All right, if you'll take your
Bibles now and turn to me, Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter
5. Begin my reading again in verse
16. Galatians chapter 5 and verse
16. This I say then, walk in the
Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the
flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh,
and these are contrary one to another, so that you cannot do
the things that you would. But if you be led of the Spirit,
you are not under the law." Now, we're going to eventually go
down through verse 25. I've entitled this message, The
Effect of Inward Grace. The effect of inward grace. Paul begins this chapter by an
exhortation. He said, Stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. The apostle has been preaching
throughout this book of Galatians this matter of justification
by grace through faith in Christ alone. That is the sum total
of this book. That justification is not by
the deeds of the law, nor by the fleshly works of man. Paul
says that everyone who seeks to be justified by the law, everyone,
he said, I don't care who you are, if you seek to be justified
in any means by the law of God, you are under the curse of the
law. That's why he says in these first
couple of verses, if you be circumcised, that was the point of contention.
At the church, they were saying, yes, believe on Christ. Yes,
Christ is necessary. But you must be circumcised. And Paul said, if you include
that one thing, if you include one act of the flesh in this
matter of your salvation, then you are fallen from grace. He said, Christ will profit you
nothing. But behold then, everyone that
comes to God by faith in Jesus Christ, I want you to know this,
Paul says this, you're at liberty. You're free from the law in this. You have been justified. You have been justified by God. You have been justified by the
blood of Jesus Christ. You have been justified by the
Spirit of God. Now, I want you to see first
of all, before we get into this, inward work, the manifestation.
That's what I'm going to talk about today, Lord willing. I
want to talk about the manifestation of this justification, the manifestation
of this salvation, this inward working of grace. Paul is going
to describe for us the inward working of the Spirit in everyone
that's justified. But before I want to do that,
I want to show you who justifies you. I want to show you Christ,
the work of our Savior. I want you to see how that He,
who is God, very God, was manifest in the flesh for you. He came as a representative,
not of all men, but of His people, His elect people. He came into
this world as their representative. And I want you to see that Jesus
came fulfilling all righteousness. That's important. That's an important
part of this book. Paul's saying, look, they were
being circumcised for righteousness. They thought that by being circumcised,
they could participate in this matter of salvation, of righteousness. Paul says, no, you don't have
any participation in this. Your righteousness is of Christ's
obedience of the law and none of your own. Righteousness comes
by the obedience of Christ alone. I want you to see that the spotless,
sinless Son of God was sent to be the Passover Lamb for all
His elect. And as you look to Calvary and
you see Him crucified, hated of men, yet His death was according
to the sovereign will and decree of God. He was purposed of God. He was
crucified for this purpose, to redeem you. To make an atonement for sins. That's what Christ was sent to
do. Now the question is this, was
He successful? Did He actually redeem you? Did He actually provide a righteousness
suitable and acceptable unto God for His elect? Was He successful? Did He actually
redeem us? Was God pleased with that one
offering when He died to justify us before God? Was
God satisfied? Go to Hebrews chapter 10. This
is easily answered. Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse
4. What does Paul say about the law and all those sacrifices? Verse 4, he says, it's not possible.
That's a good way to describe the law, isn't it? Obey the law, not possible. Provide
an offering, not possible. It's not possible for the blood
of bulls and goats to take away sins. Wherefore, when he, Christ,
cometh into the world, he saith this sacrifice and offering,
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, this is Christ speaking,
then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written
of me, to do thy will, O God. There was no possibility of being
justified by any of those offerings of the law. God was never pleased
with those offerings. They never atoned for sin. They
never redeemed one sin. I can't imagine how much blood
was shed. Can you fathom how much blood
was shed? There was a minimum of two sacrifices
every single day for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of
years, thousands of years, and yet none of that atoned for sin. But then Christ said, Lo, I come.
I come. You prepared me a body, the scriptures
foretold of me, and lo, here I am. I come. To do what? By a will, O God. What was the
will of God in Christ's coming? What did all the scriptures testify
of for His coming? Why must He come? Lo, I come, the volume has written
of me. I come to do thy will. What was the will of God? It
was the salvation of Israel. Not national, but spiritual. And without a doubt, He did the
will of God. He accomplished the salvation. accomplish the salvation of the
elect. Paul says in verses 10 through
14 of Hebrews 10, look at this, Hebrews 10, verse 10, he said,
By the which will, by the will of God, which Christ obeyed,
what's the result? We are sanctified. Now, how in the world were you
sanctified? How were you made holy? How were you set apart? You were set apart through the
offering of the body of Christ once. What did it take to sanctify
us? It took the offering of the body
of Christ. And after that offering was offered
once, you were sanctified. You were sanctified. You were
made holy through the offering of the body once. And he says
what? Every priest stand a daily ministering
offering. Oftentimes the same sacrifice
would never take away sin. Boy, that just talks of religion
even today. Man, I tell you, religion is
hard work. Religion's hard work. Because
enough is never enough. There's always something more
to do. Why do you think the books of
traditions and creeds become so thick? Because somebody said,
oh, there's something else you've got to do over here. Put it in
the book. There's something more you've got to do to be sanctified.
Put it in the book. This book says I was sanctified
by the offering of the body of Christ once. and they just keep
offering and offering, then those things do nothing to sanctify
us, to justify us, to redeem us. Nothing for our righteousness
but this man. This one that said, Lo, I come
to do Thy will, who did Thy will, who accomplished His will. He
said, but this man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins,
he sat down. He sat down because it's done. It's done. It's finished. He sat down at the right hand
of God from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His
footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected, perfected
forever, who? Them that are sanctified. You have been sanctified by the
offering of the body once of Christ. You have been perfected
forever. Forever is a mighty long time,
isn't it? You have been perfected forever. Them that are set apart,
them are sanctified by God. Them are made holy by the offering
of the body of Christ once for all. Our Lord Jesus Christ has
by His one offering forever pleased God, sat down on His throne and
perfected all of His elect. The great picture of that was
a great day of atonement. I love that picture. You have
three things there in that picture. You have the priest, you have
the offering, and you have the scapegoat. Don't you know that
all three picture Christ? He is the priest. He is the offering. He is the scapegoat. I'm sorry,
there are four. He is the fit man. He's all of
them. All of them. On that great day
of atonement, the priest stood and represented who? Who did
the priest represent? Did he represent all the nations
of the world? Was he making an offering for
all the nations of the world? No, only Israel. You see, Christ
came as a high priest and represented only Israel, only His people. And as a representative, He came
and made an offering. And the offering was not a goat,
it was Himself. He is the offering. And as that
priest slew that goat, you remember, he slew it in front of the congregation. Isn't that where Christ was slain?
In front of all men. He was slain openly. Paul said,
this thing was not done in a corner. He was slain openly. His blood
was shed in front of all men. But as that priest took the blood
of that goat and brought it into the Holy of Holies, sprinkled
it on the mercy seat, even so Christ, after His death, ascended
to the Father, bringing forth His blood to the Father, bringing
forth His offering before God. That was not seen, was it? He
gave up the ghost, and we didn't see what happened. But the picture
testifies to us of what happened. He brought His blood before God. And how do you know that that
blood was accepted on the great day of atonement? The priest
came out. How do you know Christ's blood
was accepted of the Father? He came out of the tomb. He rose
again from the dead, proving our justification before God. But not only was He the priest
and the offering of the sin offering, but He was also the scapegoat
and the fit man. You remember that the sins were
confessed upon the head of the scapegoat. Even so, God hath
imputed our sins to Christ. He hath made Him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin, that we might be made something you're
not. The righteousness of God in Him. And so, as He imputed the sins
on the scapegoat, even so, God imputed our sins to Christ and
He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. And as He bore them
on the tree, He was the fit man, wasn't He? He was the one bearing
our sins. And as that fit man carried Him
away, carried that scapegoat into the wilderness where there
was no man, It was very important that that scapegoat not be carried
into a city. He should be carried into the
wilderness where no one could see him anymore. That's exactly what Christ did
with your sins. So when I'm telling you you're justified, when I'm
telling you Christ sanctified you, when Christ justified you,
when Christ redeemed you, this is what He did with your sins.
He bared them away to a place that not even God can see them
anymore. He has removed our sins from
us. He has. Jeremiah 50 and verse 20, In
those days and at that time saith the Lord. That's it, me. Don't
think I'm saying this. This is the Lord saying this.
The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall
be none. Who's seeking your iniquity? You bet this, the justice of
God is constantly viewing and finding iniquity. But one place He will never see
iniquity is in His people. Why? Christ has removed it. Christ has taken it away. He
bore it away in His own body on the tree. The sins of Judah,
they shall not be found. Why? For I will pardon them. This is the will of God. Even
your pardon. I will pardon them whom I reserve. Whom will He pardon? Whoever
He will. Whoever He will. He will pardon
and their sins cannot be found. And I like this. You know, I often
talk to you about them looking at that fit man taking that goat
away. And what a joy it was when they
couldn't see him anymore. When they couldn't see those
sins anymore, they took it away. It was gone. But there was another
cause for joy as this. The fit man came back. But when he came back, what was
missing? Sin. When Christ came out of
the tomb, what was missing? Their sins were gone. They were
buried in His tomb, never to be seen of God again. If Christ is successful, how
then could God demand twice payment of His people? Is that just? It's not just. God is just, and He cannot demand
twice payment for sin. It's gone, friends. That's what
I mean by justified. Simply stated, Jesus Christ has
now entered into heaven, sat down at the right hand of God,
And what is the result of this victory? He has accomplished
your justification. He has accomplished your sanctification. He has accomplished your redemption,
your righteousness. What then is the effect of this? What is going to be the result
of this? Simply stated is this. The accomplishment
of His salvation will be manifest in all the elect. it will be accomplished in His
people. Everyone the Father chose, everyone
the Son redeemed, the Holy Spirit will come and quicken them from the dead,
without a doubt. Every one of them will come to
faith in Christ. that Christ justified, they will
believe on Him. Religion puts this up in the
air, don't they? They say, well, maybe His death
might accomplish something. If you just exercise your will,
then His death means something. No, His death means something,
therefore His people will believe. They will believe. It is the
determinate counsel of God that they believe. Jesus said this
in John 6, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. That sounds nothing like religion
today. Nothing. But that is true religion. This is the Word of God. They shall come to me. There's
no doubt in Christ's words. You know, this was very offensive.
He had a lot of people following Him in that day. Remember, there
was those people He just fed. They came across the ocean. They
wanted to make Him king. But these words offended them. These words offend most all religious
men today. All that the Father giveth me,
not one more, not one less, shall come to me. And what will
He do when you come to Him? Why would He cast you out? Why
would He cast you out? Having justified you and sanctified
you by His offering, why would He cast you out? Matter of fact,
He hath willed you to come and you come. You believe because
He willed it so. And He will in no wise cast you
out. No reason. That's right. There's no reason
for Him to cast you out. Doesn't matter how black the
sin is. There's no way I'm going to cast
Him out. 4. I came down from heaven not to do mine own will,
but the will of Him that sent me. By the which will? What?
We are sanctified. You see, it's by the will of
God. You believe because of the will of God. Isn't that amazing
that you believe You believe because God willed
it. I came to do the will of God. And this is the will of
Him that sent me, that of all He hath given me I should lose
nothing but raise it up again at the last day. Now seeing that
salvation is clearly by the sovereign will of God, the eternal decree
of the Father, seeing salvation of the elect is accomplished
by Christ, the result of this will be the effectual calling
of the elect from the dead. It will be a calling from unbelief
to faith in Christ Jesus. It will be given to those who
by nature hatefully reject God. But by an act of power and grace,
they receive Him. To as many as receive Him. to them gave He the right to be called the sons of God. And you, sons of God, how were
you born? Were you born by blood? Were
you a believer because your parents were believers? Were you born
by the will of the flesh, by your own will? Were you born
by the will of some other man? Or were you born by the will
of God? That's it. That's it. I know that's true. I have received Him by the will
of God. And by the which will we are
saved. Infectually called. from the
dead to life and faith. Therefore, if any man add his
will or obedience to the perfect work of Christ, then Christ is
of no effect to that man, whosoever he be." What did Paul say in 1 Corinthians
concerning Christ? 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30. But of God are you in Christ. Isn't that true? But of God are
you in Christ. Anyone in Christ gladly holds
forth that banner. Matter of fact, I don't want
to be anywhere else but in Christ, do you? I don't want to be found outside
of Christ. But if you are in Christ, that
is of God, You're in Christ. Who? Christ of God is made unto
us. Wisdom. You believe in Christ, you have
wisdom. Isn't that right? You have wisdom. You understand
how God can be just and justify the ungodly. But who is your
wisdom? Christ is my wisdom. Christ is
the answer to that question. He is my wisdom. God made Him
to be my wisdom. My wisdom didn't make Him my
wisdom. I have wisdom because God made
Him to be my wisdom. Righteousness. You who believe,
you are righteous. How are you righteous? Only by
His righteousness. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification. Are you made holy? How are you made holy? Are you
made holy by your sanctification or by His? It's He is our sanctification. He is our sanctification and
He is our redemption. We offer the gifts, we offer
the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Do we not offer sacrifices? We
do. We offer sacrifices. None of
those sacrifices have anything to do with our redemption. We
offer them because we are redeemed. And so now in Galatians chapter
5, I want you to see this. There's some manifestations,
and I'm going to do these very quickly, because I think that
was the most important part, anyway, Christ's most important
part. But I want you to see that there
are manifestations, there are evidences of these things that
have worked in every true believer in Christ. If you're a believer
in Christ, if you're a believer in Christ, then this is going
to be true and you will be able to identify with what the Apostle
says here. He says in verse 16, walk in
the Spirit, that you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary
one to another, so that you cannot do the things that you would. This is manifestly true of every
believer in Christ. We desire to walk in the Spirit. What is it to walk in the Spirit?
Simply this, it is to believe on Jesus Christ. Matter of fact,
that is the work of the Spirit, is it not? The work of the Spirit
is to manifest Christ. Any spirit that exalts himself
is not the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is sent into
the world so that he should testify of Jesus Christ. So as to walk
in the Spirit is to set our faith in Christ alone. And if we set
our faith in Christ, faith worketh how? By love. And so by faith and love, we
will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. It's our desire. And so Paul
says this of every true believer, the flesh lusts against the spirit
and the spirit against the flesh. What are you saying? Every true
believer has two natures warring with each other. Everyone who
believes in Jesus Christ from the day of our regeneration,
there begins a constant, perpetual, never-ending warfare in this
life. The flesh and the spirit, the
old nature and the new nature are constantly warring with each
other. Now, concerning this new nature,
Paul declares in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 24, he says, put
on the new man. Then he describes the new man,
just in case you don't understand. The new man is that which is
created after God in true holiness. When you believe, as a matter
of fact, you believe because of this nature, they come together,
faith and a new nature. You believe because you've been
given a new nature, and this nature is created. Very important
to understand. It wasn't there before. And God
creates in us a new nature that is holy. It is a holy nature. Preacher, I don't see that. Well,
you're not. Because there's not just that
nature in you. You have the other nature, which
is only sin. But I want to show you this for
your comfort, for your comfort. When God sanctified you, I want
you to see this. He sanctified you in this new
nature. He gave you a holy nature. Go
to John chapter 1, John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. Look at
verse 6. Whosoever abideth in Him. Now, what is it to abide in Him
but to believe on Him? Being in union with Christ. If
you are in union with Christ, you are in union by faith. Whosoever
abideth in Him. What are the next two words? Sinneth not. Is that what it says? Whosoever
bideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. Go over to chapter 5 and look
at verse 18. This is something John says we
know. We know that whosoever is born
of God... What are those two words? Sinneth
not. But he that is begotten of God
keepeth himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not. Now I must
ask you, is John contradicting himself? What does John go over
to 1st chapter? Go to chapter 1 of 1st John, verse 8. Yet he says this, If
we say that we have no sin, We deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us. Is John contradicting himself? If we confess our sin, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, to cleanse us of
our unrighteousness. Listen, he doubles down. If we
say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not
in us. Is John contradicting himself?
No, not at all. Not at all. Because every man
that is born of God has two natures. Two natures. That which is born
of God is holy and cannot sin. And that which is born of the
flesh can do nothing but sin. And so then, when one is born
of God, there is a real struggle within ourselves. a real conflict. The spirit will long for righteousness
and for the body to do that which is pleasing to God. The new nature
always desires that this body do that which is pleasing to
God. And the old nature only always desires to do those things
that remove us from God. What a mystery we are to ourselves. What an enigma. This is true of every believer.
The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh. And these are contrary one to
another. They are diametrically opposed
to one another, yet they reside in one body, in one person. This was pictured with Jacob
and Esau in the womb of their mother. They were constantly
struggling within her. And she asked the question, Why
am I thus? If this is the heir, if this
is the promise of God, then why am I thus? Is that not what you
ask? If I am made after God in true
holiness, why all this sin? Why all this unbelief? Why all
this fear and doubt? Why am I always failing to do what I desire to do? Please
God, In my soul, I want to be righteous. And yet Paul says you cannot
do what you would. On the other hand, the flesh
is always desiring to do those things against God. And I'm so
thankful He is not allowed to do what He would even. We are in a constant stalemate. In Song of Solomon 6, verse 13,
this is what he says of his bride, O Shulamite, return. Return,
return, that we may look upon thee. And what will we see in
the Shulamite? As it were, a company of two
armies. Two armies. the flesh and the
spirit constantly at warfare with one another. You that believe,
is it not so with you? Tis a point I long to know. Oft
it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord? No. Am I
His or am I not? If I am, then why? Why this unbelief? Why this fear? Why? Because you're
a man of two natures, constantly opposed to one another. What
is this for? So that God should humble his
people. The more I see of my sin, the
more I know my need of Christ. Is that not true? The more is
revealed of my old, depraved nature, the more joyful I am
of the new. The more desirous I am to do
that which is pleasing to God. God has done this. And this will not only be manifest
in a struggle, but it will be manifest in fruit. Fruit. He says this, And I'm thankful
for this, verse 18. But if you're led of the Spirit,
this warfare is going to happen. But if you're led of the Spirit,
I want you to know this, you're not under the law. You're not
under the law. That's a blessing. Now, the works
of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness. Lasciviousness. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulation, strife, seditions, heresies, envying,
drunken, murder, revelings, and such like, of which I tell you
before and have told you in time past, that they which do things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God." We know that this conflict in
every saint is real. The inner man longs for holiness
and righteousness to please God. And we know this is never accomplished
because of the flesh. Jesus said, that which is born
of flesh is flesh. That which is born of spirit
is spirit. And so then, if any manifestation
of this righteousness is done in us, if there's anything that
is done in righteousness, According to this, it was by the new nature,
by the Spirit of God. And this will always, is God's
will, that it be manifest, that His people be manifest by this
spiritual fruit. How do you know a tree is an
apple tree? Well, it's got apples on it. How do you know an orange
tree? It's an orange tree. It's got
oranges on it. How do you know God's people? How do you know
if a man is one of God's people? Because there are many who profess
faith, right? Many profess faith in Christ. But how will you know
them? Simply this, by their fruit. will produce fruit in every one
of his children. John says, My little children,
be not deceived. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. You got that? He that doeth righteousness,
why does he do righteousness? Because he is righteous. Well,
how righteous is he? Even as he is righteous. Now
John Gill says of that verse, he says, men are only made righteous
by the righteousness of Christ. That's the only reason you're
righteous. You doing righteous doesn't make you righteous. You
do righteous because you are righteous. So if I do something that is
righteous, that doesn't make me righteous. I've already been
made righteous by the righteousness of Christ. which Christ wrought
and revealed by the gospel, which we have received by faith, which
God imputes without works." See, I'm righteous not by my works.
I'm righteous because of that imputed righteousness. So then,
he that doeth righteousness is he that is being convinced of
his insufficiency of his own righteousness. Are you convinced
of your insufficient righteousness? I'm convinced of that. I'm convinced
of that. And I am also convinced of the
excellency of His righteousness. I renounce my own, submit to
His. I lay hold upon Him. I receive
His righteousness and exercise of that righteousness by faith
as my justifying righteousness. His righteousness is my justifying
righteousness. And in consequence of that, how
then shall the righteous live? He shall live in righteousness. Why? Christ has made him righteous. It is his desire to forsake sin
and to live righteously. Yet his righteous actions does
not make him righteous in the sight of God, yet it does prove
this, his faith. His faith. James says, show me
your faith without your words. Can you do that? How can you
show something without something? You can't do it. You can't show
anything. He said, I'll show you my faith
how? By my words. By my words. So when God puts
in a new nature, it is going to work out. It is. It seeks to do that which is
righteous. It longs to be righteous. Therefore,
it hates sin. It despises the old nature that
resides in us and seeks only to do those things that are pleasing
to God. so that it's evident everyone
who is born of God, led by the Spirit, are not under the law,
but made righteous by Christ, and the consequence of our righteous
nature will be the manifestation of this." The manifestation of
what? Of righteousness. Our desire
to serve God. And so in 18-21, he reveals these
works of the flesh. And he says this, At the end
of these works, he gives a list here, and he says, I tell you,
as I've told you before, they that do such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. Now, we who believe in Christ,
we confess this. Since we have the old man, guess
what? Have you done anything in this list? In thought, word, and deed, have
you done anything in this list? God's people confess that we
are prone to every one of these works of the flesh. Because what? That is all our flesh can do. And He is active, seeking these
things, desiring these things. When Christ saved you, did your
old nature change? No. He has been put down. He has been put in subjection.
But He has not changed one bit. He is still as vile as He ever
was. Therefore, none of us are exempt
from these things. Yet, we know this, and I'm thankful
for this. God will not allow His people
to continue in these things. David did this, didn't he? He
committed adultery. He murdered a man because of
his adultery to hide it? Yet what did God say? When He
came to David with His sin, did David make excuse? No. When the Spirit convicts God's
people of their sin, they say, I have sinned and done evil in
Thy sight. Now, He didn't go and apologize
to Bathsheba's family or Uriah's family. He didn't sin against
them. He sinned against God. And that was his confession against
thee, and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. And God said what? The Lord hath
put away thy sin. But what did God not put away? His suffering. Whom the Lord loveth he and scourgeth every son. If you be without chastisement,
you are what? Bastard and nonsense. Oh God,
he chastens us because of our sin. You've been chastened. You,
are you chastened because of sin? What is this but a token of of
God's love and affection that you are chasing, so that you
are not continuing in these things. Paul says this, Be not deceived,
neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you turned over a new leaf. That's not what it says. That's
not what it says. But you, your flesh is getting
better. No. What made the difference?
But you are washed. But you are washed. But you are
sanctified. But you are justified. Now what did you have to do with
washing, sanctification, or justification? What did you have to do with
that? Not a thing. The only reason I am not going
to hell is because God washed me, because God justified me,
because God sanctified me. And because He has done these
things, do we desire to live in these things? A true believer
does not desire to live in these things. Can they live in them
for a time? God's people fall into this.
But God has always promised this. He will manifest His children
by simply this. He will chase them there. And
lastly, I want to show you this. Everyone who is a child of God
will manifest the fruit, the fruit of the Spirit. He said, but the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, Temperance. God's people really love. They really love Christ. You remember when Peter failed
and denied the Lord three times? You suppose it was painful for
him to hear those words Lovest thou me more than these? And what was his response? Lord,
you know, I love you. God's people love Christ. They love Christ. It is a real
love for him. We love him. Paul's Peter said
whom you having not seen you love. Do you love Him enough? How much do you love Him? We confess that our love is totally
insufficient. to merit anything of God. But I do love Him. And I love Him because He does
love me. I do love Him. I have this fruit, and it is
of the Spirit of God. not joy in circumstance. Oh my
goodness, if we waited around for joy in this world, we are
always disappointed. The joy of the Spirit is always
in Christ. Peter said that, whom you have
not seen you love, and with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Our joy is in Christ. And the
only reason we're not joyful is we've taken our eyes off of
Christ. Peace. I'll tell you, in this world
you shall have what? Tribulation. In your flesh, warring
always, you have what? Tribulation. But this peace that
we have is not peace in the world, it's peace with God. Christ hath
made peace by the blood of his cross. You have been justified
by faith. We have peace. You have it. So annoyed somebody says, I made
my peace with God. If you've made your peace, you
have no peace with God. Christ made your peace. You have
peace with God. This is a fruit that you always
have love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness. Because we love Christ, we also
love our brethren. And because God is longsuffering
with us, we must be and should be longsuffering with one another.
Because He is gentle with us, we should be gentle with our
brethren. In this book, you know, Paul
was afraid of the reaction, not of those who were being condemned,
but he was afraid of the reaction of those who held to the doctrine
of grace. At the end of this book, he's
really instructing those who had not fallen. He said, brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, you that are spiritual, restore
such in one. How do you like to restore somebody?
Somebody offends you? What does the flesh want to do?
We want to get back. We want to get revenge. What does the Spirit say? Do
it in gentleness, meekness, temperance, moderation, but this one in the
middle, faith. Faith. Faith is the evidence. Matter of fact, all these other
fruits hinge on faith. You can't love without faith.
You can't be gentle without faith. You can't be long-suffering without
faith. You can't be meek without faith. You can't have temperance
without faith. Faith is the hinge of all these
other fruits. It is the first fruit. It is
the necessary fruit. And so if we're to ever do any
good work and service to God, it must be done in faith. and love. Faith worketh by love. These are the manifestations
of one who truly believes in Christ. One who has been justified. One who has been sanctified.
One who has been made righteous by God. This is the evidence. There's always the first fruit,
faith. Then there's the warfare within
us. Then there's the fruits of the Spirit. These things are
manifest in every true believer. Are you a true believer? These things will be manifested.
Do you love God? Do you love Christ? Do you believe
on Him? Do you desire to serve Him? This is His will. I pray that
God blesses to your hearts Let's be dismissed in prayer. Gracious
Father, I pray you dismiss us, bless this message according
to your will. Father, I thank you for the triumphant victory
of Jesus Christ, who has sanctified us, who has redeemed us, who
has justified us, who has made our righteousness. Thank you,
Father, for sending the Spirit to quicken everyone to faith
in Christ. And Father, these fruits of the
Spirit, we long for them. We desire that the flesh be put
down, and desire that the fruit of the Spirit be manifest, Father,
not for our pride, but rather for the glory of Christ. We ask
these things in his name.