True Liberty For All Who Believe

All righty.

Well, we're two minutes ahead of schedule, which is a good thing because I've got plenty of material to cover so come on in and As everyone kind of gets their seats. I'm just going to kind of sweep through a few Items that we've already covered just for the sake of review.

Reviewing the Fruit of the Spirit Series

So we started a new series. Brand new just a few Wednesdays ago. I guess this is our third maybe third or fourth. But we began a series on the fruit of the spirit, that's a pretty common phrase we're familiar with.

It is found in the fifth chapter of Galatians that phrase that the Apostle Paul uses and In it as we read the passage He begins by talking about the fruit of the spirit. We'll hone in a little bit more on that in a second and then he goes on to list nine specific things.

And.

The point of the study is to go through those nine specific things. And of course, we will be doing that. So love joy peace Long suffering those types of things. We're going to go through all of them in detail.

But again, we're like three or four lessons into our introduction at this point. Which is important because there's a lot of great groundwork to be laid for this study. So it's just a quick reminder of a few things we covered.

We began by first mentioning the fact that the Apostle Paul often uses this tool of teaching or excuse me this technique of teaching where He will use a list of let's just say virtues to demonstrate a specific moral principle.

So usually when he's talking about Christian morality is when we'll see this teaching technique pop up and it wasn't unique to him. No doubt. He would have learned it from his teacher Gamaliel because it was a common ancient Teaching technique at that time and so anytime he had like a moral principle that he wanted to teach and really hammer home he would do so by Filling in is using as many Let's just say virtues.

Good things that the Holy Spirit put on his heart to lay down in that particular list other times. Again for the same purpose to get the idea of a moral principle across he would use a list of sins or revices to contrast the moral principle.

So there were times where he would give a list to demonstrate the principle and times he would give a list to contrast the principle. Well, if you go to Galatians 5 if you want to go there what you find is that he does both in this passage.

He begins by setting the context and tonight. We're actually going to be digging into the context even more as we get into the actual Dimensions of the fruit of the Spirit. Throughout the rest of the study, but he begins by setting the context then he goes on Quite the detailed list of sins to contrast with what he's about to give which is the fruit of the Spirit.

Which is the point of our study, so we started by laying that groundwork. We eventually covered the interesting fact that grammatically Paul calls it the fruit of the Spirit singular. And then goes on to list nine specific things you think well wait a second.

Why did he say the plural fruits fruits of the Spirit oftentimes when we talk about it? We will say fruits of the Spirit. You know we want to demonstrate fruits. Paul didn't say it that way he put it in the singular.

On purpose and I as we've already talked again. This is a bit of review. I believe it was for two reasons number one He wanted us to remember what the singular source was of the fruit that being the Spirit, but secondly When he goes through each individual what I'm calling dimensions of the fruit.

Love joy peace long-suffering gentleness all of them. He wants us to be thinking about it is a package deal. Not about a cherry-picking kind of thing like I'm gonna choose love, but ignore the patience or I'm going to choose gentleness.

But ignore the.

Meekness and the temperance and things like that. It's a singular thing. He wants us to think about. It's the whole life of the believer. And so Paul puts it in the singular. It's the fruit of the Spirit, but again, he then goes on to give nine Dimensions as I'm calling them.

Fleshing it out putting adding color to it showing us what that looks like in practice. And then another thing that we talked about. Just to kind of round it up last week. We at some point early in the series I can't remember when we talked about the difference between gifts and fruit.

So sometimes we may accidentally mix those up. God gives individuals different gifts. Some people have the gift of administration the gift of leadership the gift of being an outgoing person. The gift of being you know, very orderly the gift of leadership these types of things and that's what makes individuals Individuals unique.

Not all Christians have the same gifts. But all Christians are expected to have the fruit and as Paul demonstrates in this chapter of Galatians chapter 5, yes.

Oh, yeah.

And y 'all can go back and listen to the previous ones as well. Because I'm going through the review so we talked about those distinctions. But there's one other distinction we made last week and that is oftentimes we talked to we talked about character.

We talked about personality. It's another very important distinction to make for this study because Personality is something people are born with to a degree of course environment can influence it so a person can be born with the proclivity to be a shy person or an outgoing person or To be a naturally compassionate person and things like that and then depending on the environment they in.

Therein it may amplify that personality trait even more. So everyone's born with a specific personality again. It's part of what makes us unique individuals. Which only God could do that. You got six billion people living simultaneously on earth at the same time and it's like a snowflake kind of analogy.

Everyone's a little bit different. So we're born with personality. That is somewhat innate. However, there's this other thing called character and that is not something we're born with. In fact, we're born with the opposite.

We are born with the need to build character because we're born naturally selfish and naturally Gravitating toward toward selfishness and in whatever sins we could indulge in even as little ones to aim toward our Desired outcomes and things like that.

So character has to be built and the fruit of the Spirit plays into how God views a godly character in a person so that's kind of the stuff we talked about last week and And things like that. So we'll kind of just jump into it tonight.

And if you want to take a look at verse 13 of Galatians. We're going to kind of pick it up there and reestablish the context a little bit, but we're still Introducing things as we go through this so when we gain the righteousness of Christ.

Something a positional reality that we live within. Which we of course attain through salvation alone. It's not our own righteousness and we're going to get into that more a little bit. When we have that we begin to have the ability to bear the fruit of the Spirit.

Now this is a miraculous thing because as we've talked to witness we've talked about as well. You look at this list Fruit of the fruit of the Spirit the love the joy the meekness you start thinking about Living these out in an habitual Lifestyle you think wait a second.

That is actually going to be kind of hard and so when you think about it in those terms mixed with the reality of our Depravity all of the sudden it makes the Righteousness of Christ an incredibly important thing that we have to focus on as well.

And of course the fact we often hone in on the fruit and forget the very next word. Which is the Spirit the fruit of the Spirit and so having this righteousness of our Lord within us. It gives us the ability to bear the fruit of the Spirit and this fruit is something that sticks around.

And this is a huge key because another thing we talked about last week is Okay, we're talking about Christian ethics in this study the Apostles talked a lot about morality and yet We look around us if we see unbelievers doing pretty solid things.

Maybe they're a gentle person. Maybe they show patience. Maybe they exhibit a sense of honesty in these types of things so we asked how what then is the difference between a Christian bearing the fruit and an unbeliever that is seemingly also bearing fruit what it comes down to is the dividing line is between What are we going to do when we're in a position to get away with something such as being dishonest or?

Having a lustful thought or not being patient or any of the other virtues that we're looking at here. What does the Christian what does the person do when they can get away with theft or when they can get it even if they?

Need it if they're in dire straits, maybe they need you know they really need some sort of resource and They are in a position where they know without a shadow of a doubt. I'm not going to be caught. What are you going to do with that situation?

Things like that and that is the dividing line between the believer and the unbeliever because the unbeliever will exhibit what looks like fruit of The spirit in order to gain in a particular societal context so you're living in a Christian society of course you were going.

The non-believer is going to have societal gain by being a meek person a loving person things like that. Maybe exhibiting some of those from time to time but the kicker is. When their actual natural man pops out and their actual patterns of living pop out.

Kind of in the undercurrents of their life. Maybe when no one's looking or maybe only when their family's looking and things like that you start to see oh wait a second. There's a difference there whereas you have Christians that see this list of virtues.

They see that it comes and flows from the spirit that lives within them, and then you put them in a situation.

Where the.

Powers that be are saying don't live that way. But they do it anyway. That's the dividing line between a believer and a non-believer. When it comes to morality they are not going to adjust their morals depending on what societal Norms come and go.

So all of a sudden abortion is really normal. Well. The spirit that lives within believers are going to have a problem with that Regardless of how championed it is in society. And of course you can list a whole bunch of stuff in our current society.

That wasn't the norm 50 years ago When even unbelievers would have been super conservative why for societal gain for selfish purposes. Now. It's not popular to live that way anymore and yet genuine Christians still do it even when it's not popular.

So we talked a lot about that as well. And so for the Christian the fruit is something that sticks around. Regardless of what happens in the future regardless of what persecution comes regardless of what other people tell us to do Regardless of what societal norms change the fruit sticks around for the believer.

It doesn't come and go it doesn't just crop up.

Occasionally.

The virtuous character that salvation brings becomes habitual for the believer habit forming patterns of good work. Like Paul talks about in Titus chapter 2. So this passage in Galatians 5 is again, perhaps the best known passage that shows us what the virtuous qualities of the fruit of the Spirit are and It even explains why it should be a part of who we are on the inside.

Not just a matter of having a list of external rules to follow to look good, which is what the unbelievers do. But rather a list of proofs that the Holy Spirit is actually living inside a person think about the difference.

It's not a list of external rules to follow for the sake of salvation. It's a list of proofs that show the world what it looks like when the Holy Spirit lives inside a person. It's a considerable difference.

Liberty Defined by God's Word

So look at verse 13 with me. The Apostle Paul says for brethren You have been called unto Liberty and pay really close attention to every word in these verses. You have been called unto Liberty only use not Liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love Serve one another.

For all the law is fulfilled in one word even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Now, of course freedom and Liberty the word that Paul uses here. These are incredibly Misunderstood terms in our culture today, which is kind of this hyper individualistic culture.

In other words in the end Whatever is best for me. The individual is my desired outcome and that is what should be glorified. So in that kind of cultural experience like we have all of a sudden terms like Liberty and freedom that are absolutely beautiful terms.

They become kind of disfigured they become Misdefined and all of these types of things are misunderstood at best and there's no doubt that every person That is made in the image of God has an innate desire for freedom for Liberty.

Why is that? It's the state we were created in we were created in a state of Liberty of Dominion Subduing the earth and so when our founders sought freedom and Liberty That was a very natural desire that they had.

And so all people that are made in the image of God, which is everybody will have that desire. But the question is By what standard is freedom defined? So we all want it. We all want Liberty. We all want freedom the Apostle Paul says we have been called into Liberty.

So it's actually something we possess. So the question is by what standard is freedom defined? Now this is where it gets really important culturally speaking. The standard certainly can't be and I'll put a little qualifier in here the modern American version of it.

Modern is an important word. Because as y 'all can probably guess where I'm going with this our founders that spoke about freedom and Liberty their standard. Was the right standard? Okay, but the standard for us today living in the 21st century because we're not alive in the great I mean it was the Wild West kind of but it was also a great time as well.

Morally speaking we don't live in those days anymore. And so what standard are we going to define things? By the standard can't be the modern American perception of it because otherwise we would then have to agree that it is good and true that things like Transgenderism or abortion or dishonest gain usury that sort of stuff Prostitution pornography the welfare state we would have to agree that these are all proper effects of freedom.

Because that's what they say it is. It's our human rights and things like that. So We know as Christians that doesn't sound or we know as Christians that those things aren't right. There's something wrong with it.

We know it just naturally because God in his common grace did put Let's just call it natural law out there the world laws of the universe the way things should work. Biology he put all that out there.

So even if you're not a non Even if you're a non-believer you look at the world around us and you see things that just don't seem right and yet you have people coming and saying well it's our human rights to do this that or the other to you know have abortions on demand to have the gender-affirming care all these Euphemisms for these terrible sins.

So again by what standard is freedom defined? Is that truly freedom? Is that how we should define it? And of course, we would all agree that none of this is the case. None of these things are true effects of true freedom transgenderism Homosexuality abortion those aren't true effects of freedom.

They can't be because they're in direct opposition to God's Word in the Apostle Paul says we have freedom. We have liberty so that must mean that there's a biblical definition for freedom for liberty what that is supposed to look like and of course we Ask the question by what standard and we know that this is the standard.

It's God's Word and that's what our founders based The their definition of freedom upon as well. And so of course none of these things are true effects of freedom, but rather the effects of a dramatic bondage to a brutal slave master.

Which we talked about already in this study sin. Jesus calls it that in John chapter 8 I think verse 34 he says that if you have sinned if you have sinned you are a slave of that sin. It's a brutal slave master that we are in bondage Under so all of those things.

I mentioned a second ago. It's not freedom. It's not Liberty. It's bondage.

So.

When the Apostle Paul Under the inspiration of the same spirit from which the fruit comes that we're talking about in this study. When he says you have been called unto Liberty. You have to remember that the Apostle Paul isn't just throwing this term out there.

It's just this kind of cool Term that sounds nice. He's doing it with a number of assumptions in the state. So Paul is assuming things when he uses the word just like our modern culture. Assumes the right to all of these egregious sins.

When they use the term the Apostle Paul had totally different assumptions. And that's where the definition of the word begins to change a little bit. In other words Paul assumes that we know he's not talking about anarchy.

When he says you have been called to Liberty, he's not talking about anarchy free-for-all. Everybody gets to do whatever they want. We know that he's not talking about that. That's one thing that he assumes he assumes that we know he's not talking about Libertarianism and other egregious kind of malform of freedom.

Liberty and those types of things we know. All right, excuse me. He assumes that we know he's not talking about elevating man is the chief end and ideal being. We God is the ideal being and we don't elevate man.

What are we called to do to glorify our Creator? He assumes we know that when we read this text and see his use of the word Liberty. He assumes that we know he's not talking about being a law unto ourselves another phrase.

He's used elsewhere.

Meaning that.

Get to draw the lines that determine our right and our wrong. That would be a law unto ourselves if we get to decide where the boundaries are. Whether or not we want to move the boundaries or maybe pull them in a little bit.

Whatever is best for us. He assumes that we know he's not talking about that when he uses the term Liberty what offends us what pleases us those types of things and By that standard all others around us are to conform to of course our desires and well-being.

That is what the selfishness of modern Liberty and freedom how it's typically defined that was not Paul's starting ground for this statement when he says you have been called into Liberty. That's not any of the assumptions that he had on the contrary.

These are some of the things that Paul does assume When he uses the term Liberty He assumes that Liberty means that we are freed to put it brother Rocky's terms from every lesser Lord. That's a true freedom.

That's a true Liberty. He assumes that we are freed from the bondage of our own sin. That is true freedom and Liberty that we are freed from the captivity of the devil. That's true Liberty that we are free to enter the throne room of his grace.

Think about that for a second. That is true Liberty. That we are free to communicate and commune Unhindered by anything with our own Creator that is true Liberty and that we are free to worship our Creator.

We are free from the wages of sin, which is death. That is all true freedom and Liberty and for the purposes of this study Another thing that I believe he's assuming is that we are free. Of course, we're free from hell eternal separation from God in this as well.

But he assumes when he uses the term that we are free to live in a way That is pleasing in God's sight now. It is just think about that for just a second as believers We are called to freedom. We are called to Liberty and We are therefore free to live in a way that is pleasing in God's sight now when you think about that in light of verses such as there is no righteous no not one and That our righteousness our Righteousness and it's in the plural.

I can't even say Righteousness is are as filthy rags and we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away you think about the freedom that we have to live in a Way that is pleasing in God's sight in light of those verses and all of a sudden that is a true Liberty.

That's a true freedom. So y 'all get the point. Paul's use of the term is a little bit different than our use of the term today and by our I mean The American culture the culture of the West look at verse 15 he says right after saying you have been called to Liberty and After saying that all the law is fulfilled in one word even this thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself.

He then says but If you bite and devour one another take heed that you be not consumed one of another this is kind of interesting. So after setting the context by pointing out that number one. These Galatian Christians are free.

He points that out first. They are free as believers and That they need to buy love serve one another we'll get back to that in a little bit. That's fulfilling the law. Paul then shows them that they've actually been doing quite the opposite.

He just flat-out tells him He calls them out he displays their sin right before them and like I said a minute ago he actually goes on to list a number of sins a number of vices right after this in great detail and The connotation is that he is saying this is the kind of people you are.

Despite the freedom you have been called to you have been called for freedom outside of the bondage of these very sins. You're committing and he's reminding them of that. He calls them out he displays their sin right before them and he goes as far as to say that if they don't stop if they don't stop the Backbiting and all these types of things they will consume one another that was his warning.

Walking in the Spirit Instead of the Flesh

So look at verse 16. What's the answer? What is the answer to this problem that he brings to their focus? He says this I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusted against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to another.

So that you cannot do the things that you would. Now we've already said it before once in this study. Raj was here a couple of weeks ago and he kind of honed in on this reality and gave some Insightful thoughts, but there is an antithesis here between these two things.

The works of the flesh walking in the spirit lust of the flesh in other words, they are not compatible. There's no mixing of the two. You can't walk in the lust of the flesh and walk in the spirit simultaneously.

And that's what the Apostle Paul is saying. They're not compatible and by their very nature. They can't be compatible. You get to verse 18. Man, that's what the storm out there. You get to verse 18 and it says if you be led by the spirit.

You are not under the law yet. Another amazing phrase we have here. And with verse 18, we kind of come to the thrust of why we have the ability to bear the fruit of the spirit now. How we have the ability to bear the fruit of the spirit now, it'll be over in a second radar looks pretty good.

It's just a weird Isolated cell that's right over us.

Okay.

What is it what is the reason why we have the ability to bear the fruit of the spirit the whole study that we're about. To embark on for a little while. It is this.

If.

You are led of the spirit. You are not under the law. And that means that anyone that has not yet here think about it for a second. We think about the law and we talk about the the grace that we are under now in the fact that we've been freed from This but think about how scary this verse actually is for just a second.

He's talking in the present tense after the Old Testament Age is over after the Old Covenant has been replaced by what we now call the New Covenant. This is the Galatian Church. This is a Christian Church.

After Jesus has risen into heaven and what does he say if you be led by the Spirit you are not under the law. Present tense. And what's the negative implication there? If you are not led by the Spirit you are under the law even in the New Testament age.

Think about it for just a second. Anyone that has not yet submitted to Christ as Lord has not called upon his name has not said I want you to be the Lord of my life. They are still under the condemnation of the law and you think about that with the people we look around the ones we care about That aren't yet believers that gives you a little bit of evangelistic zeal because we understand the freedom that we now have not being under The law and then we think about them and it's a very scary thought.

When Jesus said till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no ways pass from the law Till all be fulfilled. It's because the law is still bearing down on the lost world. They are still condemned by it.

They are still judged by it. It is still used as a tool for judgment to this day, which is a very very scary thought but it also means that we as.

Believers.

Those that have the ability to bear the fruit of the Spirit. We are in a completely different scenario. Ourselves as believers and what is it? Well, the law itself is perfect. Why. Because it came from God.

The law is perfect. It is a perfect representation of God's character of his holiness. Because he's showing us what it looks like to live. How hard it is to live in a way that is up to his standards. We'll just put it that way for simple simplicity sake when you look at the law as bizarre as it seems it is a perfect representation of his character and his holiness and It's a reminder that we are fallen creatures in need of a Savior.

Which of course is the entire point of the law coming into the world? It also shows us what he expects of all people not just his own. And sometimes we think you know The law Old Testament Jews, but no this is how he expects humanity to live even the heathens.

That didn't necessarily have it in detail. Paul tells us in Romans 2 that they have the law on their heart. I believe that's more of a reference to like the Ten Commandments. You know not killing people and things like that.

So even the lost world has that according to Romans 2. But God expects all people not just his own. To live up to it's what they're going to be judged by. Including Christians, by the way, but there is a Key to that.

Does anyone know what the key is there think about it. We've come to the end of the age. Jesus is back and he's judging the world and he's judging them by their lack or Their completion of fulfilling the law and Christians will be judged by that same standard.

What's the key for Christians on that day? The key is that Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf. So we are still judged by the law even now. The difference is when God the Father looks at us. He sees the completion of it and that's why we're able to pass the judgment test.

But the rest of the world that said no we want to pass the test ourselves. They will fail it. They will have to pay for their failing of that test themselves. So the law is perfect. It is a perfect representation of God's character his holiness what he expects of people what the world will be judged by but Though the law is perfect.

It's not a person. It's perfect, but it's inanimate. It doesn't lead the way like a shepherd does for example. So as flawless as the law may be because all scripture is perfect and that it's delivered.

In that mode as flawless as the law may be it will inevitably act as a yoke of bondage because of our Depravity. An Imperfect person cannot keep a perfect law perfectly. It's impossible it's an impossibility and a perfect person cannot keep a perfect law perfectly and therefore a Blood price is required to enter into the presence of the very holiness that produced the law in the first place.

And of course the blood price has been paid for those who believe and as a result We are no longer under the law. Paul's point in verse 18 here. It's a perfect and think about this for a second it is a living thing the law.

But it's not but it's inanimate. Think about it. All scripture is Is given and that's the whole thing the entire canon and then Hebrews the writer of Hebrews tells us it is living and active Sharper than a two-edged sword.

So the law is Living and active but it's inanimate. It's like a tree. It's like a plant a plant is alive but it's inanimate that is like the law and of course the entire Word of God is Like that as well as living and active the law, of course fit the bill there, but it's still an inanimate thing.

So we come back to us now. We see the grave state the world is in. And what is Paul telling us when he says walk in the Spirit and then in verse 18? He says if you be led by the Spirit. What he's saying is that we as believers aren't led by some inanimate thing as perfect as it may be.

That's actually a yoke of bondage. It's inanimate. Instead we are led by a living person in his name is the comforter. It's the Holy Spirit. It's a living person not an inanimate object. But a living person and that is how it is even possible for us to bear Much fruit as we are called to do and it'll be increasingly important for us to remember this as we start going point-for-point Through all of the dimensions of the fruit of the Spirit and what are they?

Let's look at it one more time and then we'll be done. But verse 22 the fruit of the Spirit is and here's the rest of our study love.

Joy, peace.

Long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance. Against such there is no law. And that final phrase there. It just really Paul Brings in this just harmonious like putting a bow on the entire Bible in this one little phrase and we'll explain.

I'll explain more why when we get to it. But that's going to be the remainder of our study. Is those two verses the nine dimensions of the fruit breaking each one of them Down point for point. Starting with love, of course.

What Jonathan Edwards calls the sum of all virtues and so that's what we'll get into next week is love. So you'll have any thoughts or anything you'd like to share before we move on to prayer requests.

I.

Well, if I spot that it'll be on my mind. Yeah, I haven't either. That's the that's the Theological study and meteorological report. If the radar doesn't do something weird.

I.

Could be any. I could be any of our guys.

I.

Okay.

Okay.

Right out there in the heading said over this next section it said the fruits world The spirit and something else and I swear.

Did you really. Yeah, that's amazing.

Well, there you go.

Well, okay.

Right, well I'll say this. Well, it was kind of funny because it seems like well grammatically since he lists nine things. It should be fruits, but and I think mom pointed this out. Even a tree will have a lot of Fruit on it.

We say fruit. Even though there's even though there's a million apples or something. And so it's it's grammatically correct. It would have been grammatically correct in the plural to though. Which is why it is of note that Paul kept singular and that's why I think it's one thing.

But to Jenny's point You know never thought of it before. It's I've been thinking about. I was thinking about either. Is that's the the benefit of being a teacher doing a study. As you learn you see stuff like that that you've skimmed over.

Your entire life, so I didn't recognize that either until I started studying for this study. Well, you know, of course.

Right.

Yes, it is for sure so we have gifts of the Spirit in Corinthians. Gifts are unique for unique people. No one has all the same gifts. No one has the same personality, which is why we made those distinctions.

Detail. We do I think so.

Right.

The difference is the fruit. It is an expectation of A person that has the Spirit within them now in it's an effect and in previous studies We've gone into detail on well, what does it mean if I mess up on one of them?

We've talked about that detail and of course and you can listen to recordings. We spent a lot more time on it and last week. I think we did as well and Again, remember God is not shooting for sinless perfection in us here.

What he's doing is is he is doing a good work in this that is a progressive process. In order that he may be glorified even more and we think what on earth is that all about? Why couldn't he just made his perfect?