Well, good morning, everyone. Yeah. If you would open your Bibles
with me to Mark chapter 11. Mark chapter 11. Before we begin,
let's bow before our Lord together in prayer. Our father is with great thanksgiving
and delight and rejoicing that we come together in your courts
this morning, bowing before your throne of grace, thankful that
we can come through the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, confident
to be accepted in him, pleading his obedience as our only righteousness,
pleading his blood as the only cleansing that we have for our
sin, the only redemption price that could possibly pay for our
sin. Father, we come in his name.
Oh, how we thank you for him. How we thank you for your purpose
of mercy and grace and salvation and your son to your people.
And father, I pray that his name would be exalted this morning,
that you would enable us to forget about the, the cares and responsibilities
and disappointments of this life. And father, let us hear of Christ
with the ear of faith. and have our souls refreshed
and given life and comforted and encouraged at the message
of Christ and him crucified, what he has accomplished for
his people. And what we pray for ourselves, Father, we pray
for all of your people, whether they're meeting together today.
Father, I pray you bless for your great namesake. This is
a blessing we seek for ourselves. But Father, we ask that you get
glory to your name. in this dark, dark day in which
we live, through the preaching of your gospel. Father, those
who are not with us today, who are sick and in difficult trials,
Father, we hold them up to thee. Pray you'd heal and comfort and
deliver as soon as it could be thy will. In all these things
we ask and give thanks in that name which is above every name,
the name of Christ our Savior, amen. I've titled the lesson this morning,
The Fruit of Faith. The Fruit of Faith. There's just
three verses in our text, beginning in verse 12 of Mark chapter 11.
And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was
hungry. And seeing a fig tree far off having leaves, he came,
if happily he might find anything thereon. And when he came to
it, he found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not
yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, no man eat fruit of
thee hereafter forever. And his disciples heard it. And
look over verse 20. And in the morning, as they passed
by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter
calling to remembrance, saith unto him, master, behold, the
fig tree, which thou cursed is withered away. And Jesus answering
said unto him, have faith in God. Now the Lord Jesus Christ,
is fully God. He has the power of the crater.
He is the one who spoke the world into existence. He's the word
of God that spoke everything into creation. He has the omniscience
of God, the omnipresence of God, because he is God. It's not like
he's God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God.
And in our text, the Lord cursed this fig tree, and by morning
it was dead. He was withered up, dried up,
and dead. Now that's the power of God.
This is God. But the Lord Jesus Christ was
also a real man in every way, too. Here, he was hungry, just
like we get hungry. He felt hunger. We read of the
Lord being wearied of his journey. Everywhere he went, he walked.
He was wearied from his journey. We read about the Lord being
so bone tired that he fell asleep in a boat that was being tossed
around by the ocean and by the storm so much that the disciples
thought they're gonna sink. It didn't wake him up, he was
so tired. We read about the Lord being thirsty and sitting down
and asking a sinful woman to give him a drink of water. We
read about the Lord having emotions. At Lazarus' grave, he wept. The
Savior is a real man and he must be a real man so he can be the
representative of sinful men and women like us. We need a
sacrifice, and that sacrifice has got to be in our flesh, in
our nature, so the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became
a real man. He took on him flesh. He took
on him the nature of flesh without any sin, so that he could be
our sin bearer. If he had any sin of his own,
he couldn't bear our sin. He had no sin of his own, so
he could bear the sin of his people, and by his precious blood,
put it away. Now that's really wonderful to
think about, isn't it? That the son of God would humble himself
like that for the likes of you and me. It's just, it's amazing. It's amazing. This is the God
man. And it's worth noting that during
his earthly ministry, the only tree that the Lord ever cursed
was a fig tree. Now there is no doubt in my mind
what that is a picture of. The Lord's cursing man's works,
man's religion of works. What is it that Adam and Eve
tried to cover themselves with after Adam fell? Fig leaves,
an apron of fig leaves that they made by their works. That's a
picture of man's works, and it will never get the job done before
God. And Adam and Eve knew it. Inherently,
they knew it because they had made these aprons, they'd covered
themselves with fig leaves, but they still were hiding in the
bushes when the Lord came walking in the cool of the day and said,
Adam, where are you? If those fig leaves had covered Adam's
sin, his shame, his guilt, if that had covered those things,
he wouldn't have been hiding, would he? Our works, our religious
works, trying to earn a righteousness before God will not get the job
done before God or before men. In our own hearts, they won't
do it. That kind of religion will always be cursed of God,
just like he cursed the Adam and Eve or Adam, you know, in
his race for this sin. It's the same thing. Now fig
trees, to understand this story, you have to understand something
about fig trees. I didn't know about this. I looked
it up. But fig trees produce their fruit first. And once the
fruit is in, then the tree produces the leaves. So if you see a fig
tree with leaves on it, you know the fruit has already come because
the fruit comes first. Normally it's the other way around,
isn't it? The tree grows leaves and then it buds and fruits,
but the fig tree does it the opposite. So our Lord's hungry. He comes to a fig tree that's
full of leaves and a person would naturally think there's something
to eat on that tree. Fig trees don't have fruit until, you know,
they don't have leaves until there's fruit there. The tree
was full of leaves, but there wasn't any fruit on it. The tree
was useless. It couldn't produce fruit. It
was lifeless in that sense. It couldn't produce any fruit.
