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Galatians 5:1-26
This evening, I would like to preach the last part of Galatians 5 that we didn't get to this morning. And I want to preach on the fruit of the Spirit. So we have a tree in our yard. And I noticed one day that this tree, it was producing a fruit.
And so one day when I was mowing, I stopped by to see what kind of fruit this tree was producing. I stopped by and I took a look and I found out that this tree was producing pears. And I wanted to know why.
Of all the fruits in the world, why was this tree producing pears? Well, in my limited research, I found the answer. It was producing pears because it is a pear tree. And a pear tree produces pears.
Why?
Because it is a pear tree. It is by nature a pear tree, and by its nature will produce pears. Trees do that. Plants do that. A grapevine produces grapes. A fig tree produces figs.
Because it is their nature. Briefly, I'll give you a little bit of a recap of how we got to Galatians 5 .16, if you want to be turning there. We must see that these last 11 verses are tied and linked to the first 15.
That the first 15, I didn't have time to preach on the whole chapter this morning, but the first 15 cannot be taken separated from these last 11. You can actually go into chapter 6 as well. Chapter 6 just continues the same flow of thought that chapter 5 has.
But this morning we talked about two ditches. Legalism. An attempt to add anything to the finished work of Christ. We also mentioned calling things sin that aren't sin.
Licentiousness.
Sin of willful disobedience. Disregard for moral rules. Lack of moral restraint. Viewing grace as a license to sin. And we viewed, when we talked about these and we looked at them, they are only remedied, these ditches, by the blood of Christ and the working of the Spirit in the lives of sinners who are made new to walk in Christ.
To walk by the Spirit. That's the right path between these two ditches, is to walk by the Spirit. That is the remedy for the licentious person and the legalist. The gospel is the remedy. Walking in Christ.
Walking by the Spirit. For this is evidence of a true conversion. Tonight I want to talk about what that looks like. Give you some practical, what does that look like? And Paul answers this in the last part of Galatians 5.
So if you're there in Galatians 5 .16, if you'd please stand this evening. I'll read verse 16 through the end of the chapter. Galatians 5 .16. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
I warn you, as I've warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Let us pray.
Father, we are so thankful for Your Word. Lord, I pray that You would help me tonight, that You would give me holy unction, Father. Lord of so many things, Lord, that have been on my mind this afternoon, Lord of things of this life, Father, discouragements or frustrations, Lord, I pray that You would help me to focus on the supremacy of Christ.
Lord, and to trust and rest in Your sovereignty. Lord, and I pray tonight as I preach Your Word, that, Father God, You would allow me and help me to preach it rightly. That I would be led by Your Spirit, that I would walk by the Spirit tonight in preaching Your Word.
Lord, and that the truth would be proclaimed. Lord, help me to proclaim it boldly. Help me to proclaim it humbly. Help me to proclaim it with love. Father, I pray for the listener, Lord. I pray, Father, that Lord, even from my own heart, that Lord, I would, my heart, Lord, would be by Your Spirit, open to give heed to this, to see this, Lord.
Lord, and to apply it. I pray that for these that are listening, Lord, in this room, those that might be listening by way of the internet. Lord, and we just thank You for Christ. Lord, we have these two ditches, Lord, that are both disobedient to Your Word, but the path, the path is Christ.
You've provided a way, and it is in His name that we pray.
Amen.
So what does it look like to walk by the Spirit? Well, it looks like a Christian that produces according to their nature. Just like the pear tree in my yard. Walking by the Spirit is evidenced by the producing of fruit of the Spirit.
Verse 23, we see the fruit of one who is walking by the Spirit. And tonight I want to look at a few questions regarding these fruit of the Spirit. The first one being, what are the fruit of the Spirit?
The fruit of the Spirit, verse 22 says, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. And we don't have time tonight to look extensively at each one. Rather, I want to look at a few truths about them as a whole.
First thing, where do the fruit of the Spirit come from? Who are they for? Well, the fruit of the Spirit, to answer the first question, where do the fruit of the Spirit come from? We find this in the text.
The fruit of the Spirit are given by the Spirit. Verse 16 says, walk by the Spirit. Verse 18, led by the Spirit. Verse 25, live by the Spirit. Keep in step with the Spirit. They are given by the Spirit.
And only by the Spirit. You say, what Spirit? The Holy Spirit of God. The third person of the Trinity. This is part of the divine function of the Holy Spirit. You know, people wrongly believe that we Baptists, especially us Reformed Baptists, don't believe in the power and the working of the Holy Spirit.
