When you read the epistles of
Paul, very often you find prayers. Paul prays. It's quoted in the
scriptures what Paul prayed. And he prays for believers, he
prays for the churches that he'd established by his ministry,
that God had established through the preaching of the gospel.
And these prayers are part of the scripture. These prayers
of Paul, they're not just noted there as kind of scraps that
you might find in the notebook of some historical character,
they're part of the word of God. And they reveal the mind of God,
and they also reveal the will of God. What is the will of God
for me as a believer? Look at the prayers of Paul.
Paul prays for things for these people who are believers. but
remember to whom he writes. It's for believers. This isn't
a general thing. He's writing to, as it says in
verse 1, to the saints, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, all
those who are set apart in Christ Jesus. Who are the ones that
are set apart? Those who believe Him, those
who have faith in Him, those who trust Him, those who've heard
the gospel and have believed it, the saints that are in Jesus
Christ. At Philippi, with the saints
who were the leaders in the church, the bishops and the deacons,
meaning the elders, those that had the oversight, those who
were serving with the oversight of the church. And this is who
He's praying for. He's praying for saints. Those
in whom, as we saw last week, a good work is being performed. Those in whom a good work is
being... You know, God, He says in verse 6, I'm confident of this very thing
that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. Why did he have fellowship in
the gospel with them? Why did he have those bonds of
love? It's because God had begun a good work in them. And that
good work was the implanting of the new birth, of the new
man. That was the work that God did. God is the good workman
and this is the good work he's done. He's not improving corrupt
flesh, he's put a new man in the heart of the believer. And
he's working on that man through all sorts of things. That good
work shows itself. You know, like you can stand
back and look at an artist's work, you don't know how he did
it, but you see the end result. You see the picture, you see
what was achieved, you see the sculpture. And what are the marks
of that good work? You see in the heart of the one
who is truly saved, that there's repentance. that there's confession
of sin, that there's conversion away from the sin of the world
to the things of Christ. There's a godly fear of the child
of God, not a subservient terror of judgment, but a godly fear,
a respect, a righteous respect for who God is. There's a spirit
of prayer and supplication. These are the marks of that good
work that has been done in those who truly believe. Are those
marks in you? The godly fear, the prayer, the faith. Yes, we're
saved by the faith of Jesus Christ, but his people have faith in
Jesus Christ. We believe him. We trust him.
We have love. Love. I don't mean just affection
for family members, I mean true love. A true self-sacrifice in
love, which is the mark, the mark of true faith. We have gospel
obedience. Gospel obedience. We're not under
the law, we're under grace. We're not subject to law, we're
subject to the grace of God. But that doesn't give us license
to sin, for grace is going to abound. No, no. Gospel obedience,
obedience. There's a life which is lived.
in conformance to the precepts of the Gospel of Grace, of the
putting off of the old man with his nature and his works, and
the putting on of the new man. And he says, the one who's begun
it is continuing it now and will complete it. He was confident
of that. And because of these things he had this fellowship.
with these Philippians. He who was a Hebrew had fellowship
with these Greek traders and civil servants and whatever else
they were. And that same fellowship is the
fellowship that marks the bond between all true believers. It
doesn't matter what background you come from. If you're a believer
in Christ, in this land, if you're the most aristocratic head of
some great dynasty, and you're the most lowly poor breeding,
no education, from the poorest circumstances, you have fellowship
together. This fellowship together. God
is no respecter of persons. He isn't. God is no respecter
of persons. True fellowship. True fellowship.
Hearts knit together. Can you imagine it? Let's say
there was Lord somebody or other. I'm talking about one of the
aristocratic ones, not one of the political appointees, but
one of the aristocratic ones. And you imagine somebody from
the most deprived part of, this is where you get into trouble
when you name a specific place, but let's say, because I used
to do some work in a particular part of Doncaster on the railway,
and the streets I used to go through looked terribly deprived,
they really did, and there's somebody from there, if they
have this faith, If the God who begun that same good work in
the Lord has begun that same good work in the person from
the little terraced house in the back street of Doncaster,
they have hearts knit together in Christian love. He doesn't
look down his nose and say, oh look at that poor breeding, I'm
not having anything to do with it. God is no respecter of persons. They had true fellowship. They
had bonds of love. They were longing for one another.
Can you imagine the Lord saying, I'm longing to see you. You from
your impoverished back, I'm longing, this was the fellowship that
they had here in Philippi. And he's praying for these people.
He's praying, note who he's praying to. He's praying to God. To God. Why pray to God? You know, people pray, I hear
that people are praying, and I always say, who are they praying
to? What is it that they're praying
to? Because if it's not the God of Scripture, it's not the true
God, it's not the God who is sovereign, it's not the God who
is able to perform everything that he wills. Able! These other
gods are not. They're idols of the imagination.
They have no more power than a wooden statue carved, you know,
a totem pole. They've got no more power than
that. He's God who rules over all things. We've been reading
the book of Job, and I don't know how many times I've read
the book of Job in my life, it must be quite a few, but just
this time particularly, there are things that I'm just seeing
things that I don't think I've ever seen before, about who God
is, of the profundity of the words of Job. in that book. This is the God to whom Paul
is praying. He's sovereign over all things.
His purposes are certain. And God is the one who says,
remember this, this is such a comforting verse, he says, I will be inquired
of, of the house of Israel, for to do it for them. I want them
to pray to me. I'm going to do something for
them, but not without them praying to me for it. I will be inquired
of the house of Israel for them to do it for me. Well, I want
to look at this prayer in verses 9 to 11 to see what he prays
for believers. And this is what he prays for
you and me, if we're believers this morning. It breaks down
easily into its four bits. He prays that your love may abound
in all knowledge and judgment. He prays that you may approve
things that are excellent. You may approve things that are
excellent. He prays that you may be sincere and without offense. He prays that you may be filled
with the fruits of righteousness. So these are the four points
this morning. that your love may abound. I pray that your
love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all
judgment. Love is the first fruit of the
Spirit. And true saints, the true children
of God, have this love. The love of God, the true love
of God in the heart is proof of spiritual birth. If you are
born again, you will love God, you will love the Lord Jesus
Christ. Peter, Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Yes,
Lord, you know that I love you. Do you love me? Do you love him?
Do I love him? This love is the proof of that
spiritual birth. And the proof that there's a
new man inside, rather than just the old selfish self-centered
man, rather than just that one, the proof of the new man is love
to the brethren. It really is. You know, there's
a difference between love and like. We tend to like certain
characters and dislike certain other characters, but in Christ,
we're all different, we're all different characters, we're all
different characteristics, but in Christ, we love one another
with the love which is from God. It's the proof of the fact that
there's a new man inside. That ones that are, as we would
say, as different as chalk and cheese, and may not have the
same interest yet in Christ and for the sake of Christ love one
another. It's the proof of the new birth. 1 John chapter 5 verse 1 says
this, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God. Now listen, and everyone that
loveth him that begat, that's God who did the begetting, everyone
that loveth him loveth also him that is begotten." So in other
words, those who are the children of God, believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ, are born of God with a new man inside, and that
one loves God. It loves God. That new man loves
God. Do you love me? Yes, it loves
God. But it demonstrates it by loving the brethren, by loving
others who are begotten of God. And Paul prays that they might
have more and more of it. that there might be more and
more of that love. But it isn't love in a vacuum
with no tangible external evidence. It abounds, he says, in knowledge
and in all judgment. He prays that their love might,
their Christian love, this is unique. Only the saints of God
have this love. The world loves things, the things
of the world, you know, relatives, but the true love that comes
from God is the product of the new man, born of the spirit of
God. Unless a man is born again, you cannot see the kingdom of
God. And Paul prays that there's more
and more of it and that it abounds in knowledge and judgment. In
knowledge, first of all. Why in knowledge? Because you
can't love what you don't know. You can't love who you don't
know. You cannot say, you know, isn't
it a mark of immaturity? When you hear, please don't get
me politically correctly wrong, but I'll just use this as an
example because it tends to be the case. But when you hear a
young girl, early teens, saying how she loves a pop star, and
you think, you don't know that person. You love an image. You love a picture in your mind.
You love something that the media's created for you. You don't love
that person because you don't know what they're like. You've
got no idea of what they're like. Do you remember, if you've ever
read any of Jane Austen's novels, and if you haven't, you've probably
seen the costume dramas on television, but do you notice how many times
the heroine, and it's usually a heroine, the heroine, and it's
about marriage because this was so important then in the late
1700s, early 1800s, the heroine, the story's generally about how
the heroine gets to know the hero's character. Remember Pride
and Prejudice, isn't it? Elizabeth Bennet, am I right? Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy,
you know? And at first, she doesn't really
like him. She thinks he's very brusque. But it takes, and the
story's all about how she gets to know his true character. And when she knows his true character,
true love blossoms and marriage ensues. And that's the story,
over and over again. It's the same. You must know
someone to truly love them. Not just know about them. Not
just have seen a photograph or read an article or done something
trivial like that. You must know them. What are
they really like? But what sort of knowledge is
it? What sort of knowledge? That your love may abound in
all knowledge. In all knowledge. More and more
in knowledge. Is head knowledge or heart knowledge? See, head
knowledge is doctrine. It's texts. There are those that
know doctrine. There are those that can pass
theological exams. There are those that have a fantastic
memory for remembering texts of scripture and recalling them
freely. It's in their head, but in their
heart, there's enmity against the things of God. There's enmity
against the sovereign grace and particular redemption of God.
They can remember things, but there's enmity against those
key, core, foundational aspects of the Gospel. You see, you can
do all sorts of things that look spiritual, but if you don't have
this love which comes on the basis of knowledge, growing knowledge,
then you're nothing whatsoever. 1 Corinthians 13 verse 2 says,
if I have, you know, he's talking about love there in that chapter
13, and he says, if I can do all these seemingly powerful,
wonderful things and have not this true love which is from
God, I'm nothing. And even knowledge, even knowledge,
if I have all knowledge and understand all mysteries and have not love,
I'm just a noise, I'm just a banging drum, I'm just a tinkling cymbal. This is heart knowledge. This
is heart knowledge. Had knowledge without the love,
which is the true mark of the child of God, is being nothing
in God's kingdom. Jesus said this, John 17 verse
3, after he said he's got all power over all flesh to give
eternal life to whomsoever he will, he said, this is life eternal. This is life eternal. That they
might know thee, the only true God. Life eternal is knowing
God, and to know Him is to love Him. To know Him is to love Him. Because where the world knows
things of the doctrines of God, it more and more hates God. When
the world hears about the true God of Scripture, it more and
more rises up in fury against this God. But when the child
of God converted by the Spirit of God, reborn by the Spirit
of God, hears the things of God, and the doctrines of God, and
the knowledge of God, love grows, love intensifies, we know more
of Him. To know God is to love Him, and
it comes by Holy Spirit revelation. And if there's a coldness in
the heart, in terms of love towards God, it evidences a lack of knowledge
of God, and that we're not truly His children. In Ephesians chapter
three, 18 and 19, Paul prays that believers might be able
to comprehend, understand with all saints, the breadth, the
length, the depth, the height, to know the love of Christ. He's
saying it's unfathomable. You cannot get to the bottom
of it. You cannot measure it. You cannot put a tape measure
across it and measure how big it is. You just cannot do that.
But he wants them more and more to aspire, to comprehend how
big it is. It's love which passes knowledge.
It's beyond our ability to understand that ye might be filled with
all the fullness of God. This is the same prayer, that
you might grow in knowledge, that your love may abound yet
more and more in knowledge. Jeremiah 31-34, a reminder tells
us that God says there, all his people shall know him. All of
his people shall know him. They'll not be taught by other
people, they all know him themselves. You know, you don't know him
because of what you hear a preacher say. You know him because he's
taught you in your heart. Yes, the voice might convey the
true shepherd's voice, but you know him because he's made himself
known by his spirit. And Paul prays this very thing
for himself a couple of chapters on in chapter 3 verse 10, that
he may know him. What does he want? That I may
know him. That I may know him. And if you
know him, nothing else matters. What do you want to happen in
life? What are your aspirations? What are your thoughts for your
loved ones, for your relatives who don't know Christ? Above
all else, what else do you want for them? Material security?
Not really, no. Doesn't make any difference really,
ultimately. What you want for them is that
they might know Christ. If they know Christ, they're
secure for eternity. This is what we want for them,
that they might know Him. But then, secondly, that that
love may abound more and more in all judgment. In all judgment. What does that mean? Well, at
face value, we could interpret it rightly, there are many who
look like the children of God, saints of God, but we find they
have very poor judgment. They have very poor discernment.
They can't discern truth. versus error. what the scripture
says, tossed around by every wind of false teaching. You know,
like it is on a gusty, windy day, you don't know where the
next gust's coming from and which way it's blowing. It's normally
when you try and have a bonfire in the garden that the wind always
contrives to blow the smoke exactly where you're standing, and you
dodge around it and try and get out of its way, but it always
comes your way. You don't know where it's coming from. And there are
people that are like that, unable to discern where doctrine comes
from. Is it true? Is it in accordance
with God's word? are immature in understanding,
where the Word of God encourages us in understanding to be mature,
in understanding be men, that doesn't mean the male of the
species, it means in understanding be mature, be grown up, don't
be children, tossed around by every wind of doctrine. So yes,
Paul does pray that we might have good discernment to discern
truth and error, and this is consistent with the Scriptures
because John says, try the spirits, discern, judge the spirits whether
they be of God. Are they saying that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh? Not just was there a man called
Jesus who walked the earth. No, no, loads of people say that.
No, was Jesus Christ the fulfillment of all the messianic Old Testament
prophecies? And did he come and fulfill it
in saving his people from their sins? That's the one who's preaching
the truth. That's the one. Yes, we want
more discernment. But look in the margin. If you
have a marginal version of the scriptures, do you see it says
sense? An alternative to judgment is
sense. and sense means experience or
feel, feelings, experience. His meaning here is about love
abounding in judgment is that we possess a sweet perception
in the soul of the truth and love of God. It's a feeling,
a perception in the soul of the truth and love of God. Romans
chapter 5 verses 4 and 5 talks about tribulation working patience,
and patience working experience, and experience working hope,
and This is because the love of God is shed abroad. This love for which Paul is praying
more and more for believers, the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us. The Holy
Ghost is given to us and sheds abroad the love of God in our
hearts. And that's what this means. Judgment
is the sense of that, the experience of it, the spiritual sense of
the love of God. that the love of God may abound
more and more in you in the way that you feel it. Spiritual senses. Think of spiritual senses. Well,
faith is a spiritual sense that is the gift of God. It's not
of yourselves, lest any man should boast. It's the gift of God.
You're saved by grace through faith, and that not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God. But it's spiritual sight by faith. Abraham did this by faith. Noah
built an ark by faith. Sarah bore up by faith, by faith. by sight, by spirituals, by what
they saw that the natural man didn't see, they did things which
are recorded there in the faith gallery of Hebrews 11. By faith. Why do you do the things you
do? By faith. By what you see. Not by the reasoning
of this world, but by faith. Those who go out and preach the
gospel, not knowing where support is going to come from, but because
God has said, go and proclaim the gospel of grace, and I will
take care of you. I will look after you. I will
provide all your needs. Whatever means he uses, but he
does it. He does it. To see by sight.
Sight. Sense. That your love may grow
in sensing the things of God by faith. For it's that sense
which causes us to see the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That your love may abound in
that sense of experiencing love. Of knowing it, as 1 Corinthians
13 says. that there might be heartwarming knowledge, not dry,
cold, academic knowledge. You hear some preach, and I know
the flesh is weak and all who aspire to preach are subject
to it, but, you know, they can preach in
a very dry and cold way and you come away from it with your heart,
your soul is shriveled up and dying of thirst, to have streams
of living water, to have soul-refreshing food, to feed on the manna which
is from on high by the Spirit of God, and they don't have that.
But the true child of God feels it in their heart. Heartwarming
knowledge, not just dry knowledge, heartwarming knowledge of the
things of Christ. To taste, you know, taste is
a sense, is a feeling. You taste food and it tastes
good, or it tastes unpleasant. Taste and see that the Lord is
good. Sense. That your love may abound
in all judgment. Sense. Sense. Taste. Taste and
see that the Lord is good. Handling. Handling. We don't
handle Christ physically, because He's not here physically, because
He said, if I go not away physically, then I won't send the Comforter. I won't send Him, the Holy Spirit,
to you. And you will be deprived of so many spiritual blessings,
which we are. we were talking earlier in the
car about even those disciples, the apostles that were in that
room with Jesus in John 14 and Philip and Thomas and all of
those are clearly confused and there is Christ there is the
Lord of glory clothed in human flesh and they didn't see who
he was they knew he was somebody very special but they didn't
see who he was they didn't see what he was doing They just couldn't
see it. But we can. Children of God,
we can. Why? Because he sent the Comforter
to us. He sent his Holy Spirit to us
to show us these things, to speak these things to us. We're tasting
and feeling and handling. As John says in his first epistle,
the first verse of his first epistle, he says, we've heard
him, we've seen him, we've handled the word of life just as he did.
who leaned on his bosom, physically. We do, by what the Holy Spirit
gives to us. We sense that our love may abound
in all sense. Okay, let's move on. Secondly,
that ye may approve things that are excellent that you may approve
things that are excellent. And the margin there, look in
the margin, the margin's very useful. Can I encourage you,
if you have a marginal King James Version, look at the margin because
it says, or differ, that you may approve things that differ. that differ. And he says, approve,
see, or try, that you may try things that differ. This is what
he's praying for, that you may be a people that try things that
differ. Approve things that are excellent.
Try things that differ. He's talking about discernment
of the things of God from the things of man and of man's religion. I don't know if you remember,
a few months ago I brought a message on Jeremiah 15 verse 19 which
says this, Therefore thus saith the Lord, If thou return, then
will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me. And
if thou take forth, this is it, the precious from the vile, thou
shalt be as my mouth. let them return unto thee, but
return not thou unto them. He's talking about discernment.
He's talking about trying things that differ, different doctrines,
trying the spirits whether they be of God. He's talking about
trying Truth, what people say, testing it. The noble Bereans,
why were they more noble than the others? The others were just
ignorant, but the noble Bereans looked at the scriptures to see
whether the things Paul was preaching were true. Try them. If you separate,
if you separate the precious, the truth of God from the vile,
which is the vile twisting of man's religion, you shall be
as my mouth, says God. There are those that are preaching
that which is in truth vile when it's tested against his word.
It may sound plausible, but you look at it in detail, and it's
the works of man. It's the thoughts of man, dressed
up in the clothes of the truth of God. He said, you shall be
as my mouth if you separate the precious from the vile. Let those that have gone into
error come to you to hear truth, precious truth, but don't you
go back to them to mingle with their vile error. Don't you go
back to them, having once seen the light, don't you go back
to them and their vile error. Distinguish God's gracious truth
from man's vile religion. This is what he's talking about.
He's praying. This is God's will for his people,
for you and me as his people, that we may approve things that
are excellent, that we may try things that differ, that we may
test the spirits, whether they be of God, that we may put them
to the test. Is this true? I'll use the acronym
TULIP. You know? Is this truly what
God's Word declares? Total depravity, unconditional
election, limited atonement or particular redemption, irresistible
grace, perseverance of the saints. In other words, salvation accomplished
for the people that God put in Christ before the foundation
of the world. True truth. Not that which is
parading on the basis of man's decision and trying to do what
they can to get more and more people in so that they can fund
what they want to do. No. discernment, that you may
approve things that are excellent, that you may try things that
differ, that you may discern truth from error. The truth is
so contrary to the world's thinking. The world despises the things
of God. You may say, there's loads of
people who are Christians who don't want anything to do with
us. Why don't they want anything to do with us? I'll tell you
in a nutshell, should I? If you want, I'll put it in one
short phrase. We preach Christ crucified and
particular redemption. We preach the sovereign grace
of God and the fact that he did what he did for a people he chose
in Christ before the world began. And it's all in the sovereign
grace of God. And that is the reason why. Paul's prayer which reveals God's
will is that you may discern truth from error. You may approve
things that are excellent. that you may try and test the
doctrines that people come with against the Word of God, that
you will test preaching versus God's Word. I remember not many
years ago, several of us, being rebuked for daring to question
certain men's ministries because they had a reputation and they
had a name and they'd written certain books. And it was how
dare you challenge that man's ministry. I'll tell you how we
dare challenge it. The Word of God tells us in no
uncertain terms to challenge it. And where we find error,
I don't care what the label is on the outside or what the name
of the man is, we separate ourselves. Because the Word of God says
come out from them and be separate. And don't have anything to do
with that. Because it's pernicious and it's false. And it's not
the Gospel that saves. Thirdly, that you may be sincere,
second half of verse 10, that you may be sincere and without
offense till the day of Christ. That you may be sincere. That
you may be sincere. Sincerity is foundational, isn't
it? What is it? Somebody says, yes,
I'm a Christian, I believe all those doctrines, and you know
really, no you're not. No you're not. You're not sincere.
I can't see it honestly, deeply in your heart. You know, you
can tell when there's sincerity in human relationships, can't
you? Is it truly sincere? Is there true love there? Or
is it just a show? Is it a play act? Do you know
hypocrite? That's what hypocrite means.
It's a play actor. It's a play actor. Is it hypocrisy
or is it sincerity? The Psalmist cries this, Psalm
139, 23 and 24, can we say this? Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. We're asking God, look, he sees,
but we're saying, search me, O Lord God, search me. Know my
thoughts. See if there be any wicked way
in me. See if there be any insincerity. See if there be any hypocrisy
in me. Lead me in the way everlasting. Oh God, search me. Search my
heart. Know me. Try me. Look at my thoughts. Try them. See if there's any
hypocritical, insincere way in me. No. He prays that we might
be sincere, not hypocritical. Honest in our profession. If
we have a profession that it might be honest and not just
a play act. And then secondly, that we may
be without offence. Without offence till the day
of Christ. Without offence. Not causing
offence. He's praying that you won't be
a causer of trouble, that you will be without offense. And
the offense that he's thinking of is being a stumbling block. You know, putting something in
the way of somebody who might trip up. Leviticus 19 verse 14,
says, thou shalt not curse the deaf nor put a stumbling block
before the blind. You know, you shouldn't put something
in the way of a blind person so that they trip up. Put that
in spiritual terms. As believers, don't put something
in the way of an unbeliever who has not spiritual sight at the
moment. God might not have given him
spiritual sight yet, but don't you go and put something in his
way that will cause him to trip up. and cause him to turn from
the things of God. Matthew 18, Jesus says, woe unto
the world because of offenses. Stumbling blocks. For it must
needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the
offense cometh. He said also in another place,
blessed is he who is not offended in me. This is true blessing. not to be offended in Christ. Not to find the doctrine of Christ
a stumbling block. Blessed is he. But as believers,
don't put the stumbling block of inconsistent behavior in people's
way. So that they stumble when they
hear God's truth. So they hear God's truth and
they say, but hold on, I know that person, and look what they've
done. Look what utterly inconsistent thing they've done. Look at the
lie that they told about such and such a thing. Look at the
thing that they did that was totally inconsistent with their
profession. I'm not going to believe that
truth if that's all it does. No, don't put a stumbling block.
We all need to take heed of this. Don't put a stumbling block of
inconsistent behavior. We fall. We constantly fall. But we shouldn't live there in
a settled, contented condition. We're sinners in the flesh, but
pray for one another that we might avoid causing stumbling
blocks. Finally, fourthly, being filled,
verse 11, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which
are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. Being
filled with the fruits of righteousness. Paul was looking for fruits of
the gospel. He was looking for it. We look
for a good harvest, don't we? I think this year, because of
the way the weather's been, there's going to be a very good harvest.
When we go for our walks across country footpaths and you go
through the fields of rapeseed that makes the cooking oil that
we have in abundance these days, you know those fields that were
a mass of yellow flowers in March and April, Have you seen the
size of the seed pods on them this year? I've never seen them
as big. They're huge. Some of them are
like little pods of peas, they're so big. Because it's full of
the nourishment of the sun and the water, we look for a good
harvest. We've got a little plum tree that was new last year and
it didn't do anything last year, but this year it's absolutely
loaded with plums that are the size of large olives. We're looking for a good harvest.
I hope they don't all drop off before September. I hope we get
some sweet ones. Well, Paul is praying for a harvest
of the Spirit's fruit in these people, that you may be filled
with the fruits of righteousness. What is spiritual fruit? Galatians
5. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance, Against such there is no law, and they
that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections
and lusts, If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the
Spirit. If we're the children of God,
let's walk in the Spirit. Let's not be desirous of vain
glory, selfish glory, provoking one another, envying one another,
but bearing the fruit of the Spirit of God inside, that fruit
which is inward, the fruit of faith which is inward. The fruit
of hope, heart set on things above. The fruit of love, knowing
that we're only here temporarily. That this is just a fleeting
stay, but there's our home. Eternal glory. Peace in the heart. Peace with God. Humility. Humility. Knowing my rightful place. Knowing
who I am in the purposes of God. Meekness. Temperance. Patience. Inward fruits. External fruits.
Self-denial. Love. love expressed in acts
of charity to others, living to honour God's name. This is
the fruit that results from righteousness. This is the fruit of Christ and
his righteousness. Whence comes that righteousness?
He who knew no sin was made sin. Made sin for us. That we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. And that righteousness
which we are made in him bears fruit. It's the fruit of righteousness. The fruits are by Christ Jesus
unto glory, unto the glory and praise of God. Herein, said Jesus,
is my Father glorified. John 15 verse 8. Herein is my
Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. And only true faith,
only that true implanting of the new man produces what God
will judge as the fruit of righteousness. Now there's perhaps another sermon
in its own right, but that's true. Only, only true faith. Only true faith produces what
God will judge as the fruit of righteousness. You know, he pictures
the day when the sheep and the goats come before him, and he
divides them. And he says to the sheep, who
are entering glory and all the blessings and privileges, and
he says, because you did all these things. You fed me when
I was hungry. You visited me when I was in
prison. You gave me a drink when I was thirsty. And they all say,
when did we do that? We have no recollection of doing
that. He says, when you did it to one
of these little ones. Fruits of righteousness. He judges it. We don't judge it, we can't see
it, but he judges it. Fruits of righteousness. Herein
is my Father glorified when you bear much fruit. We remain sinners
in the flesh. Romans 7. You know, that's the
experience of a believer. I want to do that which is right,
but my flesh constantly does that which is wrong. I want to
stop my flesh doing that which is wrong, but it keeps on doing
it. Who's going to deliver me from this body of death? I thank
God through Christ Jesus, my Lord. There is therefore now
no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. We are
not You see, all these people talking about that differing
and discerning, those that say we don't have the truth, they
say, oh, you're antinomians, you're hyper-Calvinists and you're
therefore antinomians, because the two always go together. They
accused John Gill of antinomianism. They said, oh he's undoubtedly
a hyper-Calvinist, and if he's a hyper-Calvinist he must be,
it means, antinomian means to live without law, to live saying
what Paul says in Romans, he says, what then, shall we sin
that grace may abound? If it's grace that covers our
sin, well we can go on sinning all we want, God forbid, God
forbid, we're not without law. Our gospel God's gospel is our
gospel, the gospel of God. God's gospel does not lead his
people to lawless living. It does not give his people license
to sin. We do not make the law void through
faith, but rather we establish the law. We fulfill it. We fulfill
it by faith in Christ, and we fulfill it by the faith of Christ,
which has achieved all things and achieves all things for us.
Is there any resonance in your soul with these thoughts? that
your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in
all judgment, in all sense feeling, that you may approve, that you
may discern things that differ, that you may discern truth from
error, that you may be sincere and not cause stumbling blocks,
that you may be filled with the fruits of righteousness. This
is what Paul prayed for them. This is what reveals God's will
for all of his people. Is there resonance with those
thoughts in your soul? If so, you're a child of God. You're a child of God. If you're
God's child, you'll resonate with those things. And you'll
pray for these attributes to grow more and more, not only
in your own life, but in the lives of all of our brethren.