We turn back in your Bibles to
Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. And I've entitled this message
the same as the last two. This is part three of this effects
of inward grace. Effects of inward grace. Now the apostle in this book
We know, has testified, that our complete salvation is by
Jesus Christ, that our justification, our sanctification, our redemption,
our wisdom, our righteousness, everything is done, accomplished
by Jesus Christ and applied to us by the Holy Spirit, by the
power of the Spirit. And he's encouraging these believers
because some had gone in the way of legalism, some had determined
that there was something that was needed to be added to Jesus
Christ. And Paul said this very plainly,
that if you add anything to Christ, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Plain speech. And so several in this congregation
had erred. Several of them had gone that
way. But there had been several who
were steadfast. There were several, there were
many in this congregation who did not err. And Paul says to those who did
not err, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you
free. And so what was the temptation then of those who stood fast? It was to look down on those
who erred. And so in verse 13 he says, Brethren
now, listen, you've been called to liberty. Only use not that
as an occasion to the flesh. And so he begins to talk now
and from verse 13 on he's talking to those who were faithful And he begins by telling us about
an inclusive thing, those that erred and those that have been
faithful. This one thing has happened to
us all. We have been born again of the
Spirit of God, those who erred and repented. And there were
many who would. Paul said, I'm confident that
you He that begun a good work in you shall perform it on the
day of Jesus Christ. He was confident that those who
had erred, believers who had erred, he was confident that
they would return. And when they would return, Paul
would have those that did not err to receive them. How? Even as Christ receives
us. That's how he would receive them.
So he begins by telling us of this warfare. This is what we
went over in the first part of this. That every believer that
is born again has a warfare in themselves. He said that in verse
17. The flesh lusteth against the
spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary,
listen, one to the other, flesh and spirit. These things in every
believer are in constant warfare, constant warfare. And so this,
the apostle is clear concerning this, that every believer has
a new man, a new nature, what we call a new nature. Simply
because we have a new heart, a new mind, and a new will, that
make up what? A nature. And so every believer is born
again of the Spirit of God. Paul says, put on the new man,
which is created, wasn't there before, and now it's created
of God after God, after the very image of God. It's what Paul
Peter calls the divine nature. We are partakers of the divine
nature. And this is what John tells us
in John chapter 5. Let's see, I got it written down,
but I think it's John chapter 5. He says this, Whosoever is
born of God sinneth not. That's astounding because I don't
see anything. I look in the mirror and all
I see is what? Sin. You look at my actions, you follow
me around a little bit, you're going to see nothing but what?
Sin. Yet John says, that which is born of God, sinneth not.
Well, how can that be? He said in the first chapter,
he said, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and
the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Which is it? Well,
it's both. That's how you explain that,
it's both. Because we have a new nature that is created after
God in true wholeness. We also have a sin nature that
we are born with. Therefore, this is the cause
of the struggle that is in every believer. And every believer
can identify with it. I mean, every believer can identify
with this. Is it not true with you that the flesh is always
lusting against the spirit? This morning, are you perfectly
centered and minded on Jesus Christ? I mean, is there? No,
neither am I, and I'm sitting up here preaching it. Why? Because
the flesh seeks to pull me to the earth, to drag me down. The Spirit desires to ascend
into the presence of God and worship Him, praise Him, and
glorify His name. And these two are contrary, and
what's the result? You will not do what you won't
do. Isn't this frustrating? I believe this is exactly what
Solomon said when he's in vanity of vanity. All is vanity in what? Vexation of spirit. It's just
vexation. And so the believer, this is
the work of God in the heart of every believers of warfare.
And then he gives us those works of the flesh. We went over this,
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, various, emulation, wrath, strife, sedition, heresies, envies,
murders, drunken, reveling, and I can list and go on. He's such
like. You got something else you want
to add on there, you can. I cannot stress this enough. Again,
what he's trying to do is he's trying to show this is the effect
of every believer. We recognize those things, not
in everybody else, but in ourselves. Paul's not listing these things
so we can go around saying, aha, Joanne, I see it. That's not
what he's doing. He wants me to see that this
is my flesh. These are things in my flesh
that war against the new man that is in me. And he says this, but. Now they
that do such things, they shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
What does this mean? What is those that we've not
done? We've done all those things. What does he mean by that? He
means this, that if that's all you got, if that's all you are,
don't deceive yourself, you're not going to enter the kingdom
of heaven. Why? Because God's people within the
new man are opposed to these things. Are you opposed to these
things? I am. I'm not opposed to them in you,
I'm opposed to them in me. And so, we don't desire these
things. Do we do these things? Sadly. But these are not the tenor of
our life, this is not all we have. Why? It says, but, look
at this, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. These are the first three we
went over on Wednesday. Love. Every true believer that has
a new nature has love. First of all, love for God. Love
for God. By nature, we are opposed to
God. At enmity against God. But in this new man that we have,
we have a love for God. A real love for Christ. A love that supersedes all other
loves. We love Him above all things.
We love Him. Why do we love Him? What is the
purpose of our love? Why do you love Him? John makes
this clear. We love Him because He first
loved us. He loved us. He loved us in choosing
us. He loved us in predestinating
us under the adoption of children. He loved us by putting us in
Christ, in union with Christ. Christ loved us in that he came
into this world, offered himself a sacrifice for our sins, ascended
to the right hand of God where he now ever lives in love, making
intercession for us. In love He sent His Spirit to
us to give us this new heart, this new mind, this new will
by which we do love Him. Now do you love Him like you
want to? Alright, who has ascended to the heights of love? Anyone? Who wants to? I tell you what, that thing that
happened with Peter, I can fully identify. I'll die with you the
next minute I deny him. And the next minute he comes
to me and says, do you really love me? Yeah. No, no, do you really love
me? Don't say that again. That hurts.
No, do you love me? You know I love you. because
you love me. And the second thing we went
over this is not only do we have to love, we have joy. What is
our joy? Not this circumstance, is it?
That's not joy, that's fleeting. He's had that baby, you are going
to have some wonderful days of joy. But then they just disappear.
They do. Because that's not real joy.
The joy that the believer has is this, the joy of the Lord
is my strength. Not my joy in the Lord, but His
joy is my strength. Why? Because you know what the
joy of God is? It's to save me. And I like this because God's
always happy. He is never not happy. He is
whatever happiness is, okay? I just, I don't have a clue as
to real joy, happiness. I've only given what I'm given
in scripture and in my heart, but yet there's an exceeding
great abundant joy that I have not yet experienced. That's God
always. And he's never disappointed.
You know, why are you not joyful all the time? Because you're
disappointed, aren't you? God's never disappointed, and
you know what his joy is? His joy is to bring me to himself. That's his joy. Matter of fact,
I don't understand this. He sings over me. I remember foolish things we
do. When I was dating my wife, boy,
I sang all the time. You find me a love song and now
I relate it. Singing, singing, singing. How
much deeper is God singing over you? Rejoicing over you. Don't
feel like He's rejoicing over me at times. Does it? Feels like
He's trying to kill me. He's not. He's singing over us. The joy of the Lord. And then
this is what? This is the joy of the Spirit that God gives
us. And peace. Peace. Oh, peace. Every believer has peace with
God. I think we would be free of anxiety and fear if we
could grasp hold of this, that we are at peace with God. There's no warfare between me
and God. And so therefore all the circumstances that are evil,
seen and appear evil, are not evil. Go to Philippians chapter 4. Look at this in verse 7. I said
this Wednesday night, but this was clear to me. I didn't come
up with this and I'm just going to pass it off as my own, alright? Verse 7, he said, the peace of
God with passive understanding. Someone illustrated it like this
when you have little children. Little children, they don't know
the intricacies of how you get your money for food. They don't
know all the problems you face in order to put food on the table.
They don't know the struggles you face to clothe them, to feed
them, to care for them. They only know this, and they're
at peace about it. When dinner time comes, if you
got it, they're going to get it. Every child knows this. Every child that's loved of their
family, their father and mother, they know this. I don't know
where these clothes come from, but I got them, and I'm sure
that they're going to give them to me when I need them. I'm at
peace with that when you're a child. When you're a little child, you
grow up, you start doing these anxious things. But when you're a little
kid, that's just something. It's a peace that you don't have
to understand how these things go. That's the same way with
us. We have a peace, and we don't know how he's going to do it.
We don't know the intricacies of what he's going to do. But
we have a peace that whatever's good for me, he's going to give
it to me. That's a peace that passes understanding.
I don't need to understand. I believe and trust him. This
is the fruit of the Spirit. Do you have that? And he just laid down and said, I trust you. I know that you will do me good. Now, why do we know that? Because
he said he would. He said, I know my thoughts of you, thoughts
for you. Thoughts of what? Peace and not
of evil. He thinks good thoughts towards
us, and this brings us what? This brings us peace. Peace. Now then. That was part one and two. Now we're going to move on to
hear long-suffering, gentleness, goodness. Go back to your text. Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness. And these next three graces are
also a product of the Spirit. They are graces concerning our
relationship toward others. As I said, you have love for
Christ. But there is another aspect of
love, and that is a love we have toward one another. Our Lord gave us that commandment.
Love you one another, and He even told us how we're to do
it. even as I have loved you." Love one another. And these graces,
long-suffering, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, these things are how
we are to treat each other. First of all, long-suffering.
This grace is given to every believer in Jesus Christ so that
we who are in the flesh, who are quick to react, quick-tempered,
easily agitated in the flesh by the offenses of others. Isn't
this true of your flesh? Aren't you easily agitated? Aren't you easily react? somebody come and confront you
and tell you something that's offensive to you, what is your
first reaction? I always tell you your first
reaction, usually your wrong one, is yeah, it's flesh. But now we've been given a new
nature, a new nature by which is produced this word long-suffering,
another word we can use for it is patience. Patience. Patience. And under this grace
we bear under the load of our brethren. We help them to cast off their
burdens. We who are by nature long-suffering
to hold grudges. I tell you, by nature, that's
what we are. We're long-suffering to hold grudges. Hold grudges. We are now given
the grace to not hold grudges, but rather to forgive and forbear. To forbear with our brother in
Christ. Believer, it is good for us to
follow the example of Christ. Isn't that right? Christ is my
Savior. There is no doubt about that.
The things he did, he did to save me. But having been saved,
it is the nature of the new man to desire to follow after him. To not only see him as our hope
and our salvation, but also to see him as our example. Is he
not the best example to follow? Can you think of a better one? In this matter of long-suffering,
can you think of a better example than that of Christ? Who has ever been as long-suffering
as He has? As patient? He was long-suffering,
first of all, with ignorance. Ignorance. His disciples. I mean, we see them as they wrote
the epistles. We see their knowledge and their
wisdom, but before that they were ignorant of a lot of things. And yet consider how He treated
them in their ignorance. Christ did not belittle them, but instead patiently taught
them the same things over and over and over and over again."
What is that but long-suffering? I think it's Mark chapter 4.
Look at this. I'll just give you an illustration of his long-suffering
with them, of their ignorance. Go to Mark 4. I think it is.
Let's see. Yeah, Mark chapter 4. And look
at verse 37. Jesus we know is God manifest
in the flesh. God. God himself was in the boat. And there arose a storm, a great
storm. And the winds beat against the
ship and it was now full. Consider this. The ship was full
of water. Now, do you suppose you'd be
a little afraid? These were experienced sailors,
and they knew something about sinking ships. It was full of water. And yet,
where was Christ? He was in the hinder part of
the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and say, and
the ambassador, carest thou not that we perish? Look at his response. And he
rose and called them a bunch of morons. Don't you know who I am? If I
want this thing to go underwater and get to the other side, I'll
do it." No. What'd he do? He got up and rebuked the wind and the
sea. And he said, Peace be still.
And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. And what'd
he do that for? Did he have to? Do you suppose
the ship would not have made it had they not woke him up and
had he not went out there and said, peace, be still, do you
suppose that ship would have sank? No, but they were ignorant
of who he was. And yet, for their sake, he stopped
the winds and the waves Why? Because he was long-suffering.
He was patient with their ignorance. Patient with them. I remember
one time my son was very little and he was very much afraid of
the dark. Very much afraid of the dark.
And he would tell me, there are eyes under my bed. And I knew there were no eyes there. So I sat down with him and taught
him. And I showed him. And I had to do this over and
over. Why would I do that? I love him. We're to be long-suffering. This
is how he is to our ignorance. Do you know everything? Now listen,
we may know more than some of our brothers. How are we to treat them? Are we to condescend? Are we to bear patiently as our
Lord does with us? Secondly, Jesus Christ was long-suffering. Consider how long-suffering he
was before we believed. Before we believed, Was not our
Lord long suffering with us when we were haters of God and His
righteousness? Was He not patient to bear long
with us to the appointed time of our salvation? Paul says, I'm an example of
that. He said, this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation,
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom
I am chief. And then he tells them that I'm
an example. I was a persecutor of the church,
injurious, a murderer of the saints of God. And yet, even
when I was in that condition, He was long-suffering with me,
was patient with me. Believer, is Jesus Christ still
not long-suffering with you? Is he not longsuffering with
your ignorance? Does he not continually forgive
you, care for you, undergird you with his own strength? Yes. He is constantly longsuffering
for us. Even so, should we be long-suffering
with our brothers, long-suffering and patient with
others. We should seek to help those
who are weak, forgive those who offend us, encourage those who
are naturally prone to melancholy states, encourage them, strengthen
them, be long-suffering with them. Look at Ephesians chapter 4 with
me real quick. Ephesians 4 on this point. Look at verse 1. I therefore the prisoners of
the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the location wherewith
you are called. With all lowliness and meekness
with long-suffering forbearing one another in love. Do you not need that? Do you,
as a believer, not need others to be long-suffering? I think the more we grow in grace,
we understand what you... I understand more what you got
to... and I'm sorry. I'm so thankful for your long-suffering. Therefore, I should be long-suffering
with you. We should bear patiently one
another's faults, one another's ignorances, one another's burdens,
griefs, sorrows, long Suffering. This long suffering that is in
Christ is also seen in our patience and endurance with the sufferings
and trials of this life. How do you endure through these
things? Long suffering has a sense of
endurance, doesn't it? I mean, we understand long is
a duration, but look at this, long suffering. It's not, doesn't
seem to be pleasant, does it? To be long-suffering. It isn't.
It isn't. As we go through this trials
in life, we should be long-suffering. How? How do we be? By looking
to Christ. What is the motivation by which
you should be long-suffering to me? Because of His long-suffering
to you. It is the motivation. Our natural man is prone to avoid
suffering, isn't he? This is why we're not long-suffering
with others, because we don't want to suffer. Natural man is not prone to avoid
suffering. We seek to get out of it as fast
as we can. But the new nature understands
this. The new nature of grace suffers long and is patiently
endures because we suffer, being content that what we are suffering
and what our brethren are suffering is according to the sovereign
hand of God. So if you're enduring a trial,
you're enduring a difficulty, and I am long-suffering with
you, I understand that your trial is because of the sovereign hand
of God. And by the sovereign hand of
God, He gives us the ability then to undergird our brethren,
to support and help one another. And so therefore we trust constantly
as we suffer long in this world, we trust constantly in Christ
to help me. If I'm going to be long suffering
with you, I need His help. If you're gonna be long-suffering
with me, you need His help. You need Him to, not only, you
need Him to do it. That's just all there is to it.
You need His strength to do it. And I'm so thankful He gives
it to you. And therefore, we trust Him.
That song we sing often, have we trials and temptations? Is
there trouble anywhere? Jesus, Savior, still our refuge. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can you find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
He is a faithful high priest, isn't he? If we are able to endure in faith,
we must also bear patiently the cross that is given to us. We
must patiently bear our brethren's burden. Ready? ready to forgive,
ready to teach, ready to encourage. This is going to be truly a weariness
to the flesh, but a joy to the new man. So this is what it is
to be long-suffering. I should preemptively forgive
you. In order to suffer with you, I need to forgive you. We
should be ready to forgive. We should be ready to teach,
patiently teach, patiently instruct, ready to encourage one another. I know our long suffering only
appears to be weak and quick to become discouragement, quick
to lack of compassion and love for others. Therefore, we need
daily to be reminded of His grace and long-suffering. That's how
we endure long-suffering, is being reminded of His long-suffering. It is only the pride of the flesh
that would cause us not to be long-suffering. If we are not
long-suffering with our brethren, it is because of our pride. Nothing
else. If we're not long-suffering with
our brethren, it is because we think too highly of ourselves. This was the temptation of the
Church of Galatia. Those that were steadfast, their
temptation was to not be long-suffering with those brethren. And so it is with us. And believer, let us, like David,
say, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself
because of him that prospereth in the way, because of the man
that bringeth wicked devices. Let us be kind to all men. Let us be especially kind to
the brethren. In this, be a long sufferer. Second is gentleness. Gentleness. The word here in scripture is
translated to be kindness. Kindness. It comes from this root word
that means usefulness. And I'm going to expound on this
because to be kind is not just an affection. It's not just an inward thing. Kindness is only expressed not,
it may start inwardly, but it is not kindness unless it is
worked outwardly. I want to go over this, what
this means. So, when we are in trouble, in
distress, with no means to get out, and I desire to help someone,
I do so with kindness. There are folks who desire to
help, but they attach something to
it. You've met these. I'm sure I'm one of them. Okay, you've
met one. I'll just say that. We want to attach something to
it. I'm going to do something for you, but there's always a
secondary motive behind it. That's not kindness. That's not
kindness. I had this illustration, Terrence
here, I got an illustration of a plumber. If I call a plumber
to fix my sink, He doesn't come out of kindness, does he? No. Because he's doing a service,
he expects payment, and you know what? As the customer, I expect
to have to pay him. And I expect him to do what I
paid him for. Now he may be a kind plumber.
He may be a kind man. But he does this not out of kindness,
but out of an arrangement. And I pay him not out of kindness
but out of arrangement. But what if I was destitute of
means? I had a need. My sink was overflowing. The house was flooding. I had
a need. And then he comes in and has
compassion and sees I don't have anything to pay and he does it. That's kindness. It's not only
the feeling of kindness, it is the act. Both of these are necessary
for this fruit. You see, he then would be useful
to me in such a manner as without me meriting it or earning it.
Even so was the kindness of God is not only purposed our salvation,
the kindness of God not only accomplished our salvation, but
the kindness of God actually applied that salvation. Now what
good would it be to us if God purposed your salvation, if Christ
accomplished it but never applied it? Boy, this is the God of modern
religion, isn't it? The God of modern religion is
that he wants to show you kindness, but he doesn't actually do it.
You have to do something to receive it. That's not the God of this
book. That's not the God we serve.
Our God did purpose kindness. He did actually accomplish our
salvation by the offering and the death of His only Son. But
He also purposed that we should receive that kindness. By the
power of the Holy Spirit, He applied it. So praise be to God that He in
kindness chose us, He in kindness redeemed us, And he, in kindness,
applied this to our heart. In kindness, he raised us from
the dead, not having anything to pay. Isn't that true? What
did you have to pay for such kindness? You had nothing to
pay. Matter of fact, we deserved everything
but kindness. Go to Titus. Titus chapter 3. Look at verse 3. He said, For
we ourselves were sometimes foolishness, disobedient, deceived, serving
divers lust and pleasures, living in malice, envy, hateful, hating
one another. You think we deserve kindness?
Is that kind of That kind of attitude and actions, does that
seem like it merited any kindness? No, but look what God did. But
after that, the kindness of God, kindness and love of God, our
Savior toward men, appeared. not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us." How? By the washing of regeneration,
by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior. That being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
That sounds like kindness to me. That sound like kindness
to you? kindness of God appeared. What
is His kindness? Not by works of righteousness
which we have done. But what? By His mercy He saved
us. How was God kind to you? It was according to mercy, wasn't
it? Mercy! That's the kindness of God that
appeared. Our Savior appeared in mercy.
washing us, regenerating us by the Holy Ghost, shedding abroad
us, not in a meager manner, but abundantly. He shed abroad us
abundantly through our Lord Jesus Christ, but being justified by
His grace, His kindness. You're justified. You know what
that means? It means you're without sin. Well, I mean, when I was a little
kid, I heard this, just as if I'd never sinned. Justified.
Just as if I'd never sinned. That's not what it means. It
means there's no sin. It's not just as if. It's not
pretend. It's real. It's a real justification. God's not winking. Yeah, yeah. That's not what God's doing.
If He's justified, God can't wink at sin. God can't tell me I'm justified
if I'm not justified. Being justified, not by your
works, not by your merit, but out of the kindness of his own
heart, he justified you by his grace. And we should be heirs
according to the hope of eternal life, heirs of God. Join heirs
with Jesus Christ. How much more kind can you be?
Okay, listen to this. Give you an illustration. Go
to San Francisco. There's plenty of people out
there that are destitute that will probably murder you if you
walk down the street. Take him home with you. Clean him up. Make him a son. Give him everything
you've got. All right, who's with me? That's kindness. He didn't just have a feeling
of kindness. He actually lifted me up from
the double heel and made me to sit among princes. And so when the fruit of kindness
comes into our hearts, this is the kindness that we are to have
for each other. not just a sentimental kindness
but actually doing what is useful for everyone, for each one, each
other. Do what is useful. Name somebody in this room that
doesn't have a need. You don't have a need May God give us kindness not
to just find out what other people need, but to actually give them
what they need. That's the fruit of the Spirit. And then when you've done it,
what glory do you get from being kind? What glory do you get from being
long-suffering? Why? Because He has been more
kind to you than you could ever be to anyone else. I know I've gone long again. Look at the last one with me,
please. Goodness. Goodness. This is the virtue of every child
of God. It is our heart's desire to do
good. Good. And yet I know this, in
my flesh dwelleth what? No good thing. For a will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God, through
Jesus Christ my Lord, I'll be delivered from the body of this
death soon. Here's my hope, there is therefore
now no condemnation. Those are in Christ Jesus. That's
my hope. And yet every believer in Christ,
knowing this, knows that the Holy Spirit is giving us a new
nature then that can only do good. So Jesus tells us there
is one good, and that is God, and yet we rejoice because we
are made partakers of the divine nature. Therefore, every believer
has it in their heart to do good works. The apostle says we are created
in Christ Jesus unto what? Good works. Apple tree is going to produce
what? Now believers, as these works
are produced, kindness, as you are kind, as you are long-suffering,
as you love your brother, as you take care of their needs,
what glory do you get for doing good? None. We dare not add our works
to His. but simply praise him for allowing
us to do good things. Good works. The fruit of goodness
is a grace, and we are ready to do it. It is in our hearts.
It is our joy to do it. Why? Because we seek to please
God. Isn't this so? Now look, I'm pleasing to God
only because of Jesus Christ. I know that. Yet it's in my heart
to do those things that are pleasing to Him. To do those things that
are good. What sort of things are pure?
What sort of things are honest? What sort of things... Do those
things! Isn't it just right to do good?
Do good and sin not? Isn't this our heart's desire?
How can I do that? This is how we do good. That
everything we do must be done in faith and love. That's a good
work. That's the only way a good work
is. If you look on something, I remember
I told you this story before about taking out a neighbor's
trash. My believing sister lived next
door to me, and she couldn't take it out, and I was busy,
and she kept hounding me. I said, okay, I'll get up and
do it. And I got in there, got that
trash, and as on my way out, I thought, wow, you know what?
I'm just doing a good, I ruined everything I was doing. No, it's to do it in faith. Why? Because without faith, is
impossible. You want to please God in doing
good works? It must be done in faith, knowing that this work
does nothing to make me more acceptable with God. But I'll tell you what, God makes
them useful. Do you not like when people do
good things for you? Is it not useful? How many times
have you prayed for something? God, help me! And then they're
saying to somebody, what do you need? Well, who put it in his heart
to be there? God did. This is how we're to treat one
another. Long-suffering. Why? Because
he's long-suffering. Kind. Why? Because he's kind. Good. We should be good to him.
Why? He's good. Is he not good to
you? These are the fruits of the Spirit
that these are inward effects of God's people. We desire to
do that which is good. God give us the strength and
love for one another to do good to one another. Even as he has done good. You see how it all refers back
to him? It does. Paul said this, I beseech you
because of the mercies of God. Now why? Why is Paul begging
them? On what grounds is Paul begging
them? Because of the mercies of God.
Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
unto the Lord, which is reasonable. Isn't it reasonable? It is. It's your reasonable service. I pray God will bless this to
your hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Again, I thought I wouldn't have
enough. I pray it's not a burden to you.
I pray God will be gracious to bless it to you. I never intended
to be. Our gracious Father in heaven,
dismiss us with your own blessing. Thank you for these that have
come. I pray you'd bless their hearts and minds. Set our hearts and minds on the
love of Christ so that we might love one another. And do that which is good for
one another. Useful servants. I pray you'd
do it in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen.