IT’S A DOG FIGHT.

The Oklahoma preacher bumped into an old Cherokee gentleman who had recently become a believer:

“How’s your Christian faith?”

“It’s a battle. There are two dogs inside me fighting all the time.”

“Which dog is winning?”

“Depends on who I feed the most.”

Isn’t that great? You can ‘FEED’ the natures inside you: You can fill your mind with bad things and your life will be corrupted, or you can fill your mind with God’s word and your life will be purified.

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He who sows to his own flesh shall, from the flesh, reap corruption. But he who sows to the spirit shall, from the spirit, reap eternal life. Therefore, do not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap, if we do not grow weary” Galatians 6:7-9.

Dog fights are brutal and bloody. What about the battles inside a Christian? Paul said every Christian may feed the flesh and reap corruption, or he may feed the spirit and reap eternal life.

How might we feed the flesh? By committing all the sins flesh enjoys, from gluttony to laziness to lust to “feasting our eyes” on harmful images, negative stories, music, and more.

Someone wrote that “TV makes so much money at its worst, it has no motivation to become its best.” The internet is the same way—it will never achieve its amazing potential, not when it is a billion-dollar porn factory, polluting minds and getting rich as fast as possible.

How can we “sow to the spirit”? By reading, studying, and memorizing the word.

God promises His word will “not return void,” but will ALWAYS pay off. Worship, fellowship, service, prayer, praise, and thanksgiving are also excellent ways to “invest” in your spirit.

God, set off alarms in our minds when we sow to our flesh and corrupt ourselves. Make us more aware of the evil influences all around us. Teach us to sow good things!

ΑΩ

IMMORALITY BRINGS WRATH. Revelation 14:19-18:24.

Society mocks morals. A recent broadcast of the Grammy Awards featured lyrics so immoral you would be embarrassed if I discussed it. There are thousands more examples. The music and stories of our culture would argue sex has nothing to do with marriage, children, or the God who created it to illustrate oneness with His people. Instead, sex is considered meaning-less and consequence-free. Many artists promoting the immoral are also strongly pro-choice. Why? Because easy-access to abortion goes hand-in-hand with the all-too-common belief that sex does not involve family or God and is simply harmless and meaningless fun: it’s recreation, not procreation.

The Bible contradicts the notion of recreational sex outside of marriage.

Twice Revelation states clearly that “SEXUAL IMMORALITY BRINGS WRATH” 14:8,18:3. Don’t tolerate this sin in your life. GOD WON’T.

Instead, God will POUR OUT judgment on immorality, particularly in the End Times, comparing it to both Babylon the Great and a prostitute:

“Babylon the Great has fallen, who made the nations drink the wine of her sexual immorality, which brings wrath…. Grapes will be thrown into the winepress of God’s wrath and blood will flow as deep as the horses’ bridles for 180 miles… Hailstones weighing 100 pounds will fall from the sky… The kings became drunk on the prostitute’s immorality… and she became drunk on the blood of the saints [that’s us!]… The beast will make the prostitute desolate and naked, devour her flesh, and burn her up with fire… Babylon the Great is fallen! … Her sins are piled to heaven… Her plagues will come in one day, … In a single hour her fabulous wealth will be destroyed…. All this will happen because … the nations were deceived by her sorcery, and the blood of prophets and saints was found in her” Revelation 14:19-18:24.

Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” You harvest what you plant. PLANT GOOD THINGS IN YOUR LIFE.

Revelation 14 praises the pure: “These are the ones not defiled with women, for they have kept their virginity… They are blameless” vv.4-5.

I want God to call me ‘blameless,’ don’t you?

ΑΩ

ARE YOU A SLAVE OR A SON? Galatians 4:3-7.

