Holy Production - [Galatians 5:22-23]

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Well, again, a blessing and a privilege for me to be here this morning, and I have, of course, like I like to do, because I taught too many
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IBS classes, I like to open up with questions. So I have a couple of questions for you.
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Do you ever make excuses for your sin? You ever do that?
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For example, do you ever say, I know I shouldn't do that, but I just can't help it.
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It's just the way I am. You ever say this one?
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I know it's not right to get angry, but you know, everyone has their limits.
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How about this? I know it's a sin to worry, but you don't know my situation.
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Here's another one. Is it so wrong to do what makes me happy?
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Doesn't God want me to be happy? Now, in contrast to those statements, listen to what
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Augustine prayed. Lord, deliver me from that evil man myself.
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Now, let me ask you another question. You ever lose hope? Do you ever think, I'm just never going to defeat this problem or that sin?
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Does it seem like the battle against sin and the specific sins of worry, anger and desire, does it seem like those battles are lost?
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My message to you this morning is there is hope for you. And if you know the
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Lord, if you are born again, the hope is within you. In the person of the
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Holy Spirit, not your own strength. It's relying on your own strength that you say these other things.
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The hope that you have is in the person of the Holy Spirit. Every single believer still has a remnant of sin, remnant of that sin nature within him or her.
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But Paul instructs us in the book of Galatians, and please open your Bibles to Galatians chapter five.
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Paul instructs us to fight against our fleshly desires, the things that we want to do that come so naturally to us that seems so difficult to give up.
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Those are the very things that Paul tells us to fight against. We don't shrug our shoulders.
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We don't slump our shoulders and admit defeat. Why? Because we have the
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Spirit. Galatians 5 verses 16 and 17, Paul says, but I say, walk by the
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Spirit. Now that walk is a continuous walking, it is a command, it is an imperative, and it means that that is the course of your life, that is to be the pattern of your life, to walk by the
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Spirit. And if you do that, you will not carry out the desire of the flesh, for the flesh sets its desire against the
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Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
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Now in just two verses, Paul has given us basically the struggle that is within every believer, that every one of us as Christians struggle with, and he laid it out in a whole chapter in Romans 7, he says basically, you know what, the things that I want to do,
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I don't do sometimes. The things that I don't want to do, I do them sometimes, and I hate that, but that's the
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Christian life, it's that constant struggle, that constant battle. The Christian life is one wherein we learn not to give in to our desires, but we never quite master it, we know it's not right to do, but sometimes we don't win.
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This is a process called sanctification, and it is a process by which we are conformed into the image of Jesus Christ, and sometimes it can be frustrating.
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Why doesn't God just zap me? Why can't it all just be done like that?
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Someday it will be, but not yet. As long as you're here, this is the struggle that you will face.
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When you appear before God, then you will be just like Jesus Christ, but until then, this is the
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Christian life, this is the struggle. What Paul tells us in verses 16 and 17 is that we are our own worst enemy.
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Charles Spurgeon said this, All the fire which the devil can bring from hell could do us little harm if we had not so much fuel in our nature.
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It is the powder in the magazine of the old man which is our perpetual danger. When we are guarding against foes without, we must not forget to be continually on our watchtower against the foe of foes within.
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In the words of Pogo, we have met the enemy and he is us. We're so worried about what the devil is doing.
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We're so concerned about the pressures from the outside and things that might come up that might distract us from our walk.
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Well, what about us? There's so much focus on what
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Satan is doing these days. You know what? I have to tell you the truth. I don't know what he's doing. He hasn't sent me an update or an email in months.
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I don't know. But I do know that Spurgeon was right because he was simply rephrasing in his own illustrative way what
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Paul said. We're manning the watchtowers as it were outside watching, waiting for someone to attack us.
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And that someone is already on the inside of the fortress. Now, Paul goes on to give us a list in Galatians 5, a list of sins that unbelievers commit often without caring too much about it.
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But believers also commit those. The difference is that believers have a supernatural ability and really a supernatural person to fight against those sins.
