Now, turn back with me to the
book of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The past few weeks, and we've been
continuing through this chapter, learning from the Lord the true
nature and the reality of a gospel ministry. The true gospel ministry. Paul, by inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, was led to describe here as the Ministry of Reconciliation. That is, we have the Word of
Reconciliation. That's the Gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace in Christ. We have various descriptions
of that gospel ministry. And one of the issues here that
we face as a church, a local body, is we need to understand
from God's word and know for sure that we are a true gospel
ministry. That we're not just playing games
here. That we're not deceived ourselves. And as Paul has gone
through this, we've talked about the gospel ministry is one who
promotes the gospel goal. We talked about that. Look back
in verse 13, he says for 2 Corinthians 5, he says, for whether we be
beside ourselves, it is to God. Men may call us crazy, in other
words. Men may say we're out of our
minds, but what we say is to the praise of the glory of God,
and it's God's truth. And the natural man doesn't receive
that. It's foolishness to him. The
preaching of the cross. First Corinthians 1 18 tells
it is to them who are perishing foolishness It's not the wisdom
that men want they want the wisdom of men which is false religion
And he says the gospel ministries to the praise of the glory of
it's to God In other words our goal is to please God not men
And that's that's that sets God's people apart from the world Because
when we please God we don't please me All the ones who are pleased
when we please God are those who are saved by the grace of
God in Christ. And then he says, for whether
we be sober, clear thinking, straightforward, understandable. In other words, terms that you
known can understand. He says, it's for your cause.
So we see the gospel goal there. It's for the glory of God, the
exaltation of Christ, the salvation of sinners, the edification,
the growth, and the building up, and the unity of the church. And then in verse 14, he brought
out the gospel motive. He says, for the love of Christ
constraineth us. In other words, we're constrained,
we're motivated, we're held in check, and we're energized, not
by legal threats of punishment, not by mercenary promises of
earned rewards, but by love. And that's one of the goals of
a gospel ministry, that we pray that the Holy Spirit will bring
a sinner to Christ, knowing that he has nothing to recommend himself
unto God, that what he has from God is freely given, unconditionally
given by God's grace through Christ. And seeing that love
by the Holy Spirit shed abroad within our hearts that we might
be motivated unto everything that we do that's honoring to
God, that we're motivated by grace and gratitude and love
and not by legal threats or mercenary promises. And that's the gospel
motive. And he supports that by this
statement. Look at verse 14. For the love
of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge. This is our judgment,
and it's based on God's word. It's not our natural reasoning. That if one died for all, that's
Christ dying for his people, then we're all dead. Now what's
he talking about? He's talking about that all for
whom Christ died, died with him. In fact, a more literal translation
of this from the original language would be this. If one died for
all, then all died. That would be a more precise
translation of that verse from the original Greek. If one died
for all, if Christ died for all, who are the all there? That's
his sheep. He said, I laid down my life for the sheep. That's
his church. He redeemed his blood. He redeemed
his church with his blood. He said, then all died. In other
words, he died as a substitute. Christ did. He died as a representative
of a people. He died as a surety. And when
he died, we who are in him, we who are brought to faith in him,
we died too. He died for our sins. He was
bruised for our iniquities. He bore our griefs. The chastisement
of our peace was upon Him. That's what that's all about.
He's a substitute. substitution the heart of the
gospel he was made sin down here in second corinthians five twenty
one our sins the demerit the condemnation the grief uh... the punishment the guilt of our
sins was laid upon him charged to him accounted to him imputed
to him and he became responsible for our debt to god's law and
justice and when he died i died I didn't die personally. I wasn't
even there. But I was there in the mind and
purpose of God. I was there in the heart of the
Savior. He was my substitute. And when
He was buried, I was buried. And when He arose again, I arose
again. Look at verse 15. And this is
our text this morning. And that He died for all, that
is, all who died in Him, that they which live should not henceforth
live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose
again now that brings us to this verse here the gospel fruit or
the fruit of the gospel ministry the gospel fruit and what are
we talking about here well this is talking about how the life
the spiritual life The walk, the godly walk, the obedience,
the works, the triumphs, and the blessings of a believer are
all, all without exception, the fruit, the effect, the result
of the grace of God in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And based
upon, founded upon, what he accomplished at Calvary in putting away our
sins. and establish righteousness for
us. Here's what I'm saying. This
is what a gospel ministry does. It's sent here to tell us that
everything that we are as sinners saved by grace, everything we
are, everything we have by way of blessing, everything we do
that is honoring to God, that is seeking to please Him, Everything
we have, everything we are, everything we do, and everything we're going
to be is the product, the fruit, the result of the death of Christ
on Calvary's cross. Everything. Nothing we are, have,
do, or will be is the cause or the ground of our salvation.
You understand that? Nothing we are, nothing we have,
nothing that we do or will do makes up our righteousness before
God. It's all the fruit, the result,
the effect, the product. I'm trying to say it every way
I know how to say it. Of that one act of obedience unto death
that Christ himself and alone performed and accomplished on
Calvary's cross. Now that's why we say without
blessing, God forbid that I should glory, that means boast, have
confidence in anything save the cross. of our Lord Jesus Christ
it's all Him and if we have Him the scripture says in Romans
8 we have everything everything that God has to give to His people
is in Christ everything now that He died and all who died in Him
that they which live think about it That's the fruit of His death.
Our living, that's talking about spiritual life. Our living is
the fruit in effect of His death. Over in Isaiah 61 that Brother
Joe read, I love that chapter because it's really a prophecy
of everything that I'm telling you this morning concerning Christ. Here comes Christ. And it's talking,
you know, this was, He went into His hometown. The Lord Jesus
went into His hometown of Nazareth. And he went into the synagogue
on the day, on the Sabbath. And they were reading from this
verse, Isaiah 61. And after they finished reading,
they closed the book, he stood up. And he went up before his
hometown church. Now this is one who'd been performing
miracles, you know, throughout the land there. And he's already
beginning to have a reputation. They knew who he was. And they'd
heard about him. And they read from this verse
and he stood up there and he said, today this prophecy is
fulfilled before your eyes. Which means what he was saying,
I am the fulfillment of this prophecy. And what did they do? Do you remember what they did?
Did they stand up and clap? Did they say, well let's sing
a hymn and have an invitation? No. You know what they did? They
took him out of the synagogue and they were going to take him
over and throw him off a cliff. throw him off a cliff. But what
does this chapter say? He was right, you know that.
He is the fulfillment of this prophecy. And they were saying,
while we know who you are, you're the carpenter's son. You're claiming
to be the Messiah? Well, this whole chapter is about
His coming into the world to do for His people what we could
not do for ourselves. That is, put away our sins, establish
righteousness, save that's what he did and as a result of it
he says here in verse 3 and I love this language here he says to
appoint unto them that morn in Zion that morn in Zion that's
that that morning in Zion that Zion's a picture a symbol of
the church there morning in Zion is a picture of a is a symbol
symbolic way of speaking of a broken and a contrite heart he's not
just talking about people who are hurt let me tell you something
There are people all over this world hurting. Hurting, hurting. There are people in this congregation
hurting. And we have compassion and sympathy
and empathy and one day we'll be hurting, won't we? and and we mourn over that hurting
physical pain emotional pain uh... uh... there's there's really
relationship taking all of that's going on in our lives what we
have so much going on in our lives it's a wonder that we can
even stop and even back about the things we really need to
think about but that's not what he's talking about here And I
hear a lot of times these preachers on television and other places,
they talk about, you know, whether he's going to comfort the mourning.
And they're talking about people who are in physical suffering,
physical pain. And sometimes the Lord does bring
physical healing. Let me tell you something, I'm
not denying it all, but that's not what he's talking about here.
This mourning in Zion is mourning over sin. It's a broken and a
contrite heart. Now here's what I'm telling you.
Even that is the fruit of His death. That didn't come from
you. If you're mourning over sin, if you're repentant over
sin, that didn't come from you. Why would you mourn over sin
and somebody else would not? Is it because you're better than
them? Absolutely not. It's because you have that gift. You say, well, why would God
give it to me? I don't know. And you don't either. Stop trying
to figure it out. Just glory in Him. Isn't that
right? Just glory in Christ. That's
what he's talking about. Look at verse 3 again. He says,
"...to give them beauty for ashes." Remember what they used to do?
They used to tear their clothes and throw ashes. That's mourning.
Well, where's the beauty? It's in Christ. He's the beauty. It's not our beauty. We don't
have any beauty. It's in Christ. We're sinners.
The beauty is in Christ. And what does He do? He gives
it to you. You don't earn it. And you don't deserve it. I don't
earn it. I don't deserve it. It's a gift.
And then He says the oil of joy for mourning. That's the joy
of the Holy Spirit. It's a gift from God. The gift
of the Spirit. And then He says the garment
of praise for the Spirit of heaviness. That's worship. praising God
instead of focusing on our problems. That's a gift. And then he says
this, and this to me is one of the best descriptions of a child
of God that you'll find in the Bible. There are many, but this
is one of the best. That they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. Now if you're a
tree of righteousness, you didn't plant yourself. You're the planting
of the Lord. And where is your righteousness?
It's in the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ, accounted,
charged, imputed to you. He says that he might be glorified.
I love that. Over down in verse 11 of Isaiah
61, he says, For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as
the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring
forth. You see, he's talking about fruit.
He's talking about harvest here. So the Lord will cause righteousness
and praise to spring forth before all nations." That's Christ being
preached to all nations. Isn't that something? That's
a gospel ministry. Now that's what he's talking
about over here in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 15, that they which
live. Now the Bible says that by nature,
having fallen in Adam, condemned under Adam, According to the
covenant of works because we we sinned against God in Adam
Adam being our representative We fell in him ruined in him
that as a result of that We are born dead spiritually in trespasses
and sins dead what's dead means dead and So that means that we
have no spiritual life naturally We're born into this world spiritually
dead. That's what the Bible says. We
can hear physically, we may be able to see physically, all of
that, but we can't hear spiritually. The things of the Spirit of God,
by nature, the real things of the Spirit, I'm not talking about
religious things, because men are drawn to religion in some
way, shape, form, or fashion. but the real things that glorify
god in the salvation of set up a center through crash really
mean nothing to us uh... naturally what has to happen
well we have to be born again by the spirit that's what the
new birth is all about born again by the spirit given spiritual
life it's a literal resurrection from the dead by the holy spirit
now where does that life come from who's the creator of that
life Well, Christ is. Now look at John chapter 12. Look over at verse 23. He's preaching here in Jerusalem. The Lord is. And the Pharisees were criticizing
Him. The religious majority, the moral majority, they were
criticizing Him as usual. And then there were some Greeks.
They came up. And they said, they came to Philip
and they said, we want to see Jesus. And so Andrew and Philip,
they went to tell the Lord. And verse 23 it says, And Jesus
answered them, saying, now listen to John 12, 23. The hour has
come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Now how is He going
to be glorified? Well, He's going to stoop down
and condescend even to the death of the cross. That's what He's
going to do. And he describes it in symbolic
language. And notice the language he describes
it. Verse 24. Verily, verily, I say, except
a corn of wheat. That word corn means seed. A
seed of wheat. Fall into the ground and what?
Die. It abideth alone. But if it die,
it bringeth forth much fruit. And then he says in verse 25,
he that loveth his life shall lose it, he that hateth his life
in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. In other words,
this, what he's saying there when he's using that symbolic
language about the seed of wheat and all that, he's telling them,
now I'm not talking about life in this world. You see, most,
most popular religious groups today that call themselves Christian,
they're really preaching more of how to have a better life
in this world. And we can have a better life
in this world in some ways. But that's not what he's talking
about here. And then he says in verse 26, he says, If any
man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall
also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will
my father honor. Now is my soul troubled. What
shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.
What hour? The hour of his death. But for
this cause came I into this hour. You see, the death of Christ
did not take God by surprise. It wasn't plan B because the
plan A failed. This hour that he's talking about,
this cause that he's talking about was determined before the
foundation of the world. this was the hope let me tell
you something this hour here the death of christ his obedience
unto death as the substitute of his people to put away our
sins and bring forth everlasting righteousness you know son that
is the reason this earth was created it's the reason that
man was put upon this earth it's the reason man fell I'm telling
you, it's the crux of existence before a holy God, right here.
And he says in verse 28, he says, Father, glorify thy name. Then
came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified
it and will glorify it again. The people therefore that stood
by and heard it said that it thundered. Others said an angel
spoke to him. And Jesus answered and said,
this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. He understood
what he was here for. But look at verse 31 of John
12. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. You know he's talking about there.
That's Satan. And listen to verse 32. He says, and I if I be lifted
up from the earth shall draw all unto me in other words if
I be lifted up from the earth what's he talking about verse
33 this he said signifying what death he should die talking about
his death lifted up how lifted up on the cross lifted up and
he said if I be lifted up I'll draw all unto Me." Who's the
all there? That's all who died in Him. All who come to faith
in Christ. That's who He's talking about.
His sheep. He said, My sheep hear My voice. They know Me. I know them. I give unto them
eternal life. And they'll never perish, He
says. That's the all who He's talking about there. Not those
who die and perish, but all who He'll draw unto Him. That word
draw there is the same word in the parable of the drag net.
You remember he throws out the net and they drag him fishing?
And that's what he does. He does it in his power. He makes
them willing in the day of his power. I remember Brother Scott
Richardson preached a message on this. Christ lifted up. And
this is what he said. He said, number one is the ground
of salvation. Christ is lifted up in his death
on the cross. That's the ground. His death
is an accomplishment. You remember when he took, I
think it was Peter and John and I think Andrew or James, I can't
remember who the other disciple was. Took him up to a mount,
it's called the Mount of Transfiguration. And he showed them a vision there,
and they saw Elijah and Moses appear. And you know, Elijah,
he represents the prophets, and Moses represents the law. And
Christ, in his glory, he showed them that vision of his glorified
state. He stood and he talked with Moses
and Elijah. And you remember what they spoke
about? Somebody said, well, I'd like to be in on that conference.
Well, if you know the scriptures, you are. What did he talk about? He said, they spoke of his decease,
which he would accomplish in Jerusalem. That's what they taught,
that was their subject. And so, that word decease there,
as Luke records it, is the same word as exodus. In other words,
they spoke of his decease, his death would lead somebody out. Set somebody free. That's what
he's talking about. He's going to lead his people
out of the bondage of sin. Just like Moses led them out
of the bondage of Egypt, Christ on the cross leads his people
out of the bondage of sin. How does he do it? He sets us
free. How does he do it? He pays the dead in full. He
satisfied the law and justice of God. He broke the law's claim. upon every one of his people
by his death on the cross. That's the ground of salvation.
Christ lifted up in his death on the cross. Secondly, this
is Brother Richards' outline, he said the means. What's the
means? Well, Christ must be lifted up
in the preaching of the gospel. I'm here to preach Christ to
you. I went to the school of John the Baptist. Christ must
increase, I must decrease. That's the motto of that school.
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus. I'm not here to brag on me and I'm not here to brag on
you. I'm not here to build a memorial to a man. I'm here to preach
Christ. And whatever subject I preach,
that's what I'm going to do. I don't care if I'm talking about
marriage today. I don't care if I'm talking about justification,
sanctification, regeneration, glorification. Preservation? I'm going to preach Christ. Because
that's what a gospel ministry does. He must be lifted up in
the preaching of the gospel. You see, when we talk about the
new birth, we're begotten again, James 1.18, by the word of truth. Who is the word of truth? Christ
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation because therein is the righteousness of God revealed,
Romans 1, 16 and 17. Who is the righteousness of God?
Romans 10, 4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe. And then thirdly, here's the
result, here's the fruit. Christ must be lifted up by the
power of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a sinner. Must be given
a new heart. I like that outline. That's what
he's talking about. He's talking about the fruit
of the gospel ministry empowered by the Holy Spirit. And he identifies
it here in 2 Corinthians 5.15. All for whom Christ died. They're
going to live. They're going to live. That's
what he's talking about. That they which live. Living
unto Christ. They're going to live spiritually.
He's going to give them spiritual life that comes from Christ,
the creator of that life. How did He create it? He died.
Out of His death comes life. He died, was buried, and what?
Rose again the third day. Listen to it, verse 15, 2 Corinthians
5. That He died for all, that they
which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
Him which died for them, and what? Rose again. Out of His
death comes life. and that without his death there
is no life. That's it. Spiritual life. That's
what he's talking about. The fruit of this ministry is
what then? What is the fruit of the gospel
ministry? It's sinners saved by the grace of God and in the
power of the Holy Spirit living unto Christ. Living for his glory. Living by his power. living to
exalt Him and not living for themselves. That's the fruit.
That's what he's talking about, life in Christ. He died for all,
all His people, His sheep, that they which live, live spiritually. Look at Galatians chapter 2.
Here's another way Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to describe
that life. Look at Galatians chapter 2.
And here it tells us where it comes from too. Look at verse
19. Galatians chapter 2. Listen to him here. He says,
verse 19, for I through the law am dead to the law. Now what
does it mean to be dead to the law? It means I'm dead to the
law's power to condemn me. I can no longer be condemned.
I owe no debt to the law. My debt's paid. You know, they
used to have debtor's prisons. Debbie and the boys and I, we
lived in Georgia for about 19 years before we moved up here.
You know how Georgia was started? It was a debtor's. There was
a debtor's prison. They let the debtors out, and
they sent them all to Georgia. And a guy named Oglethorpe brought
them over. They got a Fort Oglethorpe down
there. When Oglethorpe, he landed there in Savannah, you know,
one of the first laws he passed, he said, it's illegal to have
any lawyers in Georgia. Y'all figure that one out. But that's what Georgia was.
And what they did, they just got them out and they expunged
their debt. Wiped their debt clean and they
had a new start in Georgia. Well, in Christ, my debt to God's
law and justice is expunged. It's fully paid. It's wiped clean
by His blood. Redemption by His blood. I'm
dead to the law. I don't owe the law a debt to
its justice. Now, does it stop there? Is that
it? Let's quit and go home? No. He
says, I through the law, that is through Christ keeping the
law, am dead to the law, look, that I might live unto God. That
I might live spiritually out of His death, burial and resurrection,
that I might live my life to the praise of the glory of God's
grace. Live unto God. Look at verse
20, Galatians 2. He says, I'm crucified with Christ.
Now, there were three crosses there, weren't there? Christ
on the middle cross and two thieves, one on the right and one on the
left. Where was Paul? He said, I'm crucified with Christ. Where
was he? He was in his substitute. He was right there on that middle
cross, not in his own person, but in the person of Christ. Listen, if you're born again
by the Spirit, if you've come to faith in Christ and living
your life under the Lord, you were right there on that cross
with him. Not in your own person, but in His person. He died for
you. You were crucified with Him.
You were buried with Him. You were raised again. If you
were baptized, that's what you confessed. Died with Him, buried
with Him, raised again with Him. So Paul says, well, verse 20,
he says, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. I died with
Him, but I live now. Yet, not I. Now, Paul's not speaking
in circles and contradictions here. He's not saying, well,
I live, but I don't live, and, you know, I can't really explain
that to you, but if you ever get it, you'll know it, you know.
That's not what he's saying. He's simply saying, I live, yet
not I. What he's saying there is the
life that I'm living, it didn't come from me. I'm not the source
of it. I'm not the cause of it. He says,
but Christ liveth in me. Christ is the source of my life.
That's Christ in us. Christ liveth in me. That's the
source of me. Without Him, I don't live. Without
Him, no life, you see, no spiritual life, no eternal life. Christ
liveth in me. How does He live in me? By His
Spirit and by His Word. And He says, and the life which
I now live in the flesh, that means in this human body, I live
by the faith of the Son of God, by His faithfulness to do what
He said He would do in accomplishing my salvation. And He loved me
and gave Himself for me. So He says in verse 21, I don't
frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead and vain. Christ died to make me
righteous. That's what He did. And the law
cannot make me righteous. My works cannot make me righteous.
That's the long and the short of it. And when we talk about
the fruit of the Spirit, look over in Galatians 5. Everything that he says here,
in Galatians 5 and verse 22, he calls it the fruit of the
Spirit. And it's fruit. There's no causes
here. Alright? You understand that?
He goes, verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love. Alright?
If I have any love for God and any love for you, that's the
fruit of His grace. It's not the cause of my salvation.
You see, He says, joy and peace, longsuffering. If I have any
of those gifts, they're not the cause. These things don't make
me righteous. My love for you and my love for
God does not make me righteous before God. Christ is my righteousness. My love for you and my love for
God, even as imperfect as it is, is the fruit of the Spirit. And he says, gentleness, goodness,
faith, all those things, that's the fruit. Meekness, temperance,
against such there is no law. All of that, he says, and they
that are Christ, they who belong to Him, have crucified the flesh
with the affections and lusts. What do we mean? We put him on
the cross. In other words, we're saved from our sins by what he
did on the cross. We still have to deal with sin.
We still have to fight with it. Listen, you know, even that warfare
between the flesh and the spirit, that's a gift. That's a fruit.
We still have to deal with everyday. You're struggling with it right
now if you're a believer. I'm struggling with it right
now behind this pulpit. That's right. It's an everyday
battle. But Christ died for all my sins on that cross. He put them away. And verse 25,
he said, if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit.
That's the fruit. And let us not be desirous of
vain glory, trying to get honor and glory for ourselves, make
a name for ourselves, provoking one another, envying one another.
You see, that's not the kind of thing that we should be doing. That's why we have to struggle
on all these areas of vain glory. And so should not, He says back
over here in 2 Corinthians 5, that all that Christ did on the
cross to save His people, was aimed at this goal, that we who
live should not from then on, that's what henceforth means,
from then on, from the time that we're born again, given spiritual
life, and begin to live in a godly way, live by and for ourselves,
for our own pleasure and our own glory, but unto Him, unto
Christ, for His glory, who died and arose again for us. Well, did He die for me? Well,
if you live spiritually unto Him, that means He died for you.
That's the fruit of it. We can talk about all kinds of
different fruit at the Scripture. We can talk about the fruit of
faith. The Scripture says that, for by grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God. not of works, lest any man should
boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in it." What is all that? That's the fruit
of what Christ accomplished at Calvary. Believe in Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. The scripture says that. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's the
gift of faith. Nobody will be turned away. Resting
in Christ. You rest in Him. He said, come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and what? I'll
what? You'll earn some rest. No, He
said, I'll give it to you. I'll give you rest. Religion
won't give you rest. It'll get you to working hard
for your salvation. That's death. That's death. Paul said, that's serving in
oldness of the letter and not in newness of the Spirit. We
talk about the fruit of repentance. Turning away from our own works
and turning to Christ. Let me read this to Hebrews 9
and verse 14. Here's how he speaks. He says,
How much more shall the blood of Christ, that's his death,
who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot
to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? If you trust Christ for all your
salvation, for all righteousness, for all forgiveness, for all
glory, and not your own works, that means your conscience has
been purged from dead works to serve the living God. And what
brought about all that? Your own free will? No, sir.
Because you won't of your own free will do that. Neither will
I. None of us will. It's the blood of Christ. It's
the fruit of His work. And a continual godly sorrow
over sin. That continual struggle, that's
the fruit of His death. We can talk about the fruit of
love for God and love for the brethren. Herein is love, 1 John
4, 10. Not that we loved Him. See, our love is not the cause
or the ground. Not that we loved Him, but that
He loved us. And gave His Son to be the propitiation,
the sin-bearer who brought satisfaction. for our sins. We can talk about
the fruit of worship. You have a desire to worship
God, to thank God for everything He's given you, especially salvation. But even for the next breath
you take, that's a gift from God. And the prayer, feeding
upon His Word. Do you have a hunger for His
Word? And I'm not talking about how you feel. When I say a hunger
for His Word, it's not how you feel. Because you may not feel
like listening or even reading, but you know you need to, don't
you? You know there's life there, don't you? That's the fruit of
His death. That's life living unto Him.
Paul wrote in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 3, he says, For we
are the circumcision. What is that? That's the new
birth. That's the circumcision of the heart. Life given. Which worship God in spirit.
and rejoice or boast or glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. We can talk about the fruit of
service and obedience. Let me show you this. Turn to
Romans chapter 6. I'll hurry here. Look at Romans chapter
6. I'm sorry, Romans chapter 7. I've read this before. The fruit of godly service and
obedience. Now, I'm not talking about legal
service. Not talking about being a mercenary. That's natural to
man. That's false religion. Talking about godly service and
obedience. Look at Romans 7 and verse 4.
He says, Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the
law. There's that phrase again. How do we become dead to the
law? By the body of Christ. By his sacrifice, his death.
That you should be married to another. Married to who? Christ. Even him who is raised from the
dead. That we should what? Bring forth fruit unto God. And then he says, but when we
were in the flesh, when we were unregenerate, the motions of
sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death. That could even be religion.
But now we're delivered from the law that being dead wherein
we're held, that we should serve Christ in newness of spirit and
not in oldness of the letter. Newness of spirit. That's the
motive of grace, gratitude, and love. And even the fruit of growth
in grace and knowledge. We can talk about the fruit of
assurance. Let me just read you a verse out of Isaiah 32. Listen
to this. You read this whole chapter,
Isaiah 32. He's talking about the Spirit
coming forth from Christ. And he says in verse 15 of Isaiah
32, this is a prophecy. Until the Spirit be poured upon
us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field. And he's
talking about his church there. and the fruitful field be counted
for a forest, a grove. The judgment shall dwell in the
wilderness and righteousness remain in the fruitful field,
that's Christ, and the work of righteousness, the work of Christ,
shall be peace, peace with God, peace with each other, peace
in the heart, and the effect of righteousness, quietness,
and assurance forever. assurance in him. And my people
shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in
quiet resting places." We'll rest in Christ. That's the fruit
of His death. We could talk about the fruit
of perseverance. He is able to keep that which
I've committed unto Him against that day. He is able to save
to the uttermost them that come unto the Father by Him. And we
could talk about the fruit of glory. Even our final glory Even
when we step in the glory, it's the fruit of His death. It's
the fruit of His blood. It's the fruit of His righteousness.
It's not a testimony to our own power, our own goodness, our
own glory, our own efforts. It's a testimony to the glory
of God in Christ. Amen.