DOWNTON ABBEY is an English estate: 5,000 acres run by a village of tenant farmers, 40 servants who run the home, and a “nobly born” family of five who live like kings. It’s an insightful story of a class system that was once nearly universal. Then Tom, the chauffeur, marries the family’s youngest daughter. Suddenly a servant has become an heir. It is scandalous! The family is shocked to think an Irishman with grease under his nails is moving upstairs, wearing tweed, and must be treated as family. But the servants are even more shocked, angry they must bow before this man who was once their equal.

We who are not Jewish were born slaves to the law, condemned. We were born outsiders, Gentiles. We were not “children of the promise.” We were not heirs. We were slaves to our addictions.

“We were enslaved. But God sent His Son, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons…. So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir” Galatians 4:3-7.

You were an outsider and a slave, BUT GOD ADOPTED YOU!

Unfortunately, some adopted children struggle to leave the past behind; they keep going back to the old ways. We do too. We are heirs of God, “fellow heirs with Christ,” yet we slip back into lives of slavery. We enslave ourselves to addictions, to bad habits, to things that hurt us. We choose slavery and squander our inheritance.

“In the past, when you didn’t know God, you were enslaved to things that are not gods. But now… how can you turn back again? Do you want to be enslaved all over again?” Galatians 4:8-11.

“It is for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm, therefore—DO NOT SUBMIT again to the yoke of slavery” Galatians 5:1.

You have choices. See yourself as a child of God and heir to His kingdom—turn your back on the addictions: “do NOT submit again to the yoke of slavery.”

ΑΩ

Grace Gives You Freedom from the Law. Use Your Freedom to Serve Others. Acts 15:29.

Imagine: You are a missionary to the people of Jerusalem in the year 55 A.D. You have invited a crowd of two dozen local Jews to listen to you share about Jesus on the beach one morning. As they walk up, they can smell something cooking. You’ve got a nice fire going, with bacon and sausage popping on a skillet and a few thick slices of ham on the grill. As your new friends arrive, you offer each a plate. How will they react? Will they eat your food?

They will not. In fact, they will be horrified, and they will run back to town, word will spread, and no one will EVER listen to you preach again.

Does your freedom in Christ allow you to eat pork? Absolutely. Does your love for people sometimes require you NOT to exercise your freedom? Absolutely.

A missionary—which we all are—should be careful not to give offense if it is the kind of offense that will keep people from coming to Christ.

Which is more important, my witness as a Christian or my pleasures as a believer enjoying his freedom in Christ?

I have a friend who is so deeply devoted to the doctrine of grace that he considers the law of Moses troublesome. Such thinking can lead people to abandon the Old Testament altogether. That is a mistake. A focus on the freedoms of grace to the exclusion of all other doctrines can result in a self-centeredness so focused on personal freedom we ignore the way our actions affect young Christians or the not-yet Christians.

When the early church was made up primarily of former Jews, people continued to be pulled back into the law. After all, that was all they had ever known! They kept arguing that Gentiles could only be saved if they were circumcised and followed the law of Moses, Acts 15:5. Peter, Paul, Barnabas, James, and others argued against this, but they were outnumbered.

What should Christians do? Shrug and say “too bad” and go ahead and enjoy their freedoms? What if the freedom that you have found in grace keeps another person from coming to Christ?

After all, they may be so scandalized by your behavior that they are unable to wrap their minds around your message. Would you be willing to make some sacrifices if it drew a lost person closer to Jesus? Or is your freedom in Christ more important than another person’s salvation?

Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and James found a compromise. They asked no one to be circumcised or to follow the whole law. Instead, they drafted a one-paragraph letter asking believers to make a few sacrifices to avoid offending unbelieving Jews and Jewish believers: “abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. You will do well if you keep yourselves from these things” Acts 15:29. 

Are they following the law? No. But they are making a concession. A sacrifice. You can make a sacrifice to avoid offending the lost or a new believer. Your freedom in Christ should not be an absolute rule but must be exercised with love for people for whom Christ died.

“For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another” Galatians 5:13.

“It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble” Romans 14:21.

“For if, because of food, your brother or sister is hurt, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food that person for whom Christ died” Romans 14:15.

Enjoy your freedom in Christ. But do not turn that freedom into an opportunity to indulge the flesh. Instead, ask how your choices can best serve others.

ΑΩ

THE RECIPE FOR SALVATION WILL BE RUINED IF YOU MIX IN A PINCH OF LAW. Galatians 5:9.

I love to cook without recipes. When I was a child, I made milk shakes in a blender. I would throw in bananas, berries, ice cream, a raw egg, chocolate syrup, honey, milk, vanilla extract, and more. You really can’t mess up a milk shake. But boy, have I ruined a few meals! I once carved into a salad what I thought was a mild pepper. Instead, it was the hottest pepper of my life. My mouth was numb for hours after only one bite!

We use mercury—the only metal that is liquid at room temperature—in thermometers, barometers and similar measuring devices. In fact, the deadly poison is a treasure with many uses. As a small child, my brother thought he would use a mercury thermometer to measure the temperature of a pot of chili that had been on the stove for hours. Unfortunately, the mercury instantly burst the tiny glass tube and the glass and mercury sank to the bottom of the pot. Dennis had no idea how dangerous mercury was. But that night he went to my mother and told her what he had done. She was upset about her chili. But she was horrified to think her family might have eaten a meal with mercury in it. Mercury is one ingredient that will ruin a chili recipe—and all other recipes.

You know what ingredient will ruin the salvation recipe? The LAW.

Though, like mercury, it is an amazing treasure in its proper place, the law is poison to salvation. But don’t miss that first point: the LAW IS A TREASURE. See Psalm 119:11 and the words of Jesus in Matthew 13:52.

The law is our TEACHER, Galatians 3:24. Jesus said He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, and thus, none of it would pass away, Matthew 5:17-18. The law of Moses has incredible value.

But the law cannot save anyone. Adding the law to your salvation “recipe” will ruin the recipe. “If you get yourselves circumcised [to follow the law], Christ will not benefit you at all” Galatians 5:2. Paul explains you can’t sprinkle in a pinch of law. If you try to be justified by law, then you have to follow the WHOLE law. “You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from GRACE … A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough” vv. 4,9. Paul is saying that adding any law to your salvation recipe requires you to perfectly follow ALL the law.

And as every Jew in Israel knew, no one could follow the law perfectly. We all sin. We all were corrected a thousand times as children. We have broken so many rules. We KNOW we will never be saved by perfectly following rules, because we are not perfect.

Faith in the God Who will provide another way is humanity’s only hope—and always was our only hope.

From the beginning of time no one was ever saved by following the law. The law reveals our sin, convincing us we will only be saved by our faith that a good God will provide for salvation another way. The law is our schoolmaster, teaching us that we can only be saved by trusting in the Man who became the perfect sacrifice. Jesus was “God’s Son, born of a woman, born under the law, sent to redeem those under the law [everyone], so that we might receive adoption as sons” Galatians 4:4-5.

The law of Moses is a priceless treasure. But following the law has never saved anyone.

ΑΩ

AN ALLEGORY OF GALATIANS 3.

Imagine a KINGDOM called FAITH. The head of the kingdom is KING ABRAHAM. Before King Abraham leaves for a long journey, he places his child and heir, PRINCE ISRAEL, in the hands of a guardian. The guardian’s name is LAW. Guardian LAW will raise the heir while the king is away, teaching the heir all the things he will need to know when he joins his father at the head of the kingdom.

When King Abraham and Prince Israel are reunited, there will be feasting and great celebrations and the Royal Family will be full of joy. Until then, Prince Israel is to study and prepare until he reaches the age of 21. At 21, Prince Israel will no longer need his guardian, Law, recognizing that the royal blood of FAITH—ABRAHAM’S FAITH—flows in the veins of all of Abraham’s children.

But then something goes wrong. When Prince Israel reaches 21, doubts set in. He has grown attached to Guardian Law, and rejects the king’s plans. What about the feast? Preparations have been made! So the king sends workers into the kingdom. They search among aliens and foreigners for any that will come to the feast. All they need is a drop of faith—Abraham’s faith—and if they love Guardian Law, they must leave him behind. Law cannot enter the kingdom.

Thousands upon thousands, ten thousand times ten thousand, come by faith alone. And finally, Prince Israel comes too, persuaded by Guardian Law himself that faith, after all, was always the heir’s destiny.

THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM EXISTED 430 YEARS BEFORE THE LAW—THE LAW’S PURPOSE WAS ALWAYS TO POINT THE KING’S CHILDREN TO FAITH.

Salvation by faith is not a New Testament idea; Abraham was saved by faith. The law has its important role as Israel’s guardian and teacher, Galatians 3:24. But the law could never provide salvation. In fact, when the law gets mixed up with salvation, it leads only to death, being the “extra piece,” that can distract from God’s plan.

“The law was added 430 years later…” Galatians 3:17.

God, teach us to embrace godly habits without turning them into laws that separate us from the lost, from believers, and from our Savior. Remind us that we are saved by grace.

ΑΩ

RICHES. Revelation 18.

Energy creates value. When man discovered oil and ways to reach it, mine it, refine it, and use it, the world instantly became fabulously wealthy. Imagine an animated graphic: as oil was brought from the depths to the surface, buildings rose from the surface into the clouds. Cities exploded. Trails became superhighways. The globe is criss-crossed with roads and bridges to everywhere and nowhere.

And the night sky is never dark. Seen from space, our cities glow like diamonds spread across black velvet on the glass-topped counters of a jewelry store. During the last century, remote places grew into world-class cities: Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Rio De Janeiro, Perth, Jakarta, Singapore, Denver, Calgary, Dubai, and of course, Houston (the oil capital of the world). Meanwhile, the most populated cities are bigger than anyone could have imagined: Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Cairo, Mumbai, Beijing, Dhaka, Osaka, New York. Here are the world’s cities with the most millionaires: New York, Tokyo, San Francisco, London, Singapore, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston (Houston has 132,000 millionaires).

And one day it’s all gonna burn.

The Bible uses “Babylon” to describe man’s ultimate sin.

“Babylon the Great has fallen… The kings of the earth and merchants have grown wealthy from her excessive luxury. Her sins are piled up to heaven… The kings will weep over her when they see the smoke of her burning… The merchants will weep and mourn because no one buys their merchandise any longer… gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fabrics, marble… In a single hour such fabulous wealth was destroyed” Revelation 18.

There is nothing wrong with wealth. God used it to bless Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and many others. But money can be “the root of all sorts of evil.” James warns us: “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries which are coming upon you…. You have lived luxuriously, you have fattened your hearts….” James 5:1,5.

Wealth is sometimes connected to God’s judgment. BE CONTENT.

“Do not wear yourself out to get rich, be wise enough to restrain yourself” Proverbs 23:4.

ΑΩ

“DO YOU SWEAR?!” James 5:12.

When Hurricane Camille came ashore on Sunday, August 17, 1969, three people showed up at Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge: the pastor, there to keep an eye on the building, and Willie and Vercie Wales. Paw Paw, my grandfather, figured it was Sunday morning, time to go to church. What’s a little rain? He was a man of legendary integrity. His son was like him, a man so honest he would not open mail addressed to his wife.

When I was a child, I often overheard other children having scenes like this:

“Do you swear?”

“I swear!”

“Do you swear on the Holy Bible?”

“I swear on the Holy Bible!”

“Do you swear to God?”

“Umm … No.”

“See—you’re lying! Hey everyone, he’s lying! He won’t swear to God.”

We put a lot of stock in oaths, as if our fellow man is happy to lie, but afraid to lie under oath. But an oath makes little difference to liars; it certainly makes no difference to those who only tell the truth.

“Do not swear, either by heaven or by earth, or by any other oath. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No,’ so that you do not fall under judgment” James 5:12.

The Bible says stop swearing. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. In other words, tell the truth consistently, so people will accept your yes or no answer without requiring you to buttress it by attaching oaths to it. Be honest.

The Pulpit Commentary adds that James is addressing a bad habit among Jews and Christians in the early church:

James wants to eliminate “those profane adjurations with which men who have no deep-seated fear of God garnish their common talk.”

In other words, ‘stop swearing’ means ‘stop cussing.’ Clean it up. Rid yourself of the “profane adjurations with which men garnish their common talk.” Willie and Ernest never cussed; James 5:12 is one of the reasons.

God, give us honest and clean speech. May we honor You with our words.

ΑΩ

WORD CHOICE. James 4:4-5.

Research says most hear 30,000 words a day, and speak 7,000 words a day with some (like my family!) speaking many more. Stephen King encourages new writers to WRITE 1,000 words a day. That’s 40,000 words a day. That being said, when was the last time you looked up a word to ensure you were using it correctly? (Google “ensure vs. insure,” for example.)

This morning I was trying to remember the difference between ENVY and JEALOUSY. English speakers constantly get it wrong, using the words interchangeably, though they have different meanings.

Envy is when I want what you have: “I envy David who bought a new truck.” Jealousy is when I fear losing what I have: “I am jealous of Brian who studies with my girlfriend.” Another distinction: envy requires two parties, but jealousy requires three. If A fears girlfriend B may begin dating C, then A is jealous of C.

Now that we know they are NOT the same, which word does God use to describe Himself? Jealous or envious?

“For I, the Lord thy God, am a JEALOUS God” Exodus 20:5.

God is jealous; He fears losing us to a third party.

“Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you imagine that the scripture has no meaning when it says ‘God yearns jealously for the spirit that He has placed in us’?” James 4:4-5.

God describes Himself as jealous.

And if jealous, who are the three parties?

(1) GOD is jealous that

(2) HIS CHILDREN

(3) will forsake Him for the WORLD.

The third party is the world. Do you love the world? Are you FLIRTING with the world? Are you spending too much time with the world? You are IN A RELATIONSHIP with God. Your days of courting false gods are over. No more flirting with the gods of this world.

God, thank You for loving us so much that You desire us jealously.

ΑΩ

IMAGINE PEACE. James 4:4-10.

What if we were all on the same side? What if everyone loved everyone, and there was no judgment, no hate? No politics? No right and wrong?

“Imagine there’s no countries. Nothing to kill or die for… Imagine all the people living life in peace…. Imagine all the people sharing all the world.”

Unfortunately, this writer was a dreamer. Consider how he died—murdered on the sidewalk by a fan. But there is nothing wrong with John Lennon’s dream. God put inside each of us a deep sense of what the world SHOULD be. We know we were made for more, for a lost paradise, postponed until Christ completes His work and we live in the paradise of a new earth. Everyone longs for peace. Everyone knows there must be more to this life. C.S. Lewis says that that longing alone proves we were made for something more.

But meanwhile, FACE IT: You do not live in a world of peace. And if you belong to Christ, the world is AT WAR with you. As is the devil. “Do not be surprised, brothers, if the world HATES you.” 1 John 3:3. You have been drafted into a military campaign, a life-or-death battle you did not ask for, but you’re living it—and YOU MUST WIN. How?

Walk with Christ, obeying His word.

“Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God! … But resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites! Be miserable and mourn and weep…. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you.” James 4:4-10.

We are drowning in worldly influences: TV, movies, music, social media, friends, and more. Admit that MOST of the voices you hear every day are the ungodly voices of the world. You are influenced every moment by the voices of lost people outside you—and in your thoughts. They have gotten in and only God’s word can defeat those voices. Study it.

*The picture above is a painting of John Lennon by Iryna Kastsova, 2022. Prints can be purchased online https://www.artsper.com/us/contemporary-artworks/painting/1542282/john-lennon .

ΑΩ