging by what he
does rather than by what he says.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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