So the Lord cursed it, and by morning it was dried up and dead.
And the Lord's going to do the same thing to every other fruitless,
lifeless religion. Every fruitless and lifeless,
not just religion, but individual professions of religion. Let
me give you three truths. That's the story, that's what
that picture is. Let me give you three truths.
Number one, in context, this is an obvious picture of the
Jewish religion under the law, isn't it? This particular fig
tree was full of leaves. So it should have been full of
fruit, too. This fig tree stood out from all the other fig trees.
None of the other fig trees had leaves on them yet. They just
had little buds of the fruit starting, but no leaves. This tree was full of leaves,
but it was just for show. It's like the tree was saying,
look at me over here. I've got all these leaves and
these other trees don't. That's like what it was saying. It was full of leaves, but there
wasn't any fruit on it. There was nothing there that
could give anybody life. Now that was the Jewish religion.
The Jews, boy, they had a lot of religious leaves, didn't they?
A lot of religious leaves that they could show off to men. They
had the laws that they claimed to keep. They had the ceremonies
that were given to them. No other nation had those ceremonies.
They had the priesthood. They had the ancient scriptures.
Oh, they had a good show. They had a good show of doctrine
and morality. They had a good show of their
traditions. All of their traditions, None
of them were done in secret, were they, behind closed doors.
It was always something they did out in public for everybody
else to see. They had all their traditions.
They made a good show of those things. They had lots of leaves
that would impress me, but they didn't have any fruit that God
requires. That was the problem. They had
leaves, but no fruit. And their religion is dead and
cursed to this day. The fig tree. with its leaves,
without any fruit on it. That's a picture of us, not just
the Jews now, but a picture of us trying to earn our own salvation
by our own works of the law. That's what the Jews were trying
to do. They thought they could earn a righteousness. They thought
they could earn God's favor by keeping the law and observing
these ceremonies. They thought doing those religious
works would give them life. But our sinful works can never
produce life. Brethren, we're born in this
world dead. We cannot produce life. Our sinful
works can't produce the fruit of life. They can't produce the
fruit of righteousness. They can't produce the fruit
of the spirit. The only thing our works can produce is fruit
unto death. Look at Romans chapter seven.
It's not that we can't have any fruit, It's that our fruit is
fruit unto death. There is some fruit, there's
something that comes from our works. It's not life, it's death. Romans 7, verse five. For when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sin, all this working, all this trying to keep
the law, the outward motions, it's sin. Which were by the law,
trying to keep the law, those are motions of sin. They did
work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. And that's
all it can produce, fruit unto death. And God has already cursed
that fruitless religion by blinding the Jewish nation unto this day.
They're blinded. They're under judicial blindness.
Well, brethren, let us run from any works, any kind of man-made
works religion. God's already cursed it. We've
seen that. Let's run from that. Number two,
this fig tree without any fruit on it, with its leaves, is a
picture of religion that's only external. You know, man-made
religion today is no better at all than the Jewish religion
of old. We have not advanced one whit in 2,000 years. Not
one whit. If anything, we've gone backwards,
if that's possible. And that's exactly what all of
us would be doing, just having this outward show of religion,
we'd be religious hypocrites. You know, man-made religion that
is just as, today, is just as full of the flesh as it was in
the day of our Lord with the Jews, because it's focused on
the flesh, not the spirit. It's focused on the outward,
not the inward. Not the inward. It's what I can
do. Not what I need God to do for
me. Now that is to say that man's religion today is focused on
producing leaves, but not fruit. All show, but no life. All show,
but no fruit. And the only thing that that
can produce is a religious hypocrite. I don't know if there's anything
I hate worse than that. A religious hypocrite. And God
help me, I don't want to be one. I don't want you to be one. But
that's what all of us will be if God doesn't give us mercy
and give us life. We'll be a religious hypocrite.
