Good Works Are The Fruit Of The Holy Spirit

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:03

Please turn your Bible to John chapter 15 that could be found on page 901 of the pew

00:09

Bible in front of you When you have that please stand for the reading of God's Word I'll read verses 1 through 11 for context.

00:37

I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser Every branch in me that does not bear fruit

00:44

He takes away and every branch that does bear fruit. He prunes that it may bear more fruit

00:50

Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken Abide in me and I in you the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine

00:59

Neither can you unless you abide in me? I am the vine you are the branches Whoever abides in me and I in him he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me.

01:09

You can do nothing If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered

01:17

Thrown into the fire and burned if you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and It will be done for you by this

01:27

My father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples as the father has loved me

01:34

So have I loved you abide in my love If you keep my commandments, you will abide my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love

01:44

These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full

01:50

Amen, you may be seated Dear my father.

01:57

We thank you this day for your promise Of union with Jesus Christ. We thank you for your spirit by which that union is accomplished

02:06

We asked you we would understand this truth more in order that we may appreciate it more and take advantage of it more in the

02:12

Christian Life we ask that this would be for the glory of your kingdom Jesus name Amen So this is something that Christians should desire to do and most do desire to do is to live fruitful lives

02:26

To live a fruitful life Maybe you want to live a fruitful life and you look at your life and you wonder why it is not more fruitful

02:34

What would bring about more fruit? Well, the answer here is found in this passage

02:39

It is abiding in Christ and understanding that in a lot of ways is key to a fruitful

02:45

Christian life So I'd like you to understand this today what it means to abide in Christ You'll notice that this is by the title of the sermon written in your bulletin

02:57

Sermon about the Holy Spirit that good works are the fruit of the Holy Spirit and previous sermons

03:03

We looked at how the Father has ordained good works beforehand for us How we are a new creation in the

03:10

Sun for good works and today we'll be looking at the work of the Spirit To produce fruit in us to produce good works in us

03:18

And so considering this passage here verses four and five By to me and I and you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in vine

03:26

Neither can you unless you abide in me? So he talks about a vine and branches in this analogy

03:35

Christians are the branches Christ is the vine just as the branches of a plant receive life from the vine

03:41

So we receive life from Jesus Christ and it talks about this producing fruit

03:47

He says I am the vine and you are the branches whoever abides in me and I in him He it is that bears much fruit for apart from me.

03:54

You can do nothing So given that he talks about doing something, you know that what he's talking about here is good works this fruit

04:01

It's good works. Now. We've defined good works in the past is sincere obedience This is not just external things that are special that God has not called everyone to Some of those are the case

04:13

Some acts of charity that God has not called everyone to but this also includes Thoughts words and deeds that God would call everyone to resisting temptation even your inner

04:25

Peace, etc. The joy of the Spirit. These are all good works because they are all sincere obedience to the

04:32

Lord so he speaks of Speaks of all these things and this is something that he said is accomplished by abiding in him

04:43

Through that through that union now, you might wonder If I wish to teach on the

04:50

Holy Spirit, why would I choose this particular passage? Which does not even explicitly mention the

04:56

Holy Spirit. In fact, the whole paragraph does not mention the Holy Spirit Why this why this passage? Well point out first of all that in our confession

05:05

When it speaks of the work of the Spirit in our hearts where we can do nothing but only by the

05:11

Spirit can we do good it chooses this particular text John 15 4 through 5 as The proof text that we need the

05:18

Spirit or to do this work so my point is that many saints and ages past have seen this as a a

05:24

Standard text to show the need of the work of the Spirit in our hearts now I'll show you why that is the case in context and John 14 this

05:34

Union with Christ this abiding in him and him and us is spoken of as being accomplished by the

05:40

Holy Spirit If you look in the previous chapter at verse 15 Says if you love me

05:46

You will keep my commandments and I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever

05:52

Even the Spirit of truth in the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him

05:59

You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you And so he speaks of the

06:05

Spirit being the one who Helps us who gives us the power to keep the commandments of God to produce any kind of fruit and Then he says in the next few verses

06:19

Speaking of Pentecost. I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you yet a little while and the world will see me no more

06:26

But you will see me because I live you also will live in that day

06:31

You will know that I am in my father and you and me and I and you in what day?

06:37

He speaks of the coming of the Spirit speaks particularly of the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost and in that day

06:43

What will they know they will know? That I am in my father and you are in me and I and you it is through the work of the

06:51

Spirit That we are in Christ and Christ is in us We are in the vine the branches are in the vine

06:59

This is a real union But it is not a union that is formed apart from the work of the

07:04

Spirit is the Spirit who? Performs that work. And so how is it that we are to bear fruit?

07:11

The answer is abiding in Christ abiding in Christ and so this

07:17

This matter of abiding in Christ While you might immediately think okay, this has to do with my relationship with Christ certainly does certainly dice does but most immediately

07:28

Given what we've seen in the previous chapter. It has to do with your relationship with the

07:33

Holy Spirit And so God has not just left us with information about Christ that we might

07:40

Understand how to abide in him and bear fruit He has left us with information about the Spirit in order that we might abide in him and bear fruit

07:49

So let us consider some things about this union with the

07:54

Spirit first of all it is The Spirit who is

08:00

Christ presence in us the Spirit being in us This is said in Scripture to be

08:05

Christ in us Consider what it says in verse 18 of chapter 14. I will not leave you as orphans.

08:11

I Will come to you. How is it that Jesus comes? He's talking about when he has ascended and departed and he comes

08:21

Not speaking of the second coming but speaking of Pentecost. He comes through the outpouring of the

08:26

Holy Spirit And so it is through the Spirit in the life of the

08:32

Christian that Christ is present in the Christian Romans 8 8 through 10.

08:38

I'll quote this a few times, but listen to these words you however are not in the flesh But in the Spirit if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you if anyone does not have the

08:46

Spirit of Christ Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him But if Christ is in you though, the body is dead of sin.

08:54

The Spirit is life because of righteousness So it says if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you, okay

09:01

So that's what verse 9 said in Romans chapter 8 then it says in verse 10 But if Christ is in you

09:07

So it just swaps out one for the other talks about the Spirit dwelling in you and then next verse

09:12

Speaking of the very same thing. It talks about Christ dwelling in you it is the Spirit who is the presence of Christ in you

09:18

Christ is bodily and heaven and he is represented by a spirit in us

09:25

And so he is truly in us because of the union between Him and the Spirit. He is truly in us when the

09:31

Spirit is in us and this is something that is not just a spiritual union a lot of people think when they hear that this union is established by the

09:41

Spirit that it is one that is therefore merely spiritual Certainly it is spiritual in the sense of being affected by the

09:50

Spirit But it's not one that just involves our spirit It's not just that our spirit is united to Christ and then our bodies are not united to him

09:59

Our bodies are also united to Christ. It says in 1st Corinthians 6 15

10:04

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Talks about our bodies themselves being united to Christ.

10:11

In fact, it is this union between Christ and our bodies That accomplishes the resurrection if life comes through union with Christ How is it that the body is supposed to receive life?

10:23

It is is it not union with Christ? And this is what guarantees the resurrection too because we are united with him and our bodies even while in the grave

10:35

Being united with him it is guaranteed that they must receive some life from him eventually and be raised from the dead so this union between Christ and his people that is accomplished by the

10:47

Spirit is not one that is merely with our spirits But also with our bodies and this is one that is mutual.

10:53

It is a mutual Union is not one that is just us being connected to him.

11:00

And so there is only a one -way relationship This is in many ways a two -ways relationship Certainly when it comes to life that is coming from him to us

11:09

But this is said that we are in Christ and Christ is in us so frequently those are paired together to let us know that this is a mutual relationship that Our presence or his presence in us is our presence in him

11:25

These are all this is all accomplished and explained with this wonderful analogy of the vine

11:31

Last week in Ephesians we looked at the three different analogies that Ephesians gives if you remember what those were his husband and wife body and head and the temple they all the stones in the cornerstone and Here is the fourth analogy that scripture gives these are the four main analogies that scripture gives for the union between Christ and church

11:50

The fourth one is the vine and the branches and it really is a very good analogy because if you think about it

11:57

Well, the branch truly remains its own thing Vine remains its own thing and yet there is such a union between them that there are also one thing at the same time

12:07

You could try to come up with other sorts of analogies of this that would fail For example, a lot of times people getting surgeries will get parts from other animals often pigs

12:17

Right like skin grafts or things like that from pigs yet Really, it doesn't that part of the body doesn't remain swine

12:25

You know, it ceases to be swine. I know that at some point not too terribly long ago.

12:31

They did the first Transplant of a believe it was a pig's heart or something like that or at least the part of a pig's heart to a human

12:40

You know, it's not at this point. Well, it starts producing pigs blood in the human body No, it it just works like a human vessel at that point

12:48

But with a vine, you know, if you have a graft into it It would produce whatever kind of fruit that branch would produce but with the life of the vine and so while we are not

13:02

Absorbed into Christ losing our own identity at the same time We are in him and have his identity while at the same time having our own

13:11

It is a it is a really wonderful and a very literal sense a wonderful thing like full of full of wonder

13:21

Now this union is not something that is merely established with Christ just because because The Spirit's union with Christ establishes

13:31

Christ in us when the Spirit is in us He is also united to the Father and that means it is also a union that is established with the

13:38

Father This can be first seen in the fact that the Father and the

13:43

Son both are sending the Spirit in this mission of outpouring in Mission refers to the outward

13:56

God's outward activities towards his people as opposed to procession what talks about his

14:02

Inwardly what's happening the Son being begotten of the Father etc missions refer to how we experience him the

14:09

Son being incarnate the Spirit being sent by the Father in the Son and So if you consider

14:16

Out what it says here about the the Son being sent Once again

14:23

Romans or excuse me. Yeah, the Spirit being sent by the Father and the Son consider that verse again

14:29

Romans 8 8 through 9 Excuse me 9 through 10 you however are not in the flesh

14:35

But in the Spirit if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him

14:41

There's another Swapping that just happened in that verse without, you know any thought to it right or without any kind of introduction or or Explanation talks about the

14:51

Spirit of God being in you the Spirit of Christ being in you. How is it that he's able to?

14:57

Use these so synonymously. Well, it is the Spirit that proceeds from God the Father. It is the

15:02

Spirit He is the Spirit who proceeds from the Son. He is the Spirit who proceeds from both of them and We also see this in the the next chapter as well it says in verse 5th, sorry in this chapter here

15:17

No, then Excuse me verse 26

15:24

When the Helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the

15:31

Father He will bear witness about me. So who is sending well as the

15:37

Son who sends the Spirit and who's he sent him from the Father and so the the Spirit is being sent by both the

15:44

Father and the Son this in Formal theology is known as the filio quay

15:50

Because in the Nicene Creed the first Christian document that really tried to nail down the

15:55

Trinity in a formal way Speaks of The Spirit proceeding from the

16:02

Father and the Son now the original version of the Nicene Creed Didn't mention this but later versions did

16:08

I've mentioned Eastern Orthodoxy the past two weeks for whatever reason that has been a relevant topic so once again,

16:15

I'll mention them and where they differ from From the Western Church on these things not just in blending

16:21

Christ with the with the individual not maintaining the distinct identities Etc. But also here they would deny that the

16:30

Spirit proceeds from the Son and I would say he just proceeds from the Father So he proceeds from the

16:40

Father and the Son and this is this is part of how this is establishing on a union with not just the

16:48

Son but also also with the Spirit and John Chapter 16 verse 14

16:57

It says he will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you all that the father has is mine

17:04

Therefore I said he will take what is mine and declare it to you Consider that chain of logic all that the father has is mine

17:13

Therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you so there is a unity between the

17:21

Father and Son and there's a sharedness of There's a communion between them the

17:27

Spirit coming implies That he will establish that communion in believers, right?

17:34

The Spirit really is that bond between the Father and the Son Augustine famously spoke of the

17:41

Spirit as the love between the Father and the Son when I was Yeah, I guess younger and hearing that for the first time that just sounded so mystical reading

17:52

Augustine more and what he meant it makes a lot of sense that the Spirit that One that is establishing that bond in us is also one who is that bond between them?

18:04

Bringing that bond to us So he is he is accomplishing not just unity with the

18:12

Son But also with the Father and think about how that applies in the notion of our adoption

18:18

Says in Galatians 4 6 that God has sent the Spirit of the Son into our hearts that we might cry

18:25

Abba father So what is being accomplished by the Spirit there we having that same

18:32

Spirit of the Son ourselves Recognize our son our own sonship him being the only begotten

18:39

Son, but us and him being sons We recognize our sonship and are bound to the Father not in just a legal way

18:45

Like an adoption that were just signed on paper, but in a full organic way so that we experience sonship with a father

18:53

And these are all And so all the all the benefits that are poured out on the

18:59

Sun We receive because of that union with him. It's not

19:06

Some people may imagine it and I imagine this is kind of the natural way of imagining it father have some benefits he pours out lots of blessings on the

19:12

Sun because of all the Sun does and the Sun out of his Graciousness and generosity has shared some of that with us

19:20

The Bible says that he has given us all things right? He has given us his son How much more will he give us all things all the benefits of the

19:28

Sun we have through our union with him? We are co -heirs with him We're not sub heirs with him where he gives us some small portion of what he got

19:38

We share all this with him in perfect communion have him being joined together with him

19:45

Through that Spirit who binds us to both the Son and the Father Giving us the

19:50

Spirit of the Son that we are bound to the Father So all of this is the union created

19:59

Established by the Spirit in our hearts. And so what is this communion? Remember communion is the term that describes those things that are shared with Christ.

20:09

Okay union is the bond between us Communion is the the things that are shared that sharing. So what is it?

20:16

It is life It is primarily life and you can think about that in various different ways First of all, there's the the life that happens at the beginning of the

20:25

Christian life regeneration Ezekiel 36 26 through 27 says the following and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit

20:32

I will put within you now remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules

20:45

It describes us as having hearts of stone and needing hearts of flesh the Spirit being in us and giving us life

20:51

If you imagine a branch what happens it withers and dries up and it's very hard and and dead

20:58

But then when it has life it becomes very soft and is able to bear fruit Same thing same analogy here with the heart heart of stone needs to be soft.

21:06

It needs life Christ gives us life how through the working of a spirit through uniting us to him by His spirit and this continues throughout the

21:16

Christian life, too This is not just a new life that happens at the beginning, but this is a new life continually throughout the

21:21

Christians life Galatians 5 22 to 23 says but the fruit of the

21:26

Spirit is love joy. Peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness Self -control against such things there is no law all these all these good works all these

21:39

Virtues are fruit of the Spirit because they are life from the Sun to us

21:44

And he is the one who is accomplishing these things immediately This life this new creation being formed in us is being accomplished by the

21:53

Spirit Why is it that the Spirit of God in Genesis 1 2 is said to move on the face of the waters?

22:01

If you think about that God is creating the world. He's creating it through his word his son, but then

22:07

What is the? immediate Agent who is bringing that about that is directly in contact with the creation

22:16

It is him the Spirit who is moving over the face of the waters and so the same with us

22:22

How are we being shaped? We're being given new life by God through his word the

22:27

Sun but then most immediately the one bringing about that bond that transfer of life is

22:35

The Holy Spirit he is moving on the surface of our hearts Transforming us making us this new creation.

22:43

So we are made it created as a new creation crisis We learned about last week from Ephesians 2 10 and how most immediately is that taking place by the agency of the

22:52

Holy Spirit? By the agency of the Holy Spirit It may help to think of this with some vocabulary

23:03

There is in the Aristotle a notion of four causes if you've never heard of this before It's really a question about answering

23:13

Why like when you ask why a lot of times you get the wrong answer because it wasn't clear what you meant by why a lot?

23:20

Of times in Bible studies. I'll ask why do you think the Apostle said that and the most frequent I answer answer

23:25

I get is because it's true It's like that's not really what I was that's not really what

23:30

I was going for. Of course. It's true I'm reminded of a kid who Had spilt water on the floor and his mother asked him.

23:40

Why did you spill water on the floor? And he said because we were out of milk Right. So there's this is not what was being asked, you know, there's more context needed here

23:50

So what are you? What are you asking when you ask the why of good works? Why do good works come about?

23:55

How do they come about? You could speak of this in different ways And so just to use an analogy of a car right you could say well it exists in order to drive

24:06

Okay, so that would be the final cause the purpose of it the final cause you could say will exist because you know there's steel and Plastic in this arrangement.

24:18

Okay. Well, that would be the material cause the materials that are needed to bring it about You could say well it exists this way because the engineer designed it like this

24:26

Okay, that will be the formal cause the thing that decided what form it would take But let's say you're asking well

24:33

I'm asking but how did it actually get into place the way it is in place and I would answer ah

24:39

You want the efficient cause the thing that efficiently brought it about that is the machinist who put the car together

24:46

Right. And so if you think about the the sermons that we've gone through in the previous weeks the passages that we've looked at What was the final cause the final cause of our salvation was for good works

24:56

We are Christ is purified of people for his own possession For good works to be a people zealous for good works, right?

25:03

That was tides 214 So this is the final cause that our purpose and then you could ask about the material cause well he has given us abundant grace as it says in 2nd

25:14

Corinthians 9 8 is given us abundant grace that is the You could call it some sort of substance of that Might imply too much, but that is the material cause of our good works

25:29

Then he could ask no, but how is it being designed? Oh, well the formal cause that would be the father has ordained

25:35

These good works for us and we are new creation in the Sun Created for good works.

25:41

This is the formal cause but what about the efficient cause what is making this take place?

25:47

That is the Spirit working in us to produce fruit. He is the efficient cause when you go to Buy a car at the dealership or somewhere

25:57

You know, they don't hand the car to you with an instruction manual and all the parts put together and they say this is for driving

26:05

Here are here's the form. It's supposed to take here's the instructions and here's all material now get to work

26:11

Okay, that is also not how our good works happen God doesn't just say. All right. I've given you all the grace you need

26:19

The I've told you your purpose You are united to Christ so that there is a so there's a design for all this that you're supposed to be following now get to work

26:31

There is also an efficient cause he has given us the Spirit So just like you don't have to assemble your own car when you go to the dealership

26:38

You don't have to symbol your own works. It is the Spirit who is the efficient cause Doing these things in you he is the one at work

26:48

Now What does that mean? Does that mean that? Humans are supposed to be idle and just kind of wait for the

26:55

Spirit to carry you along No, not at all There is a command here the command is to abide in Christ What does it mean?

27:07

What does it mean to abide in Christ the Spirit uses?

27:15

the means of grace that God has given to Stir up that grace within us in order that we would perform good works

27:24

It is through the means of grace that God has given through his word through prayer through the

27:29

Lord's Supper through baptism These are the means of grace that God has given in order to stir us up To good works and is by our exposure to those things that the

27:38

Holy Spirit works Think about someone on an island never hears the Word of God He's supposed to just wait and then the

27:45

Spirit's going to do something. No, the Spirit is not going to do anything He is going to work through the word like it explains in Romans 10.

27:51

How will they believe unless they have heard? How will they hurt here unless someone? Preaches to them there needs to be some kind of application of the

27:58

Word of God and the Spirit has chosen to glorify Himself through that same word that he has inspired

28:04

This is how that is taking place. And so it is necessary for us to be exposed to the means of grace because these are the things that the

28:13

Holy Spirit has chosen to use in Order to stir up the grace of God within us

28:20

That we would to produce fruit in us That we would bear fruit that we would perform good works

28:28

This is accomplished in this way. So consider these various means of grace most primarily.

28:34

This is the the Word of God Jesus even spoke in this passage of the word dwelling in you right the idea being that is primarily through the word that You would understand the truth that that this truth would not just be known

28:50

But in a very real way the Spirit would communicate to you the goodness of it So that it's it's an experience truth, right?

28:58

Not just one propositionally. Oh this truth is good, but I am Experiencing that this truth is good so that I am

29:04

I'm in alive and in zealous for this truth So through hearing the Word of God through prayer when you pray

29:13

You are asking for God to do some work in you This is what every prayer ultimately is if you

29:20

Even if you are praying for your daily bread if you're praying for the needs of others, etc There is an implied and ought to be an implied

29:28

Commitment to give him Thanksgiving a commitment to bend your will to his if he should not answer that prayer

29:34

To bend your will to his and being zealous for this thing if it is his will Right, and so what you are praying for ultimately is for God to buy his spirit transform you more and more

29:45

Consider what Jesus says at the end of explaining the Lord's Prayer. He says the following in Luke 11 13

29:52

If then you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will the

29:59

Heavenly Father? Give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. This is a very surprising conclusion to all that Jesus has said before Describing the

30:08

Lord's Prayer Describing the need for persistence and prayer and all the other ways that he speaks

30:14

It's very surprising because none of that sounded like it was about asking for the Holy Spirit but then his conclusion to all this is

30:22

If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children How much more will the Heavenly Father? Give the

30:27

Holy Spirit to those who ask him his conclusion is he will give you the Holy Spirit if you ask him What the summary is telling us that all these prayers

30:37

Ultimately are asking for a work of the Spirit within us so likewise other means of grace is it means that the

30:45

Spirit works in us and then there are the Ordinances also known as the sacraments of those things that God has used as signs of his grace at the

30:57

Spirit Uses to stir up in us that grace of God So in baptism in the

31:06

Lord's Supper, we are reminded of the truth of what God has done. We're reminded of the

31:11

New life that we receive in baptism. We're reminded of the

31:17

Of us being fed by Jesus Christ through the Lord's Supper these things man

31:24

Who experiences these things by faith? Receives benefit from them because the

31:30

Spirit is working in him by faith And that that is a port an important qualification.

31:35

These are things that happen by faith. They happen by understanding. They are not Things that have power on their own in Roman Catholicism, there's a phrase

31:49

Latin phrase called ex opere operato, which means by the working worked which is that if you have

31:58

Come to the Lord's Supper if you eat the elements if you are baptized any of these things doesn't really matter

32:05

Whether or not you are engaged with it whether or not faith is present. They are still doing something

32:13

And they are accomplishing something The Reformed have always rejected this that these are things which only have benefit to anyone by faith

32:22

Receiving these truths. And so the Spirit by faith is Yeah, he stirs up that grace of God within us

32:32

And so it is important then not to quench the Spirit First Thessalonians 5 19 through 21 says following do not quench the

32:41

Spirit do not despise prophecies, but test everything hold Fast what is good? We are not to quench the

32:49

Spirit. We are supposed to be receptive to God's Word Receptive to those means of grace if you do not if you do not make use of the means of grace

32:58

If you do not make use of the Word of God prayer Lord's Supper baptism, you will quench the

33:04

Spirit Those things that he has chosen to use to bring that life of Christ to you

33:12

You will not have that life of Christ if you do not have those things in your life that he has chosen to use

33:20

In Isaiah 6417 it says there's no one who calls on my name who rouses himself to take hold of you

33:29

We are called to rouse ourselves to take hold of God. You see a lot of things like this in Scripture You know the man who prays

33:35

I believe help my unbelief. You know, there's not such a While we acknowledge the work of God of anything good in us, it is not something that ever

33:43

Absolves us of any kind of duty. We are called to To use the means of grace the

33:50

Holy Spirit might work in us We are to not be disobedient as the

33:58

Israelites and Isaiah's time that would have this set of them There's no one who rouses himself to take hold of the

34:04

Lord. We ought to rouse ourselves to take hold of the Lord Calvin said of this passage that that the

34:12

Lord has promised That his spirit will always be efficacious in us if we do not prevent him

34:19

He will always bring some effect if we do not prevent him if we abide in him If we make use of the means of grace that will accomplish its purposes

34:29

God has sent forth his word. It never returns to him void it accomplishes his purposes. I Make use means of grace and so these are these are the things that we need to take to heart

34:41

Do not quench the Spirit if you are if you are an unbeliever if you have not trusted in the

34:46

Lord Jesus Christ If you do not have the life of Jesus Christ There is no hope of having any of his benefits apart from this work of the

34:56

Spirit in you You must trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must not rest upon yourself But you must rest upon the

35:02

Spirit's agency in you He is the only one who will accomplish any kind of fruit You can't produce any real good fruit apart from him.

35:10

You might produce things that are outwardly good works But because they are not done with the heart of faith that is established by him

35:16

They will not be truly good works that God finds pleasing These are not things that will on the day of judgment reflect well on you

35:23

In fact every single one of them no matter how good they may look to the world Will reflect poorly on you because they are things done for the glorification of self rather than the glorification of God If you are a believer

35:35

Do not do not quench the Spirit do not neglect the means of grace do not

35:42

As it says here in Seth first Thessalonians 5 20 through 21 right after saying do not quench the

35:48

Spirit do not despise prophecies, but test everything Do not despise prophecies, but test everything

35:55

Where when do you receive prophecies you receive prophecies when you hear the Word of God reclaimed? This is his prophetic word is being spoken to you right now when you hear it and you think little of it you don't work with it you hear things that you don't like or applications of it that Don't sit well with you

36:14

You are called to be like the Bereans and wrestle with it and test everything rather than despising there's an attitude that says

36:21

I don't think that's right and Isn't really rejecting it because it doesn't accord with God's Word But is rejecting it because it doesn't accord with their own traditions their own preconceived notions

36:31

Okay, do not be that person be rather one who is Eager to to test the word to test anything that is spoken in the name of the

36:41

Word of God Do not despise prophecies, but test everything hold fast to what is good

36:50

And do not resist the conviction of the

36:55

Spirit the Spirit is working in you and he is convicting you of Sin if he is convicting you of righteousness do not resist and continue on your way

37:05

This is a sure way to harden your heart to gain practice and resisting his conviction

37:11

In resisting his work. This is a sure way to not benefit from the life that he gives

37:18

Now you ought to You ought to make use of the means of grace. And so this includes all aspects of worship

37:24

You know, these different means of grace are all found in worship. So this would include your own secret worship by yourself

37:32

Spending time with the Lord. This would include family worship spending time together as a household in the

37:38

Word of God There are few things that are as neglected in our time among Christians as family worship

37:43

Not spending time on a daily basis in the Word of God together as a family Submitting yourself before him if you see your life and it's in its fruitless

37:52

You can ask yourself very basic question. Are these things present my life? Am I spending time in secret worship?

37:59

Am I spending time in family worship? And then of course, there's also corporate worship the most

38:05

Important of these and yet in many ways the least neglected because the others are more private they're so easily neglected because No one notices.

38:15

No one notices if your secret worship is neglected few people care about family worship

38:21

And so no one is keeping tabs on any of these things but these are things that you ought to go to if you want to truly abide in Christ and this includes

38:35

Hearing the Word of God you ought to hear the Word of God you ought to read the Word of God Spend time in your secret worship in the

38:41

Word of God You ought to spend time memorizing it the Bible tells us to treasure it up in our hearts

38:48

You can't really treasure it up in your heart without memorizing it a lot of think people think of memorization as some kind of super Christian Activity, that's what the super Christians do.

38:56

No, we're all commanded to memorize the Word of God and I I I've given this example so many times that yeah,

39:07

I hesitate to give it again But I in high school did a lot of theater and I remembered there were a lot of people in theater who were not the

39:15

Brightest of the bunch and they but they managed to memorize their lines just like everybody else Right.

39:21

A lot of people think of memorization as something that you've got to be just a super mind to be able to do

39:26

It's really not the case. Just practice makes it work. It sinks in you can memorize songs pretty easily

39:33

You know just with a little bit of repetition It's same with the Word of God a little bit of repetition and you can can treasure these things in your heart

39:40

And so this is not just true with a secret worship reading the Word of God memorization But also hearing the

39:46

Word of God proclaimed hearing it applied by preachers You ought to have all these things and you ought to pray

39:54

You ought to pray once again secretly corporately the prayer meeting that we have on Wednesday nights

39:59

Do not neglect that and think of that as something for once again Super -christians or those who are you want to go above and beyond think of this as something that Apart from if if you are able if there is nothing

40:11

No kind of providential hindrance in your way of joining with us on Wednesday nights for prayer

40:16

This is the means that God has given to accomplish great things great things in this church, but also great things in you

40:23

This is one of the means of grace for you to abide in Christ And baptism if you even neglected baptism

40:30

Come talk to me afterward We will we will see what is necessary for you to join with the church in baptism and the

40:39

Lord's Supper Do not neglect the Lord Lord's Supper If you are not a member of a church

40:47

You cannot rightly be part of the Lord's Supper since it represents the unity of his body and we don't have

40:52

We don't have authority to admit people to the Lord's Supper apart from the means which he has given which is joining together with that body in The in the ways that he has indicated which includes a formal sense of identity with a particular local body

41:08

You must join with the church. And if you have and if you have joined with the church and you are not attending the

41:17

Lord's Supper do if you've joined with this church and you are not attending in the afternoon and the evenings and you are able to Please do it is through that that you will be fed on Christ through the

41:29

Lord's Supper the means that he has given If you were to not eat for weeks and weeks at a time

41:35

You become very emaciated physically same is true spiritually you neglect the

41:40

Lord's Supper. You will become spiritually emaciated It's just the natural working of things and all of this if all this requires faith if it's not something that happens ex

41:49

Operato like Roman Catholicism teaches that means you need to be engaged with these things

41:54

It's not just coming and sitting here and it's going to have some kind of magic working on you

42:00

Rather you need to be engaged with the Word of God is through faith Receiving these things the

42:06

Spirit works in you and so be engaged with the Word of God Really be zealous when you pray be zealous when you sing and you encourage your brothers and sisters

42:17

Examine yourself when you take the Lord's Supper and take worthily. These are necessary in order to truly benefit from these means of grace

42:26

There will be no benefit without them and then be persistent and all of this too you know when a

42:34

Branch is grafted onto a vine. It becomes one immediately and yet at the same time and more and more has the

42:43

Properties of vitality of the vine when it is When it is that the further time goes on right?

42:51

It takes persistence. So don't have Overly lofty ideas of what will be accomplished

42:58

You should have great expectations that Christ will work in you, but do not think that will

43:05

That it is something that happens apart from persistence, okay Abide in Christ, you know, even the notion of abiding implies some kind of continual persistence abide in Christ and if these things are

43:24

If this promise is real we can be sure that he will do this fruit in us That means you can approach things without the question of will

43:32

I have enough grace enough love? It said or to be able to accomplish this good work a lot of people avoid

43:41

Situations that involve longer -term relationships because they don't think they have enough love to deal with a difficult person

43:47

Maybe they're avoiding motherhood or fatherhood because they don't think they have enough love to deal with children

43:53

All kinds of things a lot of people will think I don't have enough grace to deal with that situation long -term

43:59

No, trust that the Holy Spirit will bring this about he has promised it the means of grace will be

44:05

Efficacious in you as the Holy Spirit is working in you So long as you do not quench him so long as you do not remove yourself from those things that God has given and this is most especially true in some ways about the about speaking

44:20

God's Word to others when you evangelize when you tell others the good news of Jesus Christ and Maybe maybe taking a step back, you know, any good work always is composed of small good works, right?

44:33

If you share the gospel with someone that is a good work But it is composed of the small good works of every single sentence that you speak and so a lot of times people are afraid of a large good work because they don't know if there will be sufficient grace the

44:45

Holy Spirit will work in them for the small good works Because it needs some kind of commitment. He has made this commitment to you

44:51

He has made this promise to you that the Holy Spirit will work on you. So go ahead and Begin good works knowing that the

44:59

Spirit will give the grace to complete the good works to the end You know when

45:05

I when I get up here to preach It's one of the things I have to deal with every single week is wondering

45:12

Man, is the Spirit gonna give me the words to say this week or am I just going to stumble all over myself?

45:17

I I trust the Spirit This is what Paul did when he went to Corinth that said that he was

45:23

That he came to them and weakness and fear and much trembling you know

45:28

Peter when he stood and Proclaimed the Word at Pentecost, you know, he trusted the

45:34

Spirit to work in him Trust the Spirit most especially when you are doing these direct kingdom activities of advancing the kingdom through the

45:42

Word of God Trust him and all that He will not abandon you

45:48

If you do not quench the Spirit there is a guarantee that he will work in you it says in 1st

45:57

John 324 whoever keeps his commandments abides in God in God in him and By this we know that he abides in us by the

46:11

Spirit whom he has given So John the same one that wrote John 15 this passage about abiding that we're looking at Writes that we know that he abides in us by the

46:21

Spirit whom he has given us and this is something that enables us to Keep his commandments you can keep the commandments of God Through abiding in Christ you can keep the commandments of God by the

46:35

Spirit who dwells in us what I'm telling you is not that You can do it because you are able

46:41

What I'm saying is you can do it because he is able you will produce good works Because he will produce good works in you

46:49

You will bear fruit because he will bear fruit in you and this is the promise that God has given.

46:56

Amen Do you have my father? We thank you for this promise of your spirit

47:03

We thank you that we live in this era where not only do we have the Spirit But he has been out poured in such a way that we have his presence in Large measure we thank you for that work that he is doing in us

47:17

We ask that we would not quench the spirit, but that we would kindle him that he would be a fire

47:24

Burning within us We would not douse him with water, but rather that he would more and more burn brighter and brighter until the final end

47:33

We pray that we would run the race with all eagerness that we would

47:39

Win the prize that we would bear much fruit in Jesus name.