In the book of Galatians there are seventeen sins listed as works of the flesh. But there are obviously many more works of the flesh which could be enumerated, so the apostle Paul simply summarized by saying "and such like." God wants his people to be separate from these, and all other sins. God expects His people to be holy. We read in Hebrews 12:14, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Concerning those who obey the gospel and then return back into the world Peter says, "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire" (II Peter 2:20-22).

The seventeen sins enumerated by Paul are as follows:

"Now the works of the flesh 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" (Galatians 5:19-21).

We should take special care to note the penalty for committing such sins. Paul says, "that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (verse 21). Oh, how sad it will be on the day of judgment when those in the Lord's church who returned to the world are separated from God forever. We read in Revelation 21:27, "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."