They couldn't be more wrong on this. They couldn't be more wrong. These fruit mentioned here are God-given. Cannot be maintained outside of the working of God. We'll discuss that more in the next point, but they're not conjured up by man.
The true fruit of the Spirit is not something that man can conjure up. Man's love can be corrupted. Anything in this list, if it is given by man, if a man were to give anything on this list, it can be corrupted.
They are not what a woman or a man does to be saved. That's legalism. They are fruit given to men and women. They are fruit given by the Holy Spirit of God. They are not given by a preacher. They are not conjured up on our own.
And because they are given by God, they are defined by God. Love, not defined by the world. Love, not defined by... Love is love. It's okay. You do you, but love defined by God. Love defined by God. The most loving thing we can do to the world is tell them that they are dying and going to hell if they don't repent and trust in Christ.
The world will look at that and say, well, that's hate. That's none of your business. But no, we don't get to define love. The world doesn't get to define love. God defines love. And we love. We love because He first loved.
And then we go and we proclaim the love of God, the spreading of the Gospel, calling people to repent of their sins and trust in Christ. Love defined by God. Joy defined by God. Not joy in the frivolous things of this world.
Not short-time highs of drugs or alcohol or sex or things that are outside of marriage, things that are sinful that this world throws and says, this is joy. The world doesn't get to define joy. God defines joy.
Joy defined by God. Peace defined by God. Patience defined by God. Kindness defined by God. Goodness defined by God. Faithfulness defined by God. Gentleness defined by God. Self-control defined by God.
And because they are given by God, they are given to last. And they will last. They will not be short-term. They will persevere through life. Through the trials of life. Through the ups and downs of life.
This doesn't mean that your joy, peace, patience, and so on, will always be at 100. That would be wonderful. But it doesn't mean that, but it will not be altogether extinguished if it is given by the Spirit.
Because not only are they given by the Spirit, they are maintained by the Spirit. And that's good news. Because if the fruit of the Spirit were maintained by us, they would surely be lost. But they are maintained by the Spirit.
Once again, they are given by the Spirit. And because they are given by the Holy Spirit of God, they highlight the character of God. And they are shown perfectly in Christ. Christ evidenced the fruit of the Spirit perfectly.
Perfect love. Look at Christ. Perfect joy. Look at Christ. Perfect peace. Look at Christ. Perfect patience. Look at Christ. Perfect kindness. Look at Christ. Perfect goodness. Perfect faithfulness. Perfect gentleness.
Perfect self-control. Evidenced perfectly in Christ. They are given by the Spirit. And the Spirit gives them to believers. To those whom the Spirit has regenerated. To those whom the Spirit has saved.
The Spirit gives the fruit.
Verse 24.
You say, how do you know that? Verse 24. And those who belong to Christ Jesus. They are what you would expect to see growing in a follower of Christ. Because look at the rest of verse 24. Because of those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Because believers walk by, are led by, live by, and keep in step with the Spirit. And the reason that they appear in the life of the believer is because the Spirit is in the life of the believer. When a supernatural work of the Spirit called regeneration takes place, the Spirit gives these fruit to the believer.
The fruit are given to all believers. And pay attention. The fruit are given only to believers. And you may raise some objection to that. Because maybe you've seen some or all these fruit in the lives of unbelievers.
What are we to make of that? Because it's true. We've all witnessed it. Jesus even says as much in Luke 6. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do love, and if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. We've all seen unbelievers have joy. We've seen unbelievers have patience, kindness, self-control, and so on.
So what makes these things different in the lives of believers? Well, through being image bearers of God, and through common grace, we see glimpses of some of these things in the lives of unbelievers.
You know, the sun shines and it rains on both the just and the unjust. But they are not lasting, nor in their purest form. They're glimpses. And these glimpses are found in people whom the Spirit of God is savingly absent.
One example is an unbelieving parent's love for their child. There are many unbelieving parents out there that love their child, love their children. But listen to me, church. If that parent doesn't love Christ and lead their child towards Christ, then it is not the truest, fullest, or purest form of love.
Jonathan Edwards, he wrote on this. Beautifully wrote on this and compared these instances of beauty to a part of a song. A part of a song that we find beautiful by itself, an isolated part. But then, when you hear the whole song, you find that that small part that you thought was beautiful was actually discordant and not in harmony with the rest of the song.
That small part might look and sound beautiful, but only in a limited sense. What Edwards is saying is that there are parts of people's lives that seem virtuous and morally beautiful. But when their lives are looked at as a whole and you see all of their other actions, desires, and intentions, you realize that that beautiful part is actually not their true nature at all.
That the beautiful part, in this case the fruit that they've shown, is actually against their nature. Fruit in the life of a believer is evidence of their new nature. And the true nature of a believer is that they love God above all.
We as Christians, we're not perfect in our love for God, but non-Christians don't truly love God at all. We should be thankful for the common grace of God that is evidenced in unbelievers showing some of these fruit.
However, we must realize that only believers in Christ have these fruits in their truest sense and glorify God with them. An unbeliever doesn't show love and kindness with the goal of glorifying God. And that's why these things in the life of an unbeliever are not fruit of the Spirit.
You cannot please God if you're not His child. Without faith, the Bible says, it is impossible to please Him. So listen, unbeliever, every good deed that you think you have, you could lump them all together.
Every instance of love, every instance of joy, every instance of peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, that has ever shown up in your life, you could lump them all together and bring them before God and say, look what I've got!
Look what I've got! Look what I have! And they would condemn you all the more because they are done apart from Christ. And if someone does not have the fruit of the Spirit evidenced in their lives, then it's more than likely a sign that they're not converted, but just because you see something that looks like one of these fruit in someone's life, doesn't necessarily mean they are Christian.
The truth stands, however, Christians will bear fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is brought on by the working of the Spirit of God in the lives and hearts of believers. And when you look at the life of a true believer, you will see these.
And as they are sanctified, you will see them more prevalently. Only believers are sanctified and every believer will be sanctified. There's not a group over here.
Of more holy.
They're sanctified, but this group, you know, they're okay. They're okay. They're not going to be sanctified. They're going to stay where they are. The Bible knows no such thing. Every believer will exhibit these fruit.
The Holy Spirit takes these things that are somewhat common in our world and does something only God can do with them. For example, the chief affection is changed when the Spirit saves someone. We are made to love God.
We are made to love His church. What we find joy in changes when the Spirit saves us. Where before we found no joy in the Lord, now we do. Where before we found no joy in things like holiness and fellowship with the saints, now we find joy in coming together in the Lord's day.
We now have joy in the Gospel of Christ. We now find joy in these things. The same can be said with the rest of the fruit. So again, we must understand, without faith in Christ, we do not have the fruit of the Spirit.
I don't care how many of these fruit you show in your life, apart from faith in Christ, you are not a Christian, and you don't have the Spirit. Our union with Christ makes it possible for us to bear the fruit of the Spirit.
John 15, 5 I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever imbibes in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
I'm Christian.
These fruit that are given to you by the Holy Spirit of God, they are at odds with the desires of the flesh. Look at verse 16. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
So gratify, that means to fulfill. It means to carry out. So how do you not gratify the desires of the flesh? By walking by the Spirit of God. The desires of the human flesh and the desires of the Holy Spirit are opposed to one another.
They're at war with one another.
Look at verse 17. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
Verse 18 says, but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. So as one led by the Spirit, you are not under the curse of the law. Rather, they delight in it as obedient children. And then verses 19 -20, he lists the works of the flesh.
How are we as Christians, how are we to view these? We view these works as opposed to the desires of the Holy Spirit. Look at this list. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
These things and those who practice them, he said, I warned you as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God unless they repent and trust in Christ. Why do they practice them?
Why do people practice these things that we've listed here? Because it's their nature. Why does the pear tree in my yard produce pears? Because it's their nature. It's its nature. It is its nature and they will produce fruit.
Why do they do this? Because it's their nature and they will produce fruit in line with their nature. Their nature. Our nature before we were in Christ was to be haters of God. We have this false belief that you can be neutral.
You know, there's no neutrality as far as your works being, you being justified by your works or Christ. There's no neutrality when it comes to your relationship with God. Those apart from Christ are haters of God.
It is their nature. Their nature. Our nature. We were by nature. In Ephesians it says we were by nature the children of wrath and acted. We acted according to our nature. We fulfilled the desires of the flesh.
We sought comfort in these things and they were an evidence of the heart that was within us. They were evidence of our depravity. These works of the flesh, they were self-serving. They were evidence of our selfishness.
And they lead to eternal punishment in hell. That's the works of the flesh. That's the first list that Paul gives. And then he gives another list that we're talking about tonight. A list that is in opposition to the list of the works of the flesh that's listed before it.
And these are labeled the fruit of the spirit. These fruit, they are perfectly agreeable with God's law. And therefore perfectly agreeable with God. And those who walk in these and therefore belong to Christ have crucified the fleshly and sinful desires and passions.
Romans 6 -6. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. No longer enslaved to sin, but living by the Spirit.
Romans 8 -13. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. So being led by the Spirit, we don't, verse 26, we don't esteem ourselves.
We don't provoke one another. We don't envy one another. Whereas the works of the flesh are self-serving. These fruit are not self-serving. Through the working of the Spirit, we produce the fruit of the Spirit.
And we produce fruit according to our new nature. We have evidences here. We have the works of the flesh. These are evidences of the flesh in control. Then we have the fruit of the Spirit. Evidences of the Spirit in control.
In the list here of the desires of the flesh, it's not an exhaustive list. You could think of other things that are sinful. There are other lists in the New Testament that might list other things that are sinful.
These are the behaviors of non-believers. That's important to note. These are the behaviors of non-believers. But this side of glory in our flesh, we still have a proneness to some of these things. These things that are destructive in many ways.
Where these things control and rule in unbelievers' life, they do not control the life of a believer. There may be a glimpse of the remaining flesh. They may for a season show up in the life of a believer.
But a true believer will not remain.
In these.
Because the Christian is not a slave to sin any longer. We briefly mentioned sanctification earlier. In a believer, it is true that he is warring against and holding back the desires of the flesh. And not only is the spirit warring against and holding back the desires of the flesh, but it is also producing evidence of its presence in the form of fruit.
And as sanctification progresses, believers are pruned to produce more and more fruit. John 15 -2. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit.
He prunes.
That it may bear more fruit. The last thing I want to call our attention to tonight is that it's fruit of the Spirit. Not fruits of the Spirit. It's all or none. This is different than the desires of the flesh.
You can pick and choose those. It's like a buffet of sin. Go dabble in what you want to dabble in. Pick what your heart desires. But the fruit of the Spirit, it's not like Connell and Shauna's fruit stand.
Come pick the ones you like. Don't leave the ones you don't. In some form or fashion, these will all be evidenced in the life of a believer. Perfectly? No. But there will be a change in these areas when you go from death and sin to life in Christ.
For it is only made possible through Christ. Through His shed blood. And through His broken body. That we're going to remember here in just a few moments. And as we approach this table, examine yourselves.
What are you producing? What fruit? Because you will produce according to your nature. Are you producing the fruit of the Spirit or the works of the flesh? Have you been changed? Are you being sanctified?
Have you repented and trusted in Christ? And that is evidenced by your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And thank God for Christ. For we celebrate His broken body and His shed blood, but we also celebrate His perfect life.
He was perfect in all these areas where we still fail. We still fail in all these areas. We fail in every single one. Believer, if the works of the flesh are evident in your life, and the fruit of the Spirit, they seem to come and go.
They come for a little while and they go, but boy, there's a lot of works of the flesh.
Repent.
Run to Christ. If you are a believer, the works of the flesh will ultimately lose out to the fruit of the Spirit. But I want you to know something. You may not be a believer. Examine yourself to see whether you be in the faith.
And if you are an unbeliever, you are judged by your actions and your ability to be perfect. And you will fail and face eternal death. But if you repent and trust in Christ, you're not judged by your perfect works, but by you being perfect in these areas.
But rather,.
Christ's perfect righteousness is credited to you. So unbeliever, repent, trust in Christ, and be saved tonight.
Father, we are thankful, Lord, that in all our failures, Lord, even as Christians, in ways that we failed, Lord, we haven't had perfect love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
We haven't had these things. Lord, even as Christians, even as believers, we have failed, Lord, in so many areas. Lord, we are imperfect, Lord, in so many ways. In every way. Father, but Lord, we are thankful that, Lord, when You look down upon us, Lord, You're not looking at our righteousness, but that of Your Son.
Lord, and my prayer tonight is that for the believer, Lord, who is struggling with the desires of the flesh, that even for a season, Lord, these desires of the flesh may be prevailing, that they would run to Christ.
They would repent of their sins and trust in You, Father. They would keep running to Christ. Lord, and I pray that You would sanctify us. Lord, may we bear more fruit. May we see these evident in our lives.
Lord, and I pray for the unbeliever, Father, that is a slave to the sins, slave to the works of the flesh, that they would trust in You. They would repent of their sins. We thank You for Christ tonight.
Lord, as we celebrate the Lord's Supper, as we commemorate the shedding of blood and the broken body of our Savior, Lord, may we all the more point us to Christ.