And lots of people, I mean people we know and know well, they've
got lots of leaves of their own religious works, don't they?
But it's a religious sham. Hypocrites are trying to impress
people with their leaves. instead of fruit. They're like
this fig tree saying, look at me, look at me. When I was in
high school, I was in a class play and there was this character
in the play. He had one line, repeated a few
times through the play, but he just had one line. His line was,
look at me. and in the most inappropriate
times for the play, he would just run across the stage and
yell, look at me, and do a cartwheel and run off the stage. And that
was it, until a little while later he came back and look at
me, you know. It was just, I don't know what it was, comic relief
or whatever it was, but it got the boy a part in the play. That's
what these people are. They're playing a part in a play.
It's what the word, where the word hypocrite comes from, it's
an actor, an actor. They have a profession of religion
without Christ. They have a profession of life
without the Holy Spirit. They have a religion of works
without faith in Christ. When all you're trying to do
is impress people with leaves, you're trusting in yourself,
not in Christ. And Lord's gonna curse that religion
every single time. See, they're much like the Jews
of old. Oh, they got their religious ceremonies, and they got their
tradition. And boy, you mess with that tradition,
you're in trouble. I mean, you're in trouble. They
got their scribes and their Pharisees, the men that they put in high
esteem in those positions, just like the Jews of old did. They've
got a religious veneer. They've got a religious dress.
They got a religious way of talking, just like the Jews of old did.
And just like the Jews of old, it's without faith in Christ.
And the Lord Jesus is gonna judge them and curse them the same
way he did the religion of the Jews. He's gonna curse them just
like he cursed that tree. Now remember, when the Lord Jesus
cursed that tree, what did he show us? He's God. He's got the power to judge.
He's got the power to curse. He's got the power to take life.
He's got the right to judge and to condemn and to destroy. And
that's an illustration of his justice in condemning a useless
tree. He's gonna do the same thing
with people in this useless, leaf-filled religion. Religion
without faith in Christ. One day, that's what he's gonna
do. All right, obviously we wanna avoid that, don't we? Well, here's
the third thing. The Lord is teaching us that
religion, without the fruit of the Spirit, is a cursed religion. If our profession of religion
does not produce the fruit of the spirit, it's false damning
religion. Somebody that does not have this
fruit of the spirit just may as well not bother telling me
about their profession of faith. Because a profession of faith
without this fruit is dead works. It just leaves. Let me show you
that. Look back at Matthew. Matthew
chapter three. John the Baptist is here baptizing
in verse seven, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers,
who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth
therefore fruits meet, fit for repentance. And think not to
stay within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father. For I
say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children
unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid
unto the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which bringeth
not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Now John says, bring forth fruit
that's befitting, that's meat for repentance. Now remember,
repentance is turning away from what we used to trust in and
turning to Christ. Repentance is not just being
sorry, it's a change of mind. It's a radical change of mind.
180 degrees turning away from what we used to trust in to now
trust in Christ alone. And everyone that God saves,
he gives them that gift. of repentance to turn and trust
Christ. Well, then what is a work that's
befitting repentance? Well, it's things that we do
that demonstrate we really do trust Christ. I really trust
him. I don't trust in my works in
any way. I trust Christ and Christ alone.
Abraham gave us a work meet for repentance, didn't he? When he
was willing to sacrifice Isaac on top of that mountain. That
showed Abraham believed God. Abraham really did trust God.
And if you and I have truly turned to trust Christ, we will bear
his fruit. We will. Now remember, this is
not our fruit that we bear. It's his fruit. It's the fruit
of the Spirit. But you can only bear that fruit
if Christ is in you. Christ has to be in you. See,
this is an inward work. It starts on the inside. Christ
does the work in you by dwelling in you in the new birth, and
then you bear his fruit. Let me show you that, Matthew
chapter seven. Matthew seven, verse 15. Beware of false prophets which
come to you in sheep's clothing. But inwardly, they're ravening
wolves. See, the problem is inward, isn't it? They got sheep's clothing
on the outside. They got leaves on the outside,
but inwardly, they're ravening wolves. And you'll know them
by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit. But a corrupt tree bringeth forth
evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring
forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire, whereby
by their fruits ye shall know them. Now, not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, not everybody has this outward thing
going on. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven. Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, Have we not prophesied
in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in
thy name done many wonderful works? And then while I profess
unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. Now both of these people, both
of these trees that the Lord's talking about had some works,
didn't they? They had some works. A good tree, a believer, the
Lord says can only produce good fruit because that's their nature. That's the new nature of Christ
that dwells in them so they can only produce good fruit. But
believers don't put any hope in that fruit. They don't put
any stock in their work. There's no hope of redemption.
There's no hope of making themselves have a better standing with God
than somebody else because of their works. They put no hope
in their works, all their hopes in Christ. Remember, these are
the works meet for repentance. They've turned to Christ. They
trust Him and Him alone. So they don't put any hope in
their works. But the unbelievers sure do. Well, in the judgment,
the unbelievers were able to start ticking off all the works
that they'd done, weren't they? Oh, we've cast out devils. We've
preached in your name. Look, Lord, we've got all these
leaves. But they didn't have any fruit because they didn't
have any faith in Christ. Now we want to examine ourselves
to see Has the Lord given me a true heart of faith? Has he
given me the ability to bear his fruit? Every believer bears
it now. To one extent or the other, every believer bears these
fruits because they come from the result of faith in the heart. So what is the fruit that the
Lord's talking about here? Look over at Galatians chapter
five. The apostle Paul, gives us, I
don't know if it's fully comprehensive, but a long list of these fruits.
Galatians 5 verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love. Now the first fruit of the Spirit
that Paul lists is love. And the word means spiritual
love. It doesn't mean attraction between
a man and a woman or something. It's spiritual love. It also
means things that promote love. Things that promote love. See
that you do things that promote love. That promote love. It's vital. Hold your finger
there, look back at 1 Corinthians chapter 13. I'll show you how
vital this thing of love is. It's vital. 1 Corinthians 13
verse 13. And now by the faith, hope, and
love. Charity is love. Now by faith,
hope, love. These three. But the greatest
of these is love. The greatest of these is love.
Love is so important, our Savior took the time more than once
to command us to love one another. Love one another as he has loved
us. It's the way that the Lord loves
you Does that promote love? Does that promote, oh, he's loved
us with an everlasting love. Does that make you love him?
See, he has done things for us that promote love. Let us do
the same thing. He commands us to do that. Love
is so important. Now, I really looked at this
before I said it, and I'm confident that this is true. Love is so
important. You cannot have the rest of these
fruits of the spirit without love. You can't. It all comes
from love. If you love somebody, you're
gonna have joy in them. If you love Christ, you'll have
peace with him. If you love folks, you're gonna
be long-suffering with them. You'll be gentle with them. You'll
be good with them. It all comes from love. Now this love, it's not this
sappy emotion that people think about. It's love, love for God. Love for everything that God
is. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. I love him. I love the way he
does things. I love his character. I love
his salvation. I love his gospel and I love
his people. As scripture tells us, actually
don't just love just God's people, love all men. Love all men. Now all believers have this fruit.
Every believer bears the fruit of love. but see that you make
it grow. Cultivate it. Get around that
tree and dung it and fertilize it and dig around it. See that
you do things that promote love. The biggest way you do that is
ask the Lord to make it grow in you. Lord, give me love and
enable me to show it. Quit, oh, let me quit thinking
about myself and start thinking about somebody else and showing
love and care and concern for them. Brethren, love is our bond. Love is what holds God's church
together. Believers are living stones that
God has used to build his church. Those stones are all different
shapes, different sizes, different colors. They got different sharp
edges on them. How do they all stay together?
One way, it's the bond of love. Now seek it. This love that Paul's
talking about here is love, not just that you feel in the heart,
but it moves you to action. It moves you to look for ways
to help one another. It looks for ways for you to
serve one another. Love is seen in our actions. It's just as plain as that. Love
is seen in our actions. I highly doubt any profession
of faith in an unloving person, because love is the fruit of
the Spirit. The second one, back in Galatians
5, the second fruit of the Spirit, verse 22, is joy. That word means
joy and gladness, gladness. Now, we need to find a middle
ground here. Don't be a Puritan. I mean, I
don't read the Puritans very much. They kind of weary me.
But now they say some great things. But man, they're down all the
time. That's the saddest lot of people
I believe I've ever known. Don't be an Eeyore. Don't be
an Eeyore. Oh, woe is me. Let's not do that. But also, let's not put on a
false religious veneer in front where we say everything's great
all the time when it's not. We know better than that. But
the believer, whether you're down here on this side in the
ditch or whether you're up here on the mountaintop and God really
has blessed you, either way, the believer always has reason
for joy and rejoicing, always. So instead of only talking about
the things that hurt us, or the things that we don't like, or
the bad things that people are doing, tell you what let's do. Let's talk about the reasons
that we have to rejoice in Christ Jesus. Let's do that. Because
you know what? Scripture says, this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you, that you rejoice in Christ
Jesus. But this word rejoice also mean,
that means rejoicing, joy and gladness in your heart. But you
know what else it means? It means joy that's received
from you, from you, things that you do to cause other people
to rejoice. Look for ways, I mean, examine,
look for ways, something you can do to make your brethren
rejoice, not sorrow. If you plan on doing something
that's gonna make your brethren sorrow, don't do it. Just don't
do it. Find something to do that will
make somebody else rejoice. I tell you, we'll show this fruit
much more if we quit thinking about ourselves and start thinking
about our brethren. We really will. Next, Paul, it says that the
fruit of the Spirit is peace. And that word peace means tranquility. Not getting all our feathers
all ruffled up and all in an uproar so easily. Tranquility. And you know why the believer
should have tranquility? Christ has already suffered and
died for your sin. Your soul has already been washed
in the blood of the Lamb. Doesn't that give you tranquility?
If Christ has saved your soul, the son of God, if he saved your
soul, what do you got to worry about, really and truly? And in a matter of trial, in
a time of trial, you know, a trial's not a trial unless it hurts.
A trial's not a trial unless it scares you half to death and
keeps you up at night. A trial's not a trial unless
it's heavy. And when you're being squashed
by the trial, have tranquility. Now seek this tranquility. Your
heavenly father's directing it. He's in control of all things.
Now is he or isn't he? That he's in control of what's
happening to me, he's directing it, and I trust him to do what's
right. How about you? That is precious,
valuable fruit, to be able to have tranquility. because I trust
Christ, because I love him, because I believe him. But this word
peace, it also means peace between brethren. See, it's not, none
of these words are just about you. It's about God's church
as a whole. It's peace among brethren. Do
whatever it takes to have peace with these people. Whatever it
takes. Without compromising the gospel
now, without compromising the blood of Christ, without compromising
the glory of Christ, do whatever it takes to have peace with believers,
here and in other places. And for that matter, as much
as lieth within you, have peace with all men. Isn't that what
Paul said? Now we're to strive for this, to cause peace between
each other. Strive for it. And I tell you to strive for
it because the way of the political world today is so divisive and
it's so combative. Boy, if we're not in lockstep
on the most minute issues, we are sworn enemies, we won't help
each other, we hate each other, we talk bad about each other,
it is so divisive. And the way of the world, that
attitude of the world, I'm telling you to my horror, has found its
way into the church today. and people are acting the same
way about issues. Maybe it's political. I don't
care if you're a believer or not. You disagree with me in
the political realm. Well, we're not friends. We're
not gonna have peace. We're not gonna have fellowship. You disagree
with me on the most minor point of doctrine. Oh, we can't have
fellowship anymore, you know. Seek peace and pursue it. Give up your own rights. Give
up some of your own wants so that we have peace with each
other. and avoid spending time with troublemakers. You're not
gonna change them, they're gonna change you. Avoid spending time
with troublemakers and those that wanna stir up trouble, cause
it's just not peaceful. It's just not peaceful. Then next, Paul says the fruit
of the spirit is long suffering. And the word means patience,
endurance, steadfastness, perseverance, slowness in avenging wrongs. You know, if we truly believe
that God is in control of everything and He can't do anything wrong,
then why wouldn't I be patient with whatever it is He's doing,
with whatever circumstances that He brings to me and brings to
the world around me? Why can't I be patient and keep
trusting the Lord? He hasn't made a mistake. And
He's the one controlling all this thing. He's controlling
these circumstances. And be slow. Now just be long-suffering,
be patient, wait on the Lord, let's not question him now. We
don't understand, but let's not question him. That's in our heart. But what about long-suffering
with others? Be slow to avenge wrongs that's been done against
you. Maybe it was unintentional. Maybe it was intentional, I don't
know, but just give it a little time. Just give it a little time,
and let's wait and see what the Lord will do, what he might be
pleased to do in this situation. And if we wait a little while,
and we're patient, and we wait on the Lord, that will promote
peace every time. It surely will. Then gentleness. Gentleness means kindness and
integrity. It's just plain, old-fashioned
kindness and sweetness. The world could use a lot more
of that, couldn't they? Kindness and sweetness. And it
sure should be found in God's church. Be kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God, for Christ's
sake, has forgiven you. Be a person of integrity, integrity. Nothing be more respected in
God's church. It might not be out there in
the world. But few things will be respected in God's church
more than a man and woman of integrity. Somebody you can count
on. Somebody you can count on. Then,
next is goodness. And that word goodness means
uprightness of heart, uprightness of life, and honesty. Live honestly. Let's live honestly. In all your
business dealings in this life, in all your personal interactions,
Be honest, and especially live honest before God. Don't pretend
to have fruit and you just got leaves. Let's not try to dress
up in a sham, you know, before God. Let's live honestly before
God that we're always a mercy beggar before him. I don't care
how much he's blessed us. We're still completely dependent
on Christ, aren't we? Let's live honestly that way. Then Paul is faith. And that
word faith means assurance and trust. Just trust Christ. It really is this simple. Trust
Christ to be everything that you need. Trust everything you
need in salvation, everything that you need in this life, and
never start trusting in your own works to add to Christ to
make this thing better. Don't ever look for anything
to add to Christ. Genuine faith will never do that.
But this word faith also means a faithful person. It's someone
that can be counted on. Now that will promote unity in
God's church. If you're somebody people can
count on, you're faithful. Then verse 23, Paul says meekness. And the word means mildness.
It's humility. It's humility that's shown by
not holding other people to an impossible standard. by me not
holding you to a standard higher than I hold myself to. And this
mildness, this meekness, is not seen when I ask, why me? Meekness doesn't say, well, I
don't deserve this. I don't need this. I don't deserve
this. Well, now, wait a minute. Yeah, I do, too, need it. Yeah,
I do, too. If the Lord's sending it my way,
I need it. That's a fact. I may not like
it, I may not like the feeling of it, but I need it. That's being meek. Meekness is
just an honest estimation of myself. That's what meekness
is, that I'm nothing. And whatever God does with me
is fine, because I'm his. Then temperance. The word means
self-control. Learn how to govern your emotions.
fly off the handle, because when we fly off the handle, we almost
always hurt somebody. I know that this old man is there. He's strong, he's powerful, he'll
never quit, but let's strive to have some control over that
old man who's the opposite of all these fruits of the spirit.
Temperance is some evidence that we're under control of Christ. not me, that we're under control
of God's grace, not the flesh. And Paul says there's no law
against any of these. There's no limits to how much
of this fruit you can have and how much of it you can put to
use. Just do all of this you want. Do all of it you want and you'll
never violate the spirit or the letter of the law. Preacher, I'd love to have those
fruits of the Spirit. I mean, I want them genuinely,
don't you? Oh, I want them. I want them to come from the
inside, from the heart, because Christ dwells in me. But now
they're not my fruit. They're the fruit of the Spirit.
What can I do so that these fruits grow? Is there anything that
I can do to help these fruits grow in me so that I can be of
help and benefit to God's people? There is. Look with me, John
chapter 15. I've gone way over my time here,
but I want you to, I just felt like this was, this is so important.
If you want to help these fruits grow in you, tell you what to
do. Be near the savior. They're his fruit. They come
from him. Be near the savior. Be near him
in preaching. Be near him in prayer. Be near
him in his word. John 15 verse one. I am the true
vine and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit, he taketh away. Every branch that beareth fruit,
he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you're
clean through the word which I've spoken unto you. Abide in
me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can you, except
you abide in me. So that's what I'm saying, abide
in Christ, be nearer the Savior. I'm the vine, you're the branches.
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. Now if a man abide not in me,
he's cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather
them, and cast them into the fire, and they're burned. If
you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what
you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father
glorified, that you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If you
keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have
kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These
things have I spoken unto you that my joy, whose joy? My joy. See, our joy is not in
ourselves, It's in Christ, it's His joy, my joy might remain
in you, that your joy might be full. This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,
and you're my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.
Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what
his Lord doeth, but I've called you friends. For all things that
I've heard of my Father, I've made known unto you. You've not
chosen me, but I've chosen you. And I've ordained you that you
should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain,
that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he
may give it to you. These things I command you, that
you love one another. See, the Lord talked there so
much about love, that was a fruit, first fruit of the Spirit. And
the way that we cause all the love and all these other fruits
of the Spirit to grow is by being in Christ. The closer to Him,
the more united we are to Him, the more fruit He'll enable us
to bear. And I hope the Lord will enable us to do just that.
I hope that'll be a blessing to you.