Fruit of the Spirit

in terms of last week. So let's turn to verse 19 in chapter 5, and we'll read down to the end of the chapter. We have two verses to cover today, which are entitled The Fruit of the Spirit. Verse 19, now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, gluttonous, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, how to persevere, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, love, suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. And against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

And if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk with the Spirit. And let us not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another. Up front, I'd like to just kind of take a moment and readdress how those who practice all those deeds of the flesh, if you remember that list, I mean the list goes on and on and on and never ends. We're not going to refresh your minds to that list, but the condition is if they practice those deeds and we can converse for hours and hours, what does it mean to practice these deeds?

They'll not inherit the kingdom of God. As I sat in class last week during Andrew's nice me to understand about this first. So again, not here to persuade any of you in terms of your own interpretation or those of many commentators who have addressed this issue.

So it all focuses on how we interpret the Kingdom of God. And broadly speaking, the Kingdom of God is the rule of an eternal sovereign God over the entire Someone. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all. And in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The kingdom of God is everything about God in terms of his creation and his ongoing activities in the universe. But more narrowly, the kingdom of God is a spiritual state in the hearts and lives of those who are saved. kind of again, interpret in context that this relates to each and every one of us.

Okay, John 3, 5. As Christ is addressing Nicodemus in his curiosity about what needs to be done in terms of, I'll paraphrase what he's saying. He says, more assurably, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Well, that's not the millennial kingdom. The kingdom of God. What does Nicodemus understand about the kingdom of God?

Well, it's got something to do with being born again, doesn't it? Next, Romans 14, 17. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. How about that? It's got something to do, I think, with where we're at in Galatians. In 1 Corinthians 4, 19 and 20, Paul says, but I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power, for the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. What kind of power is he talking about? Some miraculous event? I don't think so.

So in context here, I think ultimately, I think this battle between the flesh, where flesh is flesh and ultimately the Holy Spirit is involved in establishing us and sparing us from not inheriting the Kingdom of God is the life of the Holy Spirit within.

So I'm going to just stop there and go to these verses. fruit, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, within numerous lumps of the flesh that precede the fruit of the Spirit. This whole battle we see in the book of Galatians, but particularly in chapter 5, is flesh versus spirit. Remember, the liberty we have in terms of the flesh versus spirit is a liberty that relates to the power of each and every one to So I don't like this as a choice. And we're going to come back to that frequently in today's lesson. But this is a life. It's not a choice. So anyway, this contrast between fruit of the spirit and the flesh is a continual battle. And here, introduce the fruit of the spirit, but thus, but but is the review of that contrast.

So why is fruit singular when multiple human I think of fruit as plural. Did you say fruit or truth? I think of it as plural. He's not talking about any specific fruit, but he is talking about fruit as a whole. He lists all these things that are the fruit of the Spirit. So to me, it's plural. OK, let's look at something very earthly, and we'll come back and discuss this in more detail. Think about what we eat.

The fruit of the bee, when we think about a pear, apple, orange, or whatever fruit we might eat, what about the tree from which the fruit is grown? And what about a basket of fruit on the table that includes all of them? Do we label the tree? How do we label the tree in the basket?

Fruit. So fruit in the Greek is interpreted as singular, but we use fruit as a plural interpretation or as a singular interpretation. So I think this is kind of a simile, if you will, of the interpretation of fruit from a worldly perspective. Bob? When I think of fruit in that context, I think of fruit as the outworking of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is singular. So when we think of fruit, we're thinking of our walk with the Holy Spirit, not a whole bunch of rules. Just putting faith in the Holy Spirit, that's singular. Bob, why don't you come up and teach the rest of us?

I think he's nailed it. We're going to build the case for exactly what he said. So perhaps our next step then is to examine all these attributes or behaviors. By the way, I like the word behaviors because in a sense they're demonstrations of what we're really trying to impress you with in terms of the best interpretation.

But Bob, back to your point about being alive, doesn't this describe the Lord Jesus? I mean, in my mind, this describes the Lord Jesus. Love, joy, peace. No man can be that. Only a born-again man who is led by the Spirit can be that. This is Christ's life.

I think we're talking about a panel discussion. This is not a political debate. I'm trying to build on what you said, that's all. Amen, Roger. Okay, thank you. I don't think we're in disagreement. I love it. I thought this was going to be a challenging lesson. It's become very, very straightforward and simplistic, not overly simplistic in terms of application. That's another story.

We're going to turn to that, too. So here's a point I want to make. We take a big risk if we're going to look at each of these attributes in detail. And ultimately, I think if we focus on each of these attributes or behaviors of the power of the Holy Spirit in the new man that we walk in day in and day out. We check to see how we're doing. And thus we're putting ourselves under law.

In context, we're directed to avoid falling short in any of these particular areas. Each of these Christian manifestations of fruit and provides references in scripture to highlight each of these attributes. I don't want to go there and get distracted. We're locked in and will ultimately abide. We're going to talk about abiding in Christ coming up here shortly. But ultimately, if we look and study these individual attributes, we're missing the point of scripture.

The Holy Spirit provides fruit, singular gem, but with multiple types of fruit. that reflect these behaviors all the way to God's glory as we walk by grace. Bob? So, if we put our faith in the works of the Holy Spirit, we don't have to worry about all these individual things. They just happen naturally. It's the walk by faith in a new life.

And I turned to, Roger sent me some lust against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And as we've been teaching for months now, these are contrary to one another. So that you do not do the things that you wish to do. But if you're led by the spirit, you're not under law. And again, if we examine how we're doing at each of these components, we're really putting ourselves under law. Gee, I need to work harder on self-control. