Pray with me, please. O gracious and merciful Father,
Lord, we pray that You might draw us by Your Word to Christ,
that You might enable us to see Your love in Christ as we look
to Him dying in our place as our substitute on the cross.
Father, we pray that You might teach us of the gifts that You
have for us in Christ. Lord, we need them abundantly
As we have sung, we pray for more love. Lord, because in ourselves
we're nothing, we need Your love. We need Christ, because in Christ
we have all things. And so teach us, dear Father
of Christ. Cause us to look to Christ. Fill us with the fruit
that enables us to live for You, to serve You, and to glorify
You. For it is in Christ that we've come to You in prayer today.
It is Christ that we have come to worship today. And in His
name we pray, Amen. Open your Bibles please to Galatians
Chapter 5. God's love is so important to
us. It's such a marvelous gift of God that it causes me to wonder
what could we possibly do without God's love. When I think of the
love of Christ, which I see in Christ's death for me, all I
can do is to praise God. I have to praise God for His
love. It's an undeserved love. It's
a freely given love. In Galatians 5 verse 14, Paul
says that all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this. Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I don't know about you, but I'd
like to love God a whole lot more than I do, wouldn't you? I'd like to love my neighbors
at least better than myself. I'd like to love them a whole
lot more than I do, wouldn't you? Look at verses 18-21 of
Galatians 5. I think my problem though is
that I spend too much time looking at myself. Not nearly enough
time looking to Christ. God's love, you see, fills our
hearts when we look to Christ. But we need the leading and guiding
and especially the enabling of the Holy Spirit. In verses 18
to 21 of Galatians 5, Paul says, But if you be led by the Spirit,
you're not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, emulations,
wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like, of the which I tell you before,
as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Oh, dear Father, thank You for
sending us a Savior. But it isn't my intention this
morning to direct Your attention to Yourselves. Not even do I
want to direct Your attention to Your own sin. No, I want to
point You to Christ today. I pray that You would look to
Christ today. The flesh is Much too strong
anyway. We need to look to Christ. I
don't have to direct your minds to the flesh. That kind of happens
naturally, doesn't it? But here in Galatians chapter
5, Paul is making a contrast. It's a very strong contrast between
a life that is lived in our own power, or in the flesh, and a
life that is lived in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
As Paul says in Galatians 5, verses 22 and 23, the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance. Against us there is no law. It's
the fruit of the Spirit. That's what I want to talk to
you about today. That's what I want you to see. It's the fruit
of the Spirit that I pray and that I need in great abundance.
And I'll tell you a secret. The fruit of the Spirit is found
in Christ. You knew that, didn't you? The fruit of the Spirit
is found in Christ and nowhere else. You can't find it in yourself. It's only in Christ. We don't need to look to ourselves
for these fruits because they don't come from ourselves. that
if we're going to enjoy the fruit of the Spirit, we need to look
to Christ. But the Apostle Paul here in
Galatians 5 lists 17 works of the flesh. These 17 works are
products of the carnal or the fleshly mind. And the carnal
and fleshly mind hates God. They are all works which are
produced by the efforts of our hearts and which are at enmity
with the Holy Lord God And all of those who continue in such
works of the flesh must be and forever will be damned. So I'm asking you today to look
to Christ. Look to Christ for all things because if you're
able to see Christ, if you're able to see the love of Christ,
that love of Christ for you, not for the world, but for you,
then the Holy Spirit will fill you with God's love and all of
the other fruits of the Holy Spirit. Oh, what a better way
to live. Looking to Christ. Trusting in
His power. The power of the Holy Spirit.
Rather than living in your own power, your own sinful lusts
and desires. We need the love of God, don't
we? As 1 Peter 4, verse 8 says, Above all things, Have fervent
charity. Charity, of course, is a word
for love. Have a fervent love among yourselves for charity
shall cover the multitude of sins. Do you know how many sins
the love of God can cover? I'm asking a serious question.
Do you know how many sins the love of God can cover? All of
them. That's what I figured you would
say. I was looking for that. All of them. All of them. We don't have to worry about
our sin. We just need to live to Christ. So Paul is telling us about the
fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is produced in, not worked in,
but produced in the heaven-born soul. Not by our work, but by
the almighty grace of God, the Holy Spirit. And notice that
Paul doesn't talk about the fruit of the Spirit as many things.
It's one thing, the fruit of the Spirit. It's not plural.
It's singular. The fruit of the Spirit is a cluster of fruit
like maybe a cluster of grapes which is brought forth in all
of those who are born of God in the new creation by God's
grace. And this fruit of the Spirit isn't spoken about in
that which ought ought to be in the believer, but as that
which is produced in the believer by the Holy Spirit of God. And
Paul isn't setting before us that which is given to some of
us by an extraordinary gift of God. But it is the common, constant
fruit of God, the Holy Spirit, which God gives to all, all who
are born in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is for
all of those who will look to Christ for salvation. In this cluster of fruit, Paul
specifically names nine things which make up the fruit of the
Spirit. They are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, and temperance. But this fruit of the Spirit,
and I'm likening it to an orange, Like an orange, when you peel
it and you eat it, it's divided into sections. In this case,
it's divided into three sections. The first section of the fruit
has a reference to God. The Holy Spirit of God produces
in all believers love, joy, and peace. And it's through love,
joy, and peace that we relate to God. Of course, in Jesus Christ. Then the second section of this
fruit of the Spirit has a reference to our relationship with other
people. Believers are all given long-suffering gentleness and
goodness in Christ, and that's how we relate to other people. And finally, the third section
of the fruit of the Spirit relates to ourselves and to our brothers
in Christ. All of those who know God in
Christ are people of faith, meekness, and temperance. So let's begin
by looking at those gifts which are related to God. All believers
relate to God in love, joy, and peace, which in Christ are gifts
of the Spirit of Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is love. By nature, all men love themselves.
And actually, they love only themselves. Men love other things
like their family and friends and possessions, but only because
those things add to themselves. Although many people are religious,
and being religious they claim to love God, but what they really
love is only their own concept of what they think that God is
or what God ought to be in their own minds. All men by nature
vainly imagine that God exists only to benefit them. This is
a condition of the flesh. And it's a condition that never
changes. In John 3, 6, Jesus said, that which is born of the
flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. And love is a fruit of the Spirit. It's not the fruit of the flesh.
It's the fruit of the Spirit. Love is like faith because love
is a gift of God in Christ. So when a person is born again
by God's grace, along with his new nature, he gains the capacity,
a God-given capacity, to love God and to love God as God is
revealed in the Scriptures and as God is revealed in Christ.
A part of being born again is that all things become new and
so God creates a new character in you and that new character
loves God. He loves God as He really is,
not as the old man that you used to imagine God to be. This newly
born man not only gains the capacity to love God, but he truly does
love God because God has put Christ's love in his heart. It's a sacrificial, It's an unconditional
love that is like Christ's love. In 1 Corinthians 16, verse 22,
Paul said that, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let
him be an anathema maranatha. An anathema maranatha means someone
who is to be sacrificed or destroyed by God because the Lord has come
and we received Him not. And in 1 John 4, verse 19, it
says, we love Him, we love God, because He first loved us. Love
is a gift of God by the Holy Spirit. And all of those who
are born of God love and seek God's glory. This too is part
of the miracle of the new creation in Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5.17
it says, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,
and old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become
new. So because the believer truly loves God, all other loves
are never quite the same. In Christ, he no longer loves
only that which gratifies and exalts his flesh, but he always
has an eye to that which honors God his Savior. All other loves
are made subservient to the love of Christ. Jesus Christ is really
our first love. And when our love for our family
and friends and all others is subservient to our love for God,
then I believe that we are able to love others, and in loving
them, we seek their very best interests in all things. I know,
I think, what you're thinking. This love of mine, you're thinking,
is far from perfect. And that's right. My love is
far, far from perfect. It's not a love which gives me
any reason at all to boast. And yet, this is the true testimony
of every heaven-born soul. We love Him. We love Christ because
He first loved us. We love God, our brothers, with
a love that's from God. It's not a love that's natural
to ourselves. It's the love of Christ which
is given to us by the Holy Spirit. We don't love God as we should
love Him or as we want to love Him or even as we will love Him
when we know Him as we are known. But we really do. love God if
you are a child of God. I don't believe that it is possible
for a man to experience the grace of God in salvation and still
not love the God of all grace. I am very sure of this. It is
not possible for a man to know the saving effect of Christ's
blood in his own soul and not love his gracious Redeemer. It's not possible for a man to
have his heart renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit and
not love the Spirit of life. In spite of our many weaknesses
and our sins and our failures, we do honestly and sincerely
confess, as Peter did, Lord Peter said, Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest I love you. And
if you're a child of God, that's your confession too. We know
also that we would never have loved God if He hadn't loved
us first. The love of God for us precedes
our love for Him. He first loved us. He loved us
before we even had a desire to be loved by Him. He loved us
before we sought His grace and He loved us before we had any
repentance or faith. He loved us before we had any
being. He loved us eternally. Doesn't
Christ say in Jeremiah 31, verse 3, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
I have called thee. He chose us. He redeemed us. And He called us because He loved
us. Not because we deserve to be
loved, but because He loved us. Not only does God's love for
us precede our love for God, But God's love for us is the
cause of our love for Him. We love Him because He first
loved us. Our hearts are so hard and our
wills are so stubborn that we would never have loved the Lord
if He hadn't intervened and conquered us with His love. In the midst
of our sin and corruption, Christ passed by and behold, it was
the time of love. He revealed His great love for
us in Christ. And as we beheld the crucified
Christ dying in our place for our sin, the love of God conquered
our rebellious hearts. Trusting Christ as our only Savior,
we are compelled by love to love Him because He first loved us. Then the fruit of the Spirit
is joy. Believers possess and enjoy a
gladness of heart, a joy about which the world doesn't know
anything about. Unregenerate men enjoy the pleasures
of sin for brief seasons, but their pleasure is a misspent
and a transient happiness. It's a happiness that comes and
goes as their feelings change. But the believer's joy is based
on something that is much more substantial than that. Our real
joy doesn't come from ourselves or from what we do. It's the
joy of Christ. We rejoice in the Lord and so
that joy affects everything that we say and do. Even our sadness
isn't sad because our joy is in Christ. As Paul said in Philippians
4.4, Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. And
with Habakkuk we sing, Although the fig tree shall not blossom,
neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the oil shall
fail, and the field shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut
off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.
And yet, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of
my salvation. No matter what my circumstances,
my joy is in Christ. And so having no confidence in
the flesh, we rejoice in Christ Jesus. And like Job, when he
lost everything, he still blessed the name of the Lord because
the object of his love, the joy, was God his Savior, not himself
or what God had given him. It was only when Job feared that
the Lord had turned His back on him that horror and despair
cast their ominous shadow over Job's soul. This kind of joy
is natural to any natural man. To love this way and to have
this kind of joy is the gift and the fruit of the Holy Spirit
of God in Jesus Christ. And the fruit of the Spirit is
peace. We have peace with God when we are reconciled to God
by the death of His Son. And peace from God rules in our
hearts by the Prince of Peace. And the peace of God is ours
because the Spirit of God has spoken peace to our hearts, giving
us the faith of Christ. Though we are by nature like
the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire
and dirt, by the gift and the grace of God the Spirit, we are
as lambs under the ever-watchful eye and on the potent care of
the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is our peace. But although our sin is ever
before us, we have peace in our consciences, knowing fully well
that all of our sin and guilt is forever put away by the sin-atoning
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though at times the weight of
the world and its care crushes in on our souls, But still we
have peace of mind, casting all our care on Him who cares for
us. And when God gives us peace in
our hearts, causing us to be fully satisfied and delighted
with Him, knowing that He is fully and forever satisfied and
delighted with us in His Son, who has washed away our sin in
His own blood and robed us with His own perfect righteousness,
then we have peace in Christ. And when our time on earth is
finished, like Simeon of old, we will depart this body of flesh
in peace, having our eyes fixed on Christ, our salvation. And
in that day we will lay down in peace and sleep. For Thou,
Lord, only makest us to dwell in safety, as Psalm 44, verse
8 says. And so all believers, have created
in them by God love and joy and peace by which we relate to God. And then the next section of
this fruit has reference to one another because in Christ we
are given long-suffering, gentleness, and goodness. Now that's not
the way we always are We are when we're still in the
flesh. And we don't sometimes get better. But take your eyes
off of yourself and look to Christ. Because only in Christ can you
have long-suffering gentleness and goodness with others. And
you'll see that the fruit of the Spirit is long-suffering.
God the Holy Spirit, when He creates life and faith in our
souls, also gives us long-suffering. He teaches us to be long-suffering. Not that we like it, but God
gives us the patience to endure trials from our Heavenly Father
and troublesome, irksome things in this world which are done
by others to us. Grace when it's experienced in
the soul makes saved sinners slow to anger and ready to forgive. Grace causes people who are by
nature easily offended and quick to retaliate to patiently bear
affronts and be forbearing with those who offend us. Turn please
in your Bibles to 1 Peter 2, verses 21-25. Our Lord Jesus
is more than an example for us to follow. Everything that He
did in life, He did in obedience to the Father as our mediator
and representative. Christ worked out perfect righteousness
for us, and everything that Christ endured in death, He endured
as our substitute to satisfy the justice of God for us. Christ
is our example of longsuffering. We praise God for our Savior,
but we should never forget that in all of His life and in His
death, our blessed Savior is also our example. We are told
in 1 Peter 2, verses 21-25, For even hereunto were ye called. We are called to suffer. Hereunto
were you called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving
us an example of suffering. That we should follow His steps.
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Who when
He was reviled, reviled not again. And when he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously,
who his own self bore our sin in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness, by whose
stripes we are healed. For ye were as sheep going astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. If you were to ask me, what is
longsuffering? I would say, if you want to know,
look to Christ. Christ is the very embodiment
of longsuffering. When His disciples displayed
an utter ignorance of the things that He had taught them, He patiently
taught the same truths again and again. When they were filled
with unbelief and fear, He showed them their foolishness, not by
belittling them, but by removing the cause of their fear. Even
when they forsook Him, and they all did, He didn't abandon them. No, just like the Good Shepherd
that He is, just as soon as Christ was risen from the dead, He began
seeking His scattered sheep, And when Peter was ashamed to
come to Him, our Savior sent His messengers to Peter to tell
Peter that he would meet Him in Galilee. Oh, how great our
Savior's long-suffering was towards us. Throughout the days of our
rebellion, with every breath and every deed, we spewed out
our hatred against Him. But His long-suffering was our
salvation. We scoffed at Him, but Christ
was long-suffering to us. We blasphemed Him, but Christ
was long-suffering to us. We despised His blood and His
righteousness, but Christ was long-suffering to us. As bad
as that is, in all of the days of our lives, even since He snatched
us as brands out of the burning, out of the very jaws of hell,
by His omnipotent and long-suffering mercy. Just think how we have
sinned and how we continue to sin against Him. And yet He knows
our frame. He remembers that we are dust.
And He refuses to deal with us after our sins or to reward us
according to our iniquities. I think this is what Paul means
when he talks about long-suffering. God the Holy Spirit makes chosen,
redeemed, called sinners long-suffering. Yet, as with our love, joy, and
peace towards God, our long-suffering with one another in this world
is such a horrible, short-temperedness that it must be bathed in the
blood of Christ, robed in His righteousness, and forgiven by
His grace. And yet, God's saints are a people
who are patient and long-suffering with one another. And I think
you know that God has made you that way with me anyway. God has made you that way with
me. And the fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. Long-suffering
is accompanied with gentleness, kindness, and courtesy. This
gentleness is seen in our attitudes towards others, in our speech
to and about others, and in our treatment of others. This too
is exemplified in the gentleness of Christ. Gentleness is a mild, peaceful,
moderate spirit who is bestowed on those who are made partakers
of the divine nature. It's the Spirit of Christ, our
Savior, and the Spirit He gives by His grace by which fallen
men are made to be men, and wise." Great men and wise. As David
said to Christ his Savior in Psalm 1835, Thou hast also given
me the shield of Thy salvation, and Thy right hand has held me
up, and Thy gentleness has made me great. And in James 3.17 it
says, But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, than
peaceable, gentle, and easy to be treated, full of mercy and
good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy." Christ
is the shield of our salvation. He is the hand that holds us
up. He is the gentleness that makes His people great and full
of mercy and good fruits without partiality or hypocrisy. And then the fruit of the Spirit
is goodness. Goodness is a readiness to do
good, particularly a readiness to do good to and for one another. And yet the Apostle Paul, writing
as a believer, said in Romans 7 verse 18, I know that in me,
that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. You see, goodness
isn't in us by nature. There is none good but God, our
Master declares. God alone is good, infinitely
good, immutably good, and perfectly good. Fallen man is not good. Fallen man is bad. And there
is no possibility of any man doing that which is good. Any
unbelieving man. As God says in Psalm 14 verse
3, There is none that doeth good, no, not one. But still, when
God the Holy Spirit and forms His mighty operations of grace
in chosen, redeemed sinners, He makes them to be people whose
lives are marked by goodness. But any goodness that is found
in us, or any goodness that is performed by us, is God's work
in us, which is the fruit of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Turn
to 1 John 1, verse 8, please. What is this goodness which is
the fruit of the Spirit? How is it revealed in us? Is
there ever any act which was formed by or even a thought in
the heart of a believer which is truly and absolutely good
and pure and perfect and righteous and worthy of God's acceptance?
The answer to that, of course, is no. There is no such good
act. Both the Scriptures and an honest
examination of our own life experience, at least in my examination of
my life, compels me to acknowledge that there is no good thing in
me, and I suggest there is no good thing in any of us. In 1 John 1, verse 8, the Apostle
says that if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.
and the truth is not in us." Or in other words, the Spirit
of Christ, who is truth, is in us, not in us naturally. And
then in verse 10 it says, if we say that we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar. We make God a liar. And His Word
is not in us. First His Spirit is not in us,
and now His Word is not in us. Turn to 1 John 3 and verse 9.
So then, in our old nature, We are nothing but sin. There is
no good in us at all, naturally. So how then can the fruit of
the Spirit in us be called goodness? Well, in 1 John 3 verse 9, God
tells us that, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for
his seed remaineth in him. And he cannot sin because he
is born of God. Now turn to Matthew 25 and verses
31-46. Goodness is that indwelling grace
of God, the indwelling grace of God's Holy Spirit, that attribute
of divine nature, not our nature, but divine nature, by which we
are made partakers in the new birth, which inclines believers
to acts of goodness to others. It isn't so much what we do,
but what God does in us. There's a lot of talk. I'm sure
you've all heard it. In the religious world, there's
a lot of talk about good works. But as good works are defined
by men, good works are measured by the observance of various
rules of conduct. Usually, they relate to dress
and diet all outward appearance. But in the Word of God, good
works are always connected with acts of brotherly love and kindness
and self-denial and sacrifice such as visiting the sick and
feeding the hungry and helping the needy. I hope you've turned
to Matthew 25 because in Matthew 25, verses 31-46, Jesus is speaking
and He said that when the Son of Man shall come in His glory,
and all the angels with him. Then shall he sit upon the throne
of his glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations. And he shall separate them one
from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand,
Come, ye blessed of my Father, Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Here's the goodness. For I was hungered and you gave
me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger
and you took me in. Naked and you clothed me and
I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came
unto me. And then shall a righteous answer those who are righteous
in Christ. They'll answer Him saying, Lord, When saw we thee
hungered and fed thee? Or thirsty and gave thee drink?
And when saw we thee a stranger and took thee in? Or naked and
clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in
prison and came unto thee? And the King shall answer, that's
King Jesus, shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto
you, inasmuch as you have done and unto the least of these, my brethren, you have done it
unto me. Then shall he say unto them on
the left hand, depart from me, you cursed. Depart in the everlasting
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry
and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty and you gave me
no drink. I was a stranger and you took me not in. Naked and
you didn't clothe me. Sick and in prison and you visited
me not. Then shall they also answer unto
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungered, or thirst, or
a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did minister
unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did not, you didn't do
it unto one of the least of these, you didn't do it unto me. And
these shall go away into everlasting punishment. But the righteous,
those who are righteous in Christ, into eternal life. I'll turn
to James 2 verses 14-26. The key here is to understanding
these verses is where do we get our righteousness?
The key is not in what we do. The key is where do we find our
righteousness? Not from ourselves, but from Christ. Good works are
works which are acceptable and well-pleasing to God. And that
only happens when they're done in Christ. Good works are the
works of faith. They are works by which the faith
of Christ is shown. Good works are never spoken of
in Scripture except as a manifestation of faith. If faith without works
is dead, then what are works without faith? We can only do
good works by the faith of Christ. In James 2, verses 14-26, it
asks, What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he
has faith and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother
or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you
say to them, Depart in peace, be warmed and filled, notwithstanding
you gave them not those things which are needful to the body,
What does it profit? Even so, faith, if it hath not
works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast
faith, and I have works, and show me thy faith without thy
works, and I'll show you my faith by my works. Thou believest that
there is one God? Thou doest well. The devils also
believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified
by works when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest
thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith
made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled
which said, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto
him for righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. You
see then how by thy works a man is justified, not by faith only. Likewise was not Rahab the harlot
justified by works when she had received the messengers and had
sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit
is dead, so faith without works is dead also." Let me say it
again. A good work is a work done by
faith. It's faith which arises from
and is connected with the faith of Christ. without which it is
impossible to please God, as it says in Hebrews 11.6. Our
good works are acceptable and well-pleasing to God only in
Christ, and only because we are one in Christ, who alone, Christ
alone, is our righteousness. Ephesians 4, verse 32 says, And
be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. In Ephesians 5, verses 1
and 2, it says, Be therefore followers of God as dear children,
and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given
himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet-smelling savor. And then in 1 Peter 2, 5, it
says, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house,
a holy priesthood." Why? To offer up spiritual sacrifices. I emphasize the word sacrifices.
Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. That's how they're made acceptable
in Christ and only in Christ. You see, Christ is our righteousness. And He makes what we do out of
our love for God acceptable. Our motivation for good works
is the faith of Christ. And we trust Christ to make our
works good works. So it is that by the fruit of
the Spirit, with reference to God, all believers have created
in them love, joy, and peace. And with reference to one another,
all of God's people are given long-suffering, gentleness, and
goodness. And with reference to ourselves and to our brothers,
in Christ, all who know God are people of faith, meekness, and
temperance. The fruit of the Spirit is faith.
And as Paul uses the word faith here, it's referring not so much
to our faith in Christ, though I think that's included, as it
does to our faithfulness as believers in all things. In other words,
Paul is saying the fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness. The one
thing that God requires of all of those who serve Him as stewards
in His house and kingdom is faithfulness. And when God the Holy Spirit
makes sinners the willing servants of Christ, He makes them faithful. He makes them faithful by giving
them the faith of Christ. There is nothing more admirable
in our God and Savior than the fact that He abideth faithful,
as 2 Timothy 2.13 says. and there is nothing more admirable
in God's children than faithfulness. Believers are people who are
faithful by the faith of Christ, which works in them to make them
faithful to God, faithful to His Word, faithful
to His glory, faithful to one another, and faithful in their
lives. This faithfulness certainly includes
dependability, but many people are dependable in their responsibilities
who have no knowledge of the eternal God at all. The faithfulness
is more than that. This is an inward principle of
grace. It's an inward heart fidelity to Christ by which
the lives of God's saints are regulated in this world. And
the fruit of the Spirit is meekness. With regard to meekness, as with
all other spiritual matters, it must be stated, and I think
it needs to be clearly understood, that the opinions of unregenerate
men are exactly opposite to the teachings of Holy Scripture.
They are always opposite to the teachings of Holy Scripture.
Meekness isn't a weakness of character that makes men useless
wimps. We read in Numbers 12 verse 3
that the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were
upon the face of the earth. But I'm very confident that if
anybody ever asks Pharaoh for an example of meekness, Moses
would not be the man that Pharaoh thought about. My understanding
of meekness from James 3, verses 7 and 8, and we're not going
to turn there, but I hope maybe you'll look at it later. My understanding
from James 3, verses 7 and 8, is that meekness is that rebellious
spirit in a man which had been tamed by God. Meekness is that
attitude of the heart which God creates in His elect by the Holy
Spirit in giving the gift of faith which causes believing
souls to be at ease in this world. Where the Prince of Peace reigns,
then meekness reigns. Meekness is that frame of mind,
that disposition of the soul in believing men and women that
arises out of a recognition of the fact that we are sinners,
that we are forgiven and accepted by God in Christ, and that we
belong to God our Savior. We belong to God our Savior. We are His property, His children,
and His servants for Him to do with just as He pleases. If that
is our attitude, then that's meekness. And it comes to us
only in Christ. This meekness is a gift of God
which makes believers humble before God and men. We know that
we are nothing but sinners. we know that we are only saved
by grace and so that knowledge causes us to walk humbly with
our God and to be gracious to one another. But at the same
time, meekness, and I mean true meekness, gives people backbone. It causes men and women as the
children and servants of God to be bold and courageous and
faithful because they know that He who is God is indeed our God
and Father. As David said in Psalm 27 verse
1, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Most everyone thinks of the man
Jesus Christ as a man of weakness. Weakness, not meekness, but weakness.
But they call it meekness. But our Lord Jesus was truly
meek. In meekness, he voluntarily bowed to his Father's will. and
he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
In meekness, Christ drove the money changers out of the temple.
In meekness, he set his face as a flint to go up to Jerusalem. In meekness, he denounced the
pretentious hypocrites, the most highly respected religious leaders
of the day. In meekness, Christ called idolaters
idolaters, and adulterers adulterers, and self-serving politicians,
he called them foxes. In meekness, He cast out the
prince of this world and triumphantly conquered death and hell and
the grave in His sin-atoning death. And in the Holy Spirit
of Christ makes God's people meek when they are in Christ,
bold as a lion, but meek as lambs in Christ. And the fruit of the
Spirit is temperance. Temperance is self-control or
control from within. Without question, temperance
is seen in the control of our appetites and in the moderation
of our eating and drinking. But there is much, much more
to temperance than self-discipline or self-control. When God the
Holy Spirit comes in saving power, Christ sets up His throne in
the hearts of saved sinners, and He makes them kings. As 1
Peter 2.5 says to believers, you also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And then skipping to verse 9,
it says, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth the
praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light. And in Revelation 1.6, John says
that Christ has made us kings and priests unto God, His Father.
And to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. And in
Revelation 20, verse 6, John says, Blessed and holy is he
that hath part in the first resurrection. On such, the second death has
no power. But they shall be priests of
God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. Kings
are men who reign. And the Lord Jesus reigns within
the hearts of his people, giving them dominion over their passions
and over the world around them and even over death. so that
all who are born of God live in this world in temperance,
being controlled not by the things around them, but by Christ who
reigns within them. This fruit of the Spirit is altogether
contrary to nature. It's not something produced by
us, but something produced in us by God the Holy Spirit. It's
the result of the new birth. It's the gift of faith in Christ
and by the indwelling Spirit of God. If it is ours, it's ours
only by grace. It is the fruit found in every
believer. In some, it's newly planted seed
in the heart. In others, it's a mature fruit.
But in none of us is this fruit perfect. But it is present in
all of us if we are in Christ and if we are ruled by Christ. It was about this fruit of the
Holy Spirit that John Gill wrote It may be observed that these
fruits of the spirit are opposed to the works of the flesh. So
love is opposed to hatred, joy to emulations and envy, peace
to variance, strife and seditions, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness
and meekness to wrath and murderers, faith to idolatry, witchcraft
and heresies and temperance to adultery, fornication and uncleanness,
lasciviousness, drunkenness and revelings. And God says, against
such there is no law. No law but the law of love. Obviously,
the fruit of the Spirit, this fruit of the Spirit, is in full
agreement with God's law. To practice such things is to
love serve one another. But Paul's declaration here doesn't
refer to the fruit of the Spirit, but to those in whom this Spirit
is found. to those who walk in the Spirit, to those who are
born of God, and to those who are lived by the faith of Christ.
Paul is saying, there is therefore now no condemnation to them who
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the Spirit, not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit. The works of the flesh and those
who live after the flesh are under the curse and condemnation
of the law. But if you're led by the Spirit,
you're not under the law. in how I pray that it would be
true of all of us and that we all might look to Christ in whom
we pray. Amen.