Morning. All right, we're going
to be in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, looking
at verse 12. Now, what I want to do with you
is look at a life or death difference. That is a living soul versus
a dead one. One that produces fruit and one
that does produce no living fruit. And I want to look at this in
understanding what Paul meant when he spoke about those who
gloried in appearance and had no heart. They gloried in appearance
but had no heart. Let's look at verse 12 there,
2 Corinthians 5, 12. For we commend not ourselves
again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf
that ye may have somewhat to answer them which, and this will
be our text, which glory in appearance and not in heart. And our title
is Appearance Versus Heart. And we'll just have two points.
First, we're going to look at this difference And then we'll
look at some examples of how the gospel informs our heart,
how the gospel brings forth fruit from us and works this in the
heart of believers. Last week we had a message that
was titled, To All Who Seek a Proof. And it was also from 2 Corinthians
13, 5. And we were looking at the first
question which we asked of ourselves, am I in the faith? And by faith, the faith that
we're talking about, am I in this faith? What we're speaking
of is, am I made righteous by the Lord Jesus Christ apart from
any works in me? That's what we were looking at,
is how is a sinner made righteous and accepted of God? And we're
told in the scriptures throughout, and we'll look at one, that God's
children, in Romans 3, 24, are justified freely. freely by God. God justifies
us freely, which means without any works, without any payment
from us, God justifies his people by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. Now, many know this truth. Many know that this is what the
scriptures declare and they can articulate, they can speak to
this and define this doctrine. They can even quote the scriptures
that support that God justifies his people freely. and justifies
them, making them righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ so that
they know and they can confess and say that salvation is of
the Lord. Salvation is not of man's works,
it's of the Lord. And what I'm getting at is Pharisees
and people in religion, they can speak from a head knowledge. They can speak from a head knowledge.
have what is an appearance that they believe these things and
because they can speak of these things. But the Lord's people,
we're told in the scripture, the Lord's people, they speak
from a heart knowledge. They speak from an experience
of this grace in their heart. This is something that God gives
them that It can't be by my works. It can't be by anything I've
done because I'm dead in this flesh. I can't produce the righteousness
that God requires, that he requires of me to receive me. I have to
be perfect, and he convinces us of that. So it's a hard work. Now I'm going to quote from Romans
10, or we'll read from Romans 10, verses 9 and 10. And as I
read this, listen for the heart work, listen for the work that
the Lord does in the heart here. This is Romans 10, and I'll read
verses nine and 10. Paul says that if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, all right, for confessing
he's my righteousness, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. for with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation." We were looking at Abraham this
morning. We know Abraham believed and
it was counted unto him for righteousness. That is Abraham believed God
concerning righteousness, that our righteousness is the very
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And so Christ in us leads us
to confess this before men. Even at the risk of personal
harm and personal loss, He leads us to confess this. This is our
confession that He's all my hope, all my righteousness, God is
to receive me, it's going to be in the person and washed in
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ because my works don't measure
up. They're not doing it for me. Now, man can confess Christ. Man can confess Christ from a
legal standpoint, he can speak of him that he is the Christ
sent of God, and he can confess that, especially if he's in a
circle of people that it benefits him to confess it, right? Man
can learn to say the right things in the right situation. We do
it often, right? And even at work, you can put
on an appearance of things. So we can do it in many different
ways. make an appearance of things, but that doesn't mean that our
heart has an understanding of it. That doesn't mean that we
rest in the Lord Jesus Christ for our righteousness and our
salvation. Now look, here's another verse
I'll read, which is Luke 16 verse 15. It says, and he said unto
them, ye are they which justify yourselves before men, this is
Christ speaking, but God knoweth your hearts, for that which is
highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."
And so he's showing that God knows the heart of us. He knows
what's going on in our hearts, and he knows whether we believe
him or not. It reminds me actually of when
the Lord was talking to Peter after his resurrection, and he
asked him, Peter, lovest thou me? Lovest thou me more than
these?" And he asked him three times. And finally, Peter said,
Lord, thou knowest. I mean, I can't stand here and
boast and glorify myself as though I'm some champion of loving my
God as he deserves and is worthy of it. Lord, thou knowest. I
have nothing but you. Where else can I go, Lord? So
the Lord knows our hearts, right? So, man, has a need. One man has a need born out of
a broken and a contrite heart. The Lord reveals to his people
what they are so that one confesses Christ because he's broken. He
sees what a sinner he is. He sees what an offense he is
to God. He sees his need that even after
the knowledge of God and the glory of God being revealed to
him, we still see our weakness and the infirmity in this flesh. We still know what it is. And so that one who has a broken
and a contrite heart, a heart made sad by their actions and
their thoughts and their deeds and what they do, that one begs
for mercy and continues to cry out to the Lord, Lord have mercy
on me, a sinner. And we have plenty of evidence
in the scriptures where there were those in the church that
became puffed up and thought they had arrived and had achieved
a certain level of goodness before men so that they were puffed
up in that. They were lifted up in themselves
and Paul warned them, if any man thinks he stands, let him
take heed lest he fall. Because pride is always that
great stumbling block that goes before a fall, where we're humbled
before God and brought low, which if the Lord does it, it's a chastening,
it's a mercy. for us to be brought low. But then there's others that
speak and confess out of a doctrinal understanding, and they may be
able to say things very well, but it's from a doctrinal understanding,
but they have no sight of their sin, but in a doctrinal sense.
Oh yes, I know I'm a sinner, and this is what the scriptures
say, but they don't feel it. There's no brokenness and contrite
contrition in their heart. Now this is why we can see in
Luke 18, I'm gonna look at a couple verses there, this is where we
have the Pharisee and the Publican. And the Lord tells us that both
the Pharisee and the Publican went up to the temple and prayed
to the Lord, but only one went home justified. All right, now
it says in Luke 18 verse 11, Our Lord says, the Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. Now, if we're just looking at
the appearance of things, many of us would look at the Pharisee,
who's neither an extortioner, nor an unjust, or an adulterer,
person, and they would fellowship with that Pharisee. They would
say, well, this man on the external does things that are right. You
know, and I was thinking, actually, I'll read it real fast, in 1
Corinthians 5, 12, you know, Paul says, for what have I to
do to judge them also that are without? That's not it. Verse 11, but now I have written
unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother
be a fornicator, or even an adulterer, right? Or a covetous, or an idolater,
or a rattler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner. with such
in one know not to eat." And here's this Pharisee saying,
I'm not an extortioner. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not
these things. I'm not unjust. And so if we
just look at the surface of it, we'd be tempted, I'm going to
sit with that man. And then here's this publican
who's saying, Lord, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner." And just going
by the appearance, we would sit with the Pharisee and not sit
with the publican who's confessing, Lord, I'm a sinner. And you know,
the Pharisee's problem is that Getting drunk is a sin. It's
wrong. We're not to get drunk. It can lead to many other sins
and the Lord tells us. But what the Pharisee doesn't
see as an example is that he's drunk with the spirit of the
age. He's drunk with the wine that the Whore of Babylon pours
from her goblet. He's drunk with thinking that
by his righteousness he's arrived. He's good and God accepts him
because he has the appearance you know, doing what's right,
but doesn't see how he's drunk with the spirit of the age. He's
drunk with foolishness and thinking that's his salvation, okay? But
the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as
his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God
be merciful to me, a sinner. And so, one exalted himself saying,
I'm not a sinner, and the other one was humbled before God and
confessed, Lord, I am a sinner. Have mercy on me, Lord. I can't save myself. I need the
salvation you've provided in your son Jesus Christ. And the Lord tells us it was
that publican, that sinner that went home justified before God. And so that doesn't mean that
extortioners and unjust and adulterers please God. They don't. God tells
us that's sin. Don't do those things. Not at all. But the Pharisee
doesn't see how even though he's not doing them in form and in
practice, they're in the heart. We have a heart problem. We are
sinners in our heart. And the law is exceeding broad
and exposes what sinners we are so that we can. The Lord won't
let us as his people hold on to any righteousness and come
to him worshiping him on that basis. On that basis, I've been
there when I was a teenager and did many foolish things and the
Lord convicted me and I stopped those things and I was confident
for a time that now I could come to God and worship him because
those things were fixed. And the Lord stripped me thankfully,
didn't leave me there and stripped me of all that self-righteousness.
and brought me to nothing because he's not gonna receive us on
our own works of righteousness that we've done. He's faithful
to remove that pharisaical hard-heartedness and break us so that we have
a soft heart and are sad, you know, contrition. There's a sadness
where we call out to the Lord for mercy and so The publican,
however, knows that he's those things and more. Even if he's
not doing them in practice, we know in my heart, I'm a sinner. I'm capable of doing any of those
things. And yet it's the Lord who delivers me, who cleanses
me of my sin, and it's Him that's keeping me, and cleanses me,
and has forgiven me for the things I do commit, and the things I
think, and the things in my heart. He's the one who has to put it
all, all away, alright? So, that's one of the differences
that we see there. So the root of our problem, as
sons and daughters of Adam, we'll all come forth, dead. And this flesh is dead in trespasses
and sins like we saw with Abraham this morning. He's dead. His
body was dead. Abraham's womb was dead. We can
bring forth no fruit, no righteousness unto God. All our salvation is
of the Lord. So it's a heart problem. We're
all heart sinners, and therefore we need the Lord to save us. And not everyone believes that.
Like Paul said, not all men have faith. Not everyone has faith.
So the Lord's got to reveal that to us. So for that cause, we
preach the gospel. We declare the gospel of faith. And that's to declare to sinners
because we're hard of hearing it and we struggle to hear it,
we declare this gospel of faith because we're declaring that
the sinner's righteousness is of the Lord Jesus Christ, apart
from any works. It's his work. He's the one who
saves us. And we declare it because this
is the grace that we've experienced. This is what God has shown us.
We all you know, had our participation in religion and the Lord still
teaches us this to this day, right? We still need to hear
it and be reminded of His grace and mercy because it's the Lord
that ministers this in our hearts by His Spirit, causing us to
hear it. James said it this way in 118,
of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So, not all creatures
of the flesh are born of the spirit, right? But his people
aren't just of the flesh, but we also have that spiritual nature
that he's born in us, created in us, formed in us, whereby
we hear his word and receive his word and follow him by that
spirit. So, one of the other things I
was just thinking of, you know, when reflecting on that message,
I just wanted to say that, you know, religion will teach us,
and we'll hear it for a time, religion will teach us that preaching
the gospel of Jesus Christ is not sufficient, that it's dangerous,
that it's not sufficient, and that they'll equate that. Religion
will teach you, don't do that, because you're planting tears
in God's garden of wheat. If you just focus on grace, and
you just focus on what Christ has accomplished for us, you're
going to be planting tears in that garden of God's wheat field.
And don't hear that. That's what religion says. Christ,
what they're saying is you need to preach law. You need to preach
that law in an instructive way and that'll produce we. But that's
not the truth. That's not what the gospel reveals
to us. He reveals to us that Christ
gives life. Christ is one that produces wheat
in his people. He's the one that produces the
wheat field. When we preach the law, if I were to stop and start
preaching law to you, that's a direct way to preaching a field
of tares, because the law, we know, never gives life. The law
doesn't bring forth life. The law shows you this is perfection. This is holiness, this is perfection. Do this and live. If you do this,
you are righteous. But it doesn't give you any help
to work towards that righteousness. It doesn't give you any strength
or ability to bring forth righteousness. It just says, this is it, so
that we as sinners look at it and say, whoa, I'm way off. I'm a sinner. But we can't fix
that. There's no fixing, right? If
we could have fixed it, God would have given us a law whereby we
would have made ourselves righteous. But Christ came because there
is no law that makes us righteous. So who makes us righteous? Who
brings forth the fruit? Who grows the wheat? It's Christ. So just remember that as a background. Christ is the one that gives
life. In Galatians 2.17 it says, but if while we seek to be justified
by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners. We are accused
by legalists of being sinners. While we seek to be justified
by Christ, we're found or accused to be accused of being sinners
by legalists. Is therefore Christ the minister
of sin? Absolutely not. He says, God
forbid. Strongest language he could use,
God forbid. No, we're not ministers. No,
Christ isn't a minister of sin. That's why I say he's not the
one planting the tares. When we declare Christ, he's
not planting tares in the field. That's the enemy that does that.
The enemy plants tares in the field. Will there be people that
are not believers that come in under grace? Sure. Absolutely. There's people that like in the
flesh, that like the sound of grace. And so, yeah, they could
be planted, but that's not Christ planting them. That's the enemy
that plants them in among the Lord's people. Alright? So, we
preach Christ, and he's the one that brings forth the fruit,
not the Lord. forth fruit. The law just says,
here it is, here's the line, meet it perfectly without fail. And that's all it does. It shows
us what sinners we are and what the punishment of sin is. All
right, now returning back to the appearance versus heart.
Go over to Galatians 6. Galatians 6. Paul speaks of more
of this appearance versus the heart. And go to Galatians 6.12. He says, as many as desire to
make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. In Paul's day, this was the popular
in route with the law. This is their angle that they
took. They constrain you to be circumcised
only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ. And so Paul's focus, as we know,
was preaching Jesus Christ and him crucified. He preached the
cross of Christ and he was attacked constantly by the Judaizers.
If you read Acts, you see everywhere Paul went, they were right behind
him following and undoing the whole message. bringing in the
law, bringing the people under the law, because they felt like
what Paul was saying was insufficient to save to the uttermost, that
they needed to add to that gospel, they needed to add the law there. And they did it, Paul said, to
avoid persecution from the country. the law and at least they were
saying well you know yeah I agree I still preach law and so they
were avoiding that that heavy persecution that Paul was taken
but he says verse 13 for neither they themselves who are circumcised
keep the law but desire to have you circumcised that they may
glory in your flesh and he's saying they were focused on just
keeping up appearances and they felt that that this was a sign
of God's blessing upon them because they could get you to bring forth
some fruit in your flesh. And they took that as a mark
that God's with them, God's not with Paul, but look how we get
these people to now do the law, practice the law. We're bringing
in proselytes to the law, and that's what they glory in. But
Paul says in verse 14, God forbid that I should glory, save in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me, and I unto the world. And so, Paul's saying, look,
I'm gonna preach Christ to you, knowing that He's gonna produce
fruit in His people. He's gonna bear that fruit as
it pleases Him, and I'm so confident in that, that that's where I
stay, right? We've seen this before in 2 Corinthians 4. Sorry, is it 3? Yeah, I'm sorry, so
2 Corinthians 3 forward says, in such trust have we through
Christ to God. All right, we're so confident
that Christ is able to make us stand sufficient in the sight
of God that we preach him. We're so confident in his ability
to save to the uttermost from beginning to end as the author
and finisher, the first and the last, He's the one that saves
his people entirely that we're going to preach him and that's
where Paul was and that's why Paul was so heavily persecuted
because he's so gloried in Christ and not in man's flesh and in
man's works. Alright, so if Paul was saved
by grace then what constrained Paul to such labors? Because
we know Paul labored in the gospel. That man sacrificed everything
and gave up his life in the gospel. He tells us in 2 Corinthians,
if you're in our text area, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14, he said, for the
love of Christ constrained us. Christ is our love. He's our
motivation to love others and to serve Him, because we thus
judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead." And he's
saying that if one died for all, then all were dead, meaning that
that means every single one of us fails to keep the law perfectly
and to keep ourselves unspotted and untainted from the world.
None of us does it perfectly, that's why Christ came to do
this work which we could not do for ourselves. All right,
verse 15. And that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them and rose again, so that by his power the
preaching of the gospel we see his fruit born in us the first
of which is faith whereby we believe we cease from our labors
and believe that's my righteousness so we don't keep trying to justify
ourselves before God we know I am just and we continue preaching
Christ knowing that he's the one that sanctifies us, that
sets us apart for works whereby we walk according to that which
He's ordained for us to walk in before Him by the Spirit. And so, we'll serve Him. We'll
serve Him according to His will. Verse 16, whereby henceforth
know we no man after the flesh. Now, this is good. This is important right here.
When He says, know we no man after the flesh. What he's saying
without saying it there is we don't walk in the flesh toward
one another. That's what he's saying. He's
not talking about that I don't know this person. He used to
be an acquaintance of mine and now I don't know him. What he's
saying is I don't know you by my flesh. That is, I don't walk
towards you in the flesh. And what does that mean? How
does that seem? I'm not to deal with you in malice. in hatred,
in envy, in wrath, in wickedness, that's walking in the flesh,
right? That's what Peter and Paul tell us. This is the works
of the flesh, malice and envy and hateful and hating one another. That's the flesh. We're not to
walk like that, and that's what he's saying there. We don't know
people after the flesh. In other words, that's where
that love of Christ is seen in us, that we walk towards one
another in gentleness, and patience and kindness and forgiveness
and love, right? And that's where that's brought
out. It's that spirit that makes us
willing and makes us mindful when we're dealing with one another
because in the flesh it's very easy to get angry with one another. It's very easy to deal with one
another in the flesh. but he's saying, don't walk in
the flesh, walk in the spirit. All right, we'll see that more
in a moment. Let's move on to the next point,
which is the gospel informs the heart. Now, this is probably
where this message came from, because I was reflecting on some
things that I had said in that message to all who seek a proof. And I remember saying, I think
several times, a few times, that we're disciples of Christ, and
therefore we are to take up our cross daily and follow him. And I was thinking about that
because, you know, when I say that, we hear that differently,
right? The Lord brings that to our heart
in different ways. Each of us hears that word and
what's being said. And so I was thinking, you know,
in one person's mind they hear take up your cross daily and
follow him. And one person might be convicted and say, wow, now
there's a sin that I'm just not letting go. There's a secret
sin that I'm guarding and protecting that I really don't want it to
come out in the light because I like it. I love it. I want
to do it. And the Lord shines his light
on it then. You hear that and you think,
ah, you know what? Lord, help me with that. Help me with that.
Help me put that away. And another hears it. And what
do they hear? They hear, you know, there's
something that the Lord's laid on my heart now for a long time,
and I've just been finding an excuse not to do it. Something nice for somebody,
something that I just want to do for them, but I've been finding
an excuse because it's a sacrifice, and I just don't want to make
that sacrifice, but I've been putting it off, but the Lord
shines a light on that for that one. You know, so one this, and
another that, when I say that, that we're disciples of Christ.
He brings certain things to your minds that he's shining a light
on for you, as a person in the body. And, you know, is either
one of those things wrong? Can one who's convicted of sin
say to that one that's motivated to action, what are you doing?
Surely you've got sin in you to fix, right? Or can the one
that's convicted of sin say the one that's moved to, I'm sorry,
the one that's moved to action, say that the one convicted of
sin, what are you doing? We're worried about your sin.
Shouldn't you be up doing something more? Shouldn't you be doing
something? So none of us can say, you know, can charge the
other one because they've heard it differently in that sense,
right? They're being dealt with in a
different way. As Paul said, if they were all
one member, where were the body? If we were all the same, if the
Lord was dealing with each of us, where's the body then? So
in other words, the Lord's shining the light and ministering his
word to each of us in the way that we have need of hearing
according to the fruit which he's determined to bring from
you and in the abundance that he's determined to bring from
you. Some are going to do more than others, and who are we Like
if you've been given the abilities to do a lot, do it. And don't
worry about the one who's only doing 30-fold. If you're doing
100, you do it. What do you care? Paul didn't
care that he was right there at the top tier. He labored. more abundantly and was thankful.
Lord, you've given me this strength and this ability. I'm doing it.
I'm not worried about those that aren't. I'm just going to keep
ministering, knowing that you're bringing forth the fruit. Because
he's the one that wrote that, too. And he said in Romans 14,
4, Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his
own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holding up,
for God is able to make him stand. It's the Lord that does this
in His people. And He's the one, what makes
it fruit of the Spirit is that it's a heart work. It's being
brought in us by the power of the Spirit through His Word,
ministering that Word and bringing forth that fruit from us. That's the difference because
one can say it and put it on an appearance, but there's no
heart work in it. And the Lord's bringing it from
the heart, a desire, to serve Him. We're being constrained
by the love of Christ as opposed to the strength of our flesh
to do it. Because we can do things in the
strength of our flesh. I like how Paul said it in Galatians. He said, we're living unto Christ
who died for us. He said, I'm crucified with Christ. I'm dead with Christ. And we
ought to remember that. I'm dead with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which
I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the
grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, Christ is dead
and vain. And so, you see there, that's
the Spirit that ministers that in our heart. That's the Spirit
that teaches us the love of Christ and what He did in sacrificing
Himself for us. And that by His Spirit revealing
that to us, by that new life and the new man which He's created
in us, we see His love, we're constrained by that love, and
motivated by that love to go and serve him and to serve our
brethren and to want to bear that fruit. Whether we're small
fruit bearers or we bring forth in abundance each one, if it's
of the Lord, we're going to do what the Lord has given us to
do and be thankful for how he's using us. Alright, now turn over
actually to Luke 9. Go to Luke 9. That's where he
says this. Luke 9 and go to verse 23 and
24. Now, taking everything that I've
said there, in that light, that this is the work of the Lord,
in that light, He said, verse 23, He said to them all, if any
man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross daily and follow Me. As noted, our particular fruits,
the way that the Lord uses us, what He strips us of, the sins
that He strips us of, and the fruits that He's purposed to
bear in us, and in the body, and to bear these fruits, ministering
to them in the body, What we see is that they vary in type,
the fruits, and they vary in abundance in the different members
that he's given to us. But, though they vary, the fruits
vary in type and abundance, the source is always the same. The source is Christ, which he's
bearing in us, instructing us and teaching us through the gospel. It's the cross of Jesus Christ. And so, We are, what Christ is
saying is we're to take up that message of the cross. We're to take up that gospel
message. When he says take up your cross,
he's saying you take up that gospel message of grace. That
God has saved you by grace. And you bear that message to
the world. Not walking in the flesh, but
walking in the Spirit, we bear the testimony of God's grace,
that He saves us by His Son, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed
Himself to put away the sins of His people, apart from me
pleasing Him first, apart from me working some righteousness
before He would do that for me. It's a free grace that God did
that. He's freely done this for me while I was yet an enemy of
his and sinning against him. God did that for me. All right,
so now you're starting to see, well, all right, well, how are
we acting towards others? Well, in the body, they're the
body of Christ. And if they're enemies, well,
I was an enemy of the Lord, too, and he was very gracious and
kind to me. So that this fruit that bears
in us isn't of the law, It's not motivated by works to earn
favor. It's not motivated by fear. It's
not motivated by threat of punishment. The motivation is the love of
Christ constraining us. revealing to us what he's done
for me, for us. And he says, for whosoever will
save his life, whosoever of us is going to say, you know what,
I'm just going to walk in this flesh. Because that's what we're
doing. To save our lives, we're saying, no, I'm going to keep
walking in the flesh. When someone wrongs me, I'm going
to wrong them right back. If someone gets me angry, I'm
going to be mad and do something hurtful to them. I'm going to
deal with them in malice, hatred, wrath. I'm not going to be patient
with people. That's walking in the flesh. And he says if anyone
who does that will save his life, defend himself in that way, and
walk that way towards others, they're going to lose it. They
have no part in me, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake."
What's he saying? They're walking in the Spirit
now. I'm going to walk towards others
how Christ walked towards me, what he did for me, so that we're
mindful and that we're gentle with one another, and we're patient
with one another, and we seek those things that work peace
among one another. That's walking in the Spirit.
right just look at Galatians 5 which talks about the fruits
of the flesh which is all manner of evil against one another versus
this the fruits of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, all those things. That's all
bearing fruit among one another. That's what he's saying, that's
losing your life. It's walking in the Spirit toward
one another, not getting what's mine. Not treating you in a manner
to get over on you and get more of what I want versus what you
want. Me winning, you losing. not good. So walking the spirit and carrying
that message of the cross. And he says, you that go forth
in that light, you'll save it. That's not of the flesh, that's
the work of the spirit. He's got to do that. in us. So we
carry the cross first and foremost, the carrying of that cross is
bringing, going in the light of what Christ has done for us
and what he's done in saving our lives. So, born out of that
glorious gospel the glorious gospel, what Christ has done
for me, a sinner, an enemy against God, sinning against Him, in
that light, that gospel light is worked in our hearts, it's
revealed to us, and we see it, and we know it's His work, so
that the Spirit being poured over the body, like we saw with
Christ, uniting the whole body so that thought, word, and deed
is all taken captive, looking to Christ, all walking in His
Spirit, all looking to Him. And it's like that fragrant oil
just uniting the whole in one so that there's a desire in each
individual to walk before the Lord in that peace and that Spirit
serving Him. And then in that light, you understand,
all right, when Paul said, put on the new man, put on the new
man, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, He's saying, walk in the Spirit. When you walk through your house
and you deal with your spouse, your wife or your husband, or
your children, think about what you're doing. Walk towards them
in the Spirit. Speak to them in the Spirit. Speak to them in a manner that
is kind and gentle. You may need to instruct them,
especially you with children. You may need to be honest and
instruct them at times. I'm not saying that, but I mean
you do it out of love and a heart of love and a desire and put
on the Lord Jesus Christ when you go to the store. Think about
it, that you're carrying that cross of Christ. Not to walk
in the flesh and get angry with the clerk behind the counter,
but be kind. Be reasonable. merciful in your
dealings with others and co-workers and things like that. You go in that spirit and that's
how we bring, that's how we carry that cross with us that we're
ever mindful that we're the Lords and we're not out serving ourselves. It's not some weird ethereal
thing that we don't understand. It's let me remember that I'm
the Lords and let me be kind and gentle with those and in
the hopes, and maybe even have opportunity to declare the gospel,
but if it doesn't come up, maybe they'll bring it up, because
they'll see, why are you so, you know, kind, and patient,
and merciful? all the time, and we declare
Christ, and so that's how we bear that cross. That's how we
bear that cross, walking not in the flesh and dealing with
one another in that flesh, but walking in the Spirit, dealing
with one another the way the Lord deals with us, in that mindset,
in that sense. So, He's the one that's producing
that fruit in us, and He's the one that brings it forth in the
heart first, Whereas the carnal professor can only do it by appearance,
right? They're still laboring for something, right? They're
still looking for something in their works, and there's no real
hard work. But we trust the Lord, and so
that's why we preach the gospel, knowing that it's the Lord that
works that in us. And so we preach it because we
want to understand it. I mean, we know the gospel. We understand what the Lord has
done for us, and so that's what we... we preach that word to
others knowing it as well. I have more but I'm going to
stop there. I have other examples of how
it's the gospel but I was just thinking of that after the message
from last week and so that was a reflection for me and what
I was thinking of that I didn't have time to bring out in the
last message but I just wanted to help us see that's really
how we walk in the spirit is not walking in the flesh. Don't
do it. It's got to be a spirit work. It's got to be His work
in us. That's always the source for the believer because otherwise
we can't do it. We can't do it without His work
and power. So I pray the Lord will bless
that to your hearts and and that he would bear fruit in us, because
it's not to give us any, like Paul says numbers of times, don't
use it for a license to walk in the flesh, don't use the salvation
that God has given us as a license to do that, which our flesh delights
in, but trust him to do that work in us. All right, let's
pray and then we'll have a hymn. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your mercy. Lord, we thank you for the gospel.
We thank you for what you've revealed to us, how that Christ
really is our righteousness. That he really has put away our
sins freely by your grace. And Lord, teach us that. Help
us to hear that and to believe it. Help us to receive that word. And Lord, In that light, in the
Gospel light, help us to put on the new man, to put on the
Lord Jesus Christ as you say in your Word. And Lord, in the
flesh we can't do that. That's a work that your Spirit
must work in us. And we pray to that end, that
you would indeed help us to walk in this light and this truth
by your Spirit, according to your grace, that as we deal with
and interact with one another, that we're mindful of those sweet
fruits of the Spirit that you bring out in your people and
help us to be gentle and kind to one another. And Lord, even
with those without, that we would be gentle and loving towards
them as well. Lord, that we would have an opportunity
to preach the gospel of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And Lord, we pray
that you would bless your church, that your spirit would be upon
us. Lord, those that are hurting, those that are weak, those that
are sick, those that are struggling, Lord, please, Lord, we ask that
you would have mercy upon them, that you would help your people,
that you would turn our eyes upon Christ our Savior, to look
to Him, to rest in Him, and to feel your strength and your power,
Lord, which can do all things, All things. It's in Christ's
name that we pray and give thanks. Amen. Okay, brother.