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If the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in you and he has, if you are born again, if you know the
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Lord Jesus Christ, then you are not helpless in the struggle against sin.
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Now, I want to give you a word of caution. This morning is not a list of do's and don'ts. That's really not
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Christianity. We don't have, some religions have a long list of things that tell you what to do and what not to do.
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But Christianity isn't like that. Paul wrote this letter to the
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Galatians to warn exactly against that sort of thinking. It had become fashionable among the
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Galatians to tell a new Christian, a new believer, that he or she must first go through all the rites of a
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Jewish proselyte. In other words, Christianity, in the view of these teachers at the
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Church of Galatia, was something that you added onto Judaism. It was the second story, as it were, of Judaism.
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But Paul misses no words in shooting down that theory, that philosophy.
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In Galatians 1, verses 6 and 7, he says, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another, only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
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Listen, Paul expresses shock that these people would so readily, that this church would so readily desert the gospel of grace and want a bunch of rules.
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In Galatians 3, 1 to 3, I mean, the letter to the Church of Galatia is one of the most starkly written in all of the
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New Testament. He just blasts this church. Chapter 3, verses 1 to 3, You foolish
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Galatians, you won't find that in another book. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes
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Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you.
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Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish?
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Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? He says, listen, if the
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Holy Spirit is what brought you to faith in Christ, why do you think that all of a sudden you're going to perfect yourself by doing things, by adopting
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Judaism, by adopting all these rituals? Why do you think that that is what is pleasing to God?
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If it was by faith alone in the beginning, surely it is still by faith alone. Now, my purpose this morning,
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I want to draw your attention, in Galatians 5, verses 22 and 23, I want to draw your attention to nine
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Spirit -produced attributes that together are called the fruit of the
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Spirit, with the purpose that you will be comforted and challenged by their presence and their absence.
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In other words, if you see these nine attributes in your life, you should be greatly encouraged. If you don't see them, or if you are missing some of them, it doesn't mean that you're not saved.
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It means that you have to figure out what's going on in your life. You have to figure out if maybe there are some sin issues in your life that are preventing you from exhibiting all nine of these attributes.
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If any of them are present in your life, you should rejoice because the Spirit of God is at work in you. Now, maybe, as Paul says in Galatians 5, verse 13, if they're missing, that you have simply given an opportunity to your flesh.
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And remember, your flesh is at war with the Holy Spirit within you.
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Let's read Galatians 5, verses 22 and 23. But the fruit of the
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Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.
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Against such things there is no law. John Piper says this,
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The mentality behind the fruit of the Spirit is the mentality of faith upon grace.
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People who bear the fruit of the Spirit know that they are worthy only, only of condemnation.
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They know that the only pay they can earn is the wrath of God. Therefore, they have turned away from self -reliance and look only to mercy in Christ who loved us and gave himself for us.
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They do not expect anyone to be their debtor because of their worth. Any satisfaction will be a free gift of grace.
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They bank on the mercy of God and entrust themselves to His Spirit for help. And out of that mentality of faith, depending on grace, out of that mentality grows not works, but fruit.
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Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and the rest. So even in the names that Paul has given to his list of vices and virtues, he helps us see that the issue is not the outward activities of life, but the kind of heart that produces an outer life.
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This is a matter of the heart. And that's what salvation is, and that's what sanctification is.
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It's not a behavior report. It's not a grade card. You know, here's something.
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Unbelievers can even manifest some of these attributes. We can see them. We can see their generosity and other things.
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But if they are not the products of the Holy Spirit, where are they going to matter on Judgment Day?
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If they're not produced by God, He accounts them as worthless. Now, there's a tendency to dismiss any talk of inspecting our lives, of examining our lives, or the lives of another as fruit inspection.
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What are you, some kind of fruit inspector? Well, let's look briefly at that idea of being a fruit inspector.
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I'm going to go to a couple different passages. Keep your finger in Galatians 5.
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We're going to look briefly at Psalm 1, verse 3. He, talking about a believer, will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.
