We differ in conduct; in quality we are all alike. From Adam to the latest soul we are all of human nature. The same weaknesses, tendencies, good and bad possibilities, are our common lot and heritage. Considered as human beings, without God's special interference, we are simply men in the flesh. And the flesh does its works, which are described in Gal. 5:19 ff. The times, circumstances, and amount of pressure determines, humanly speaking, which wrongs we do, how gravely and how often we sin. If providentially (barring the special influence of the gospel) by early training, by good surroundings, by restraint of civil law and public opinion, we are kept from the grossest sins, we may well be thankful, for this is a great advantage. But to have been so restrained and prevented does not make us intrinsically better. The evil is there. The outward barriers removed, it will manifest itself. The flesh is the flesh for evermore. The mind of the flesh is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. And they that are in the flesh can not please God.

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