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And in whatever he does, he prospers. The picture here in Psalm 1 is that of a person who's been taken from a miserable piece of the desert.
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That's where the psalmist lived. A miserable piece of the desert, and transplanted, and placed in a place where it has a canal cut, and a perfect stream of water comes and feeds that tree constantly.
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And guess what? It is absolutely, positively, that tree is going to produce fruit.
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Its leaf will not wither. So it's not like, again, this is the same picture.
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God takes such care to make sure that this tree is productive, that this person is so productive that he cannot fail.
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It is his plan. He does it. A Christian has been given every spiritual advantage so there is no possibility that he will not bear any fruit.
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Now, some may bear more than others, but it is impossible for a Christian to bear no fruit.
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Not buying that yet? How about Matthew 7, verses 17 -19? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
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A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.
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Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
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And he's not talking about the trees in your garden. He is talking about every single person on the face of the earth.
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Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
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Believers aren't going to be cut down and thrown into the fire. It will be unbelievers, those who do not bear good fruit.
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Why? Because they cannot bear good fruit. Now, this is, again, not to say that Christians can't sin.
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This is to say that those who habitually produce bad fruit or fail to produce good fruit do not belong to God.
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Jesus, again, in John 15. I think one of the first passages I just fell in love with was
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John 15. Jesus says, I am the true vine.
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Verse 1. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit
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He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
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You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me.
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I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit.
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For apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up, and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
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This is a serious matter. This is a serious matter and a serious reason to examine our lives.
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If you are in Christ, if the triune God of the universe is at work in your life, you will, without fail, at some point, produce fruit.
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In other words, there will be some evidence that God has saved you and is at work in your life.
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It's not always going to be perfect, but there will be some evidence. He does not save you.
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God does not save you so that you can simply be preserved in your sin. He doesn't keep you the same.
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God creates new beings. God makes us new.
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Spiritual fruit, that is, the work of God in our lives, is vital evidence that we belong to him.
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Now back to Galatians. What is the fruit of the Spirit?
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We'll first note that it's not the fruits of the Spirit. That's why I didn't call this the nine fruits of the Spirit, because the noun is singular and is meant to show the totality of the work of God.
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The Holy Spirit is at work in your life and produces fruit. Second, notice this fruit is produced by the
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Spirit. It is the result of his work. We don't produce this fruit. The Holy Spirit does. We don't produce it any more than we produce our own salvation.
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Did we save ourselves? No, and we can't sanctify ourselves. Now this sounds a little bit tricky.
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I think I was asked this on my ordination council. If I didn't, I should have been. Do you live your
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Christian life, or does the Holy Spirit live your Christian life? Yes, that's the correct answer.
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Paul has already taught through the works of the flesh that those things are the things that unbelievers do naturally and believers struggle to overcome.
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However, the focus in verses 22 and 23 is the Spirit's work in believers.
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This fruit, these nine Holy Spirit -produced attributes mark the lives of those who are indwelt and energized by the
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Spirit. Paul gives these nine characteristics in a rapid bullet point list as if to say,
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I've told you what happens when you give in to your desires and remaining inclination to sin. Now let me show you what a life marked by the
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Spirit of God looks like. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.
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There's no and, there's no explanation of every term, just a description of what a
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Spirit -filled life looks like. That's all. So let's look at these attributes.
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First, love. Love is absolutely central to the Christian life. Everything we do is to be done in a spirit of love toward our fellow man, toward our brothers and sisters in Christ, and above all, to the
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God who saved us, who claimed us. This is a God -like love. This is agape.
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It is a supernaturally -generated love that is in response to what God in His Son, Jesus Christ, has done for each and every believer.
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This love, Jesus tells us, is also to be expressed to those of like faith. In John 13, 34,
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He said, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
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It is a self -sacrificial love that we are to have for those in the body of Christ.
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Paul said this love controlled him and compelled him to be an ambassador for Christ, even begging the unsaved to be reconciled to Christ.
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So this love extends beyond the body and extends to those who are not saved.
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He said that in 2 Corinthians 5. In 1 Corinthians 13, we have an entire chapter dedicated to explaining the preeminence of love and how believers are to love.
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Paul tells us there that whatever spiritual gifts we might have, if those spiritual gifts are not accompanied by love, if they're not accompanied by genuine concern, then they're absolutely useless.
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In fact, they're worse than useless. In Galatians 5 .22, this word can be defined as especially an attitude of appreciation resulting from a conscious evaluation and choice used of divine and human love.
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Conscious evaluation and choice. This isn't a feeling. It is not mere emotion.
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It is a choice that results in action.
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That's what love is. Love that is mere feeling, devoid of action, is not agape love.
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If you say you love someone and you're not willing to do anything for them, that's not the meaning of the word.
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Imagine this understanding or reinterpretation of John 3 .16 if we were to take what people typically think of as love and we were to apply it to God.
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For God so loved the world that he really felt close to it. If it's just a feeling, that would be the meaning.
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And what would be the benefit of that? Commentator Kent says this about love.
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When produced by the Holy Spirit, love enables the believer to love God and his fellows in the most exalted of ways.
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Love for God, how does that exhibit itself? How does it show itself?
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In obedience. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Love for others will show itself in a few different ways.
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Toward believers, 1 John 3 .14 tells us this, that we know that we have passed out of life or out of death into life because we love the brethren.
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He who does not love abides in death. In other words, we love, there's a special love for those who are in the household of faith.
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We should long to be with them. There's also a love that applies to unbelievers.
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In Romans 10 .14, and in fact that whole passage there is about how people come to faith, but in 10 .14
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it says, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard?
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And how will they hear without a preacher? Well, here's a question.
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What is more loving than to give the life -changing, life -transforming message of the gospel to someone?
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Love is a vital sign of the work of the spirit within you. It is at the head of this list,
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I believe, by design. 1 John 4 .8 tells us that the one who does not love does not know
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God, for God is love. It is an essential attribute of God.
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And it is an attribute that we ought to emulate. Why? Because we have the Holy Spirit working through us to produce that love.
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And unloving Christian is a contradiction in terms. I am so appalled every time
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I turn on the TV and see those people protesting at those funerals and claiming to be
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Christians. I cannot stand it. I want to write letters,
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I want to do whatever I can because every time they say, even when they tag them with the term fundamentalist,
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I'm not satisfied, a fundamentalist Christian sect. No, take Christian out of there. Those people are nuts.
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They are as unloving as they could be. We need to exhibit love.
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Why? Because the God that we say we love can be characterized as a
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God of love. Next, joy, kara, allows believers to rejoice regardless of the circumstances of life.
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How can that be? I have a really tough situation. I'm in dire circumstances.
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I don't know how I'm going to do this or that or the other thing. Paul said this about, he said it about love, and I'll get back to the joy thing here in a second, but in Galatians 5 .14,
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for the whole law is fulfilled in one word. In the statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
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A Christian whose life is marked by the attribute of love has fulfilled the law, and in fulfilling the law, a
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Christian has delight. A Christian has joy.
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Psalm 119 .47 says, I shall delight in your commandments which
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I love. Psalm 19 .8 says, The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
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When I think about, when I reflect upon the law of God, when I actually fulfill it by loving my fellow man,
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I have joy. John Brown, a preacher of some note, and some time ago said this, or he calls this a holy cheerfulness.
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That's what joy is. Somebody who's cheerful all the time, picture this, a person who is loving, who is cheerful, who is joyful.
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That's someone I think we'd like to be. Someone that we ought to try to emulate. John MacArthur says that joy is a gift from God, and as such, believers are not to manufacture it, but to delight in the blessing they already possess.
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We already have so much to be joyful, and yet, sometimes we're not.
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Why? Could it be that you're living in the circumstance -driven life?
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And if so, there's no wonder you're not living in joy. When we think about how blessed we are, not just in comparison to the
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Christians who were thrown to the lions, and all the suffering they went through in Peter's day, but the Christians who are thrown in jail now.
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The Christians who are cut to pieces now throughout the world. The Christians who are thrown in jail for having a copy of the
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Bible. The Christians who cannot hear the word of God taught in their churches. Why would we not be joyful?
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What is it that we need that we don't have? Our lives ought to be reflected by joy, because God has given us so much.
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Things that cannot be taken away, and there is no greater joy than that. Our lives also should be marked by peace.
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Irene. This is a peace supplied by the Spirit that encourages the heart of a believer.
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A believer loves, he has joy, and because of this, because he loves, because he has joy, he has peace with those he comes in contact with.
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How could there be strife and discord with someone who is loving, and someone who is joyful?
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How do you argue with a person like that? Why would you? But a believer whose life is marked by peace has a tranquility about them, both externally and internally.
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It's like the songwriter says, whatever my lot thou has taught me to say, it is well with my soul.
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I have peace regardless of what is going on. Why? Because I have a relationship with Christ that does not change.
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The waves of life can come and beat upon me, but my joy in Christ, my peace with Christ, my peace with God, the promise of heaven, cannot be taken away, and there is nothing more precious than that.
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Long -suffering. The Greek is makrothumia. That will warm your soul.
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Commentator Kent says, a virtue in which a person keeps himself under control for a long time.
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He does not retaliate nor lash out in frustration. He displays a characteristic of Christ who is long -suffering towards sinners.
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It's also defined as a state of emotional quietness in the face of unfavorable circumstances.
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It can also be described as a state of being able to bear up under provocation. Now, doesn't that strike you as being exactly the opposite of being short -tempered?
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I couldn't help it. I have a short temper. I have a short fuse. I'm not responsible. You know, that's just the way
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I was raised. We just respond right away. Now, what's the ultimate example of long -suffering?
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God. Every single day, billions of people express their hatred toward him, disregard his son,
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Jesus Christ. Even thinking about Jesus, to put it in terms maybe that are a little easier for us to grasp, what did
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Jesus do? 1 Peter 2 verses 21 to 23, Peter writes,
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For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.
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And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously.
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Now, there is an example. There's a standard. While being reviled, when was the last time you were reviled?
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While suffering, when was the last time we suffered as he did? He uttered no threats, and could he have threatened these people?
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He could have done whatever he wanted to. In terms of power, he had the power to do whatever he wanted.
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But our text tells us he kept entrusting himself to him, to God who judges righteously.
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That's our call. 1
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Timothy 1 verse 16, Paul writes about God's long -suffering,
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Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost,
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Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life.
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Paul, who had attacked the church, is brought to faith.
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And he says that that is an example of God's perfect patience. So here's the picture.
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Someone intentionally or not is creating unfavorable circumstances for you. How do you respond?
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Does that ever happen? Does anyone ever intentionally or unintentionally bring unfavorable circumstances into your life?
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And do you display long -suffering in those circumstances? If not, why not?
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Are we making a provision for the flesh? Next on our list, kindness.
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Christotes, frequently used of God to denote his gracious attitude and acts towards sinners.
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In Romans 2 verse 4, he says, Paul writes, Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
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That is the kind of kindness we are to display. It is the quality of being helpful or beneficial.
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Who has ever been more helpful or beneficial than God towards sinners?
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We need to reflect the God who has saved us when we go or we reflect the
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God who saved us when we go into action on behalf of someone else, when we extend ourselves.
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Jesus in Luke 6 verses 27 to 31 said, But I say to you,
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Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you.
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Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also. And whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.
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Give to everyone who asks of you and whoever takes away what is yours. Do not demand it back.
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Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. The fruit of the
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Spirit is manifested in our ability, our capacity to be supernaturally, overabundantly kind toward others regardless of their attitude or their actions toward us.
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Bless those who curse you. Isn't that what God has done with us?
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We've cursed him from the moment we could think. And what did he do?
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Poured out blessing upon us. Pray for those who mistreat you. Didn't God do far more for us?
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He didn't just pray for us. He actually saved us. Treat others as you want to be treated.
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Well, what if we treated others with the sort of kindness that God has showered upon us?
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What would our lives look like? Would people look at us and say, there is a Christian goodness.
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It occurs four times in the New Testament. And in every instance, it displays moral excellence in operation.
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It's not enough to be good. It's moral excellence in operation. It can also be generosity.
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It is the positive moral quality characterized especially by interest in the welfare of others.
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Now, if we were to put this in secular terms, we'd call it philanthropy. I don't know if you saw it, but Warren Buffet just the other day decided he wasn't going to give his money to...
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Well, he had a lot of choices, obviously. When you've got that kind of money, you can give your money wherever you want. But he said he was going to give it to the
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Bill Gates Foundation. He can give millions, or when he dies, billions to charity.
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How can we ever do anything like that? Well, I've looked at my checkbook.
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I know I can. But that's not the issue. It's not about money. It's not about quantity.
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The Holy Spirit works in the lives of believers so that they care for the welfare of others. We are concerned about the welfare of others.
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We extend ourselves. We go out of our way to help others. Galatians 6 .10,
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Paul writes, So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
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Work, serve, give, seek to benefit others. That's what this... Just to kind of summarize, that's what this attribute would look like.
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Faithfulness. It's the same Greek word as just faith, but it's distinct here because it is describing the
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Spirit's work in someone who already is a believer. It is the state of being, state of being someone in whom confidence can be placed.
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It displays reliability, fidelity, commitment. This is something that should be increasingly displayed as our walk with God increases daily.
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We should be known as being reliable, upright, not prone to failure or disloyalty.
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Does this mark your life? When people describe you, would they say, He's reliable.
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He is not prone to fail. He doesn't... He's not disloyal.
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His life is one he can be counted upon to do the right thing. The next in verse 23,
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Galatians 5, gentleness or meekness, as some translations may have.
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Now, there is no exact English translation for this Greek word defined this way, a quality of gentle friendliness as strength that accommodates to another's weakness, consideration.
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One commentator writes it, puts it this way, not a person's outward behavior only, nor in his relations to his fellow men as little in his mere natural disposition.
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Rather, it is an inward, in other words, an inward working grace of the soul and the exercises are first and chiefly towards God.
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It is that temper of the spirit in which we accept his dealings with us as good and therefore without disputing or resisting.
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Listen, when things come into our lives, do we accept them?
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That's the question here. Do we accept with gentleness and meekness the situations that come into our lives?
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Do we question God? Do we complain toward him?
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And of the nine attributes that we're looking at this morning, this is the only one that is never ascribed to God.
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Now, it is a combination of strength and gentleness and we might think, well, how can those two go together?
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And I thought about that and I'm like, well, the most obvious example in the Bible of strength and gentleness going together would be
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Jesus Christ. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
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He was like a sheep before the shearers and he didn't say anything, Isaiah 53.
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And he's also gentle and humble in heart in Matthew 11, 29.
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He is a great example of gentleness or meekness. Again, thinking about the power of the
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God of the universe at his disposal and yet he did not use it.
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He obeyed the Father. He did the Father's will, self -control, which obviously is the ability to reel oneself in, to keep yourself in check.
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I used to say fairly frequently in my previous employment, I would turn to people and say, how are you going to respond to that?
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And sometimes people didn't respond very well. But this word covers a spectrum from self -restraint and self -discipline to chastity.
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In other words, it has to do with some of the things that Lewis was talking about this morning, about having a disciplined life.
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But more than that, it also reflects upon the sexual area. And this is in stark contrast to the list that Paul gives of those living in the flesh, back in verses 19 through 21 of Galatians 5.
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Now, the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these of which
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I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
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So this idea is the opposite of immorality, the opposite of impurity, of sensuality.
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It is a person who is not engaged in envying or drunkenness.
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They are content. They are in control of their emotions. They are in control of their desires.
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In fact, one man describes it this way, that it is restraint of one's emotions, impulses, or desires, especially in matters related to sex.
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John Brown says this, The only way of securing abstinence from the works of the flesh, which end in perdition, is to be born of the
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Spirit. For except the man be born again, he will not abstain from the works of the flesh, which must ruin him.
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The tree must be made good, that the fruit may be good. And that's exactly the idea.
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The Holy Spirit takes up residence in you, and He produces self -control.
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You are able to restrain yourself from these things, not because you have just made the conscious decision,
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I'm not going to do this, I'm not going to do that. It's because the Spirit is working in you, and you are not struggling against the
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Spirit. I find it interesting, in verse 23, that Paul says,
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Against such things there is no law. Well, against such things indicates that this list of nine, fruit of the
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Spirit, the attributes of the Spirit, produce life, are not exhaustive. There are other things that Paul is not even talking about here, that the
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Spirit does within Christians. But these nine things He does.
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And he says, Paul goes on to say, Against such things there is no law. Well, why shouldn't there be a law against them?
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Those are good things. But let's remember Paul's purpose in writing this letter. He was writing to correct the thinking of the
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Galatian church. They needed to understand that Christianity was not like other religions. That it was not a matter of external obedience.
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It wasn't just a matter of, they could display these attributes outwardly, and still be the same inwardly.
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These were to be things that came from their heart, that were internal. Christianity is not a religion of rules.
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It is not, do not touch, do not drink, do not do this, do not do that. Christianity simply is,
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God forgiving you, taking up resonance in you, and so working in you as to create a new creation.
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To continue that work until you are in the presence of God Himself. And at which time you will be conformed into the image of His dear
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Son. So if the Spirit is going to produce these attributes in you, what is your responsibility?
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Do you just sit back, let go, and let the Spirit go to work? First of all,
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I want you to understand that you can. There is no cannot in this list.
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There is nothing more insulting to the God of the universe, who has taken up resonance in you, than the idea that you cannot exhibit these attributes, because you've had a tough life, you had a bad childhood, because of a situation at work, because you lost your job, whatever the situation is, the
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Holy Spirit is still there. He didn't go anywhere. And if you are struggling with these issues, it's because you have given in to the flesh.
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You have given in to that remaining sin, that remains within you.
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Also, in addition to understanding that you can do these things, by God's enablement, you need to care for your spiritual life.
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Listen to what Spurgeon says again. Fruit calls for care.
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If you have a garden, you will soon know this. We had a profusion of flowers upon our pear trees this year, and for a few weeks, the weather was warm beyond the usual heat of April, but nights of frost followed, and cut off nearly all the fruit.
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Other kinds of fruit, which survived the frost, are now in danger from the dry weather, which has developed an endless variety of insect blight, so that we wonder whether any of it will survive.
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If we get over this trial, and the fruit grows well, we shall yet expect to see many apples fall before autumn, because the worm has eaten into their hearts, and effectually destroyed them.
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So it is with the Christian life. I have seen a work for the Lord prospering splendidly, like a fruitful vine, when suddenly there has come a frosty night, and fond hopes have been nipped, or else new notions and wild ideas have descended like insect blights, and the fruit has been spoiled.
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Or if the work has escaped these, these causes of damage, some immorality in a leading member, or a quarrelsome spirit, has appeared unawares like a worm in the center of the apple, and down it has fallen never to flourish again.
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The fruit of the Spirit is love. You must take care of your fruit, if you wish to have any laid up in store at the end of the year.
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So must every Christian be very watchful over the fruit of the Spirit, lest in any way it should be destroyed by the enemy.
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And again, I would just urge you to understand that the enemy is not just without, that our number one enemy is within.
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Satan is one. There are six billion going on, seven billion on this planet.
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Satan cannot get around to all of you. His demons do not dog you daily. You are your own worst enemy.
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You are often the most hindering factor against the
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Spirit. We must take care of our spiritual life. We must take care to not inhibit the
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Spirit. We must take care of our eyes, of our ears. We must guard our hearts against those things that would come into our lives and spoil the fruit.
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We must seek accountability and assistance in those areas that we struggle in. Now let me ask you a question or two.
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Do you ever make excuses for your sin? Do you ever say, I know I shouldn't do that, but I can't help it.
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Well, maybe you can't. But are you relying on yourself or on the Spirit of God who resides in you?
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I know it's not right to get angry, but everyone has their limits. If God is long -suffering, patient and kind toward you, and He has promised to produce that fruit in you, can you justify being less toward others?
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I know it's a sin to worry, but you don't know my situation. If God the
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Holy Spirit is producing joy and peace within you, a joy indescribable and an everlasting peace, how can you worry?
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And what do you have to fear? If God has promised you eternity with Him, promised to wipe away every terror, promised to heal your infirmities, and promised
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His everlasting blessing to you, how can your temporary situation cancel that out?
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We had a man here not so long ago who was in a real tough patch in his life, as he would describe it.
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And I gave him the Gospel, and I just said to him, I said, let me ask you something. I said, let's say you live to be age 80.
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Do you think that in 5 million years, after you've been in heaven 5 million years, Lord willing, you think you'll look back and go, man, those 80 years on the earth were really tough.
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In some sense, it's ridiculous, but it's absolutely true, and we live like that. We live like that.
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We get so bogged down in the here and now, forgetting what God has promised us, laying that aside.
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Now, is it so wrong to do what makes me happy? Yes. That's simple.
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We are not to give in to the desires of the flesh. I heard R .C. Sproul talking about that this week. He said, you know,
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I struggled for a long time to understand the difference between happiness and pleasure. He says, pleasure is momentary.
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He says, I've gone after pleasure a lot, and he says, never liked the result, ever.
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But I've never regretted seeking after happiness because true happiness only comes from obeying
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God. Now, it is legalism in its extreme to say, well, you know,
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I don't commit this sin or that sin, and I don't struggle in this area or that area, but to see the work of the
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Holy Spirit in our lives, to see Him producing greater love than we've had before. You know, here's something to do, is you just think, well, here's where I am right now.
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How do I love in comparison to how I loved five years ago or ten years ago or before I was even saved?
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What is the change in my life? When you see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self -control growing in your life, even if it's just a little bit, you can know that the
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Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is at work in your life. Now, if this fruit is rarely or never evidenced in your life, there may be cause for concern.
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You may be in sin. You may be simply experiencing a season of indulging your flesh, of setting aside the promises of God and trusting in your own strength.
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Or it's possible you may not be saved. But remember, in all things, and I'm not telling you to say, oh, you know what?
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I'm not saved because I don't have this, that, or I struggle in this area. In all things, it's important to remember it is the direction of our lives, not the perfection.
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If I was to list all nine of these things and rate myself on a scale of one to ten, well, I'd have a score, you'd have a score, we could all have a score and compare them, but that's not the point.
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Every single person is different. I may not be at a level of ten in all nine of these things.
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That's not the issue. The issue is, can I see the Spirit of God at work in my life?
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And if not, why not? When these questions, when these struggles come upon you, my exhortation, my pleading with you this morning is to not forget who has taken up residence in you and what
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He is doing in your lives. The Holy Spirit has come into your life, has taken up residence, and has promised to bring about this fruit.
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Walk in the Spirit. That's Paul's exhortation and that's my exhortation. Walk in the
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Spirit. Walk in the Spirit and you will see Him as you produce these things in your life.
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Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, what a blessing it is to know that by Your grace, by virtue of Your love, by virtue of Your patience and long -suffering and kindness,
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Father, Your goodness towards us, You have sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die on our behalf, to receive the punishment for our sins.
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Lord, that would be great enough. But that You have also sent Your Spirit to take up residence within us, to so work in our lives, to bring about these attributes, to bring about these changes in our desires, in our actions, in our attitudes toward one another.
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Father, as we are faithful to study
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Your Word, to put off the things of the flesh, to seek after You, Lord, would
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You allow us to see the work of Your Spirit in our lives. Lord, for those who are struggling in various areas this morning,
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I would just pray that You would give them victory, not on their own strength, but by the working of Your Spirit, Father, that He would lead them away from those things that would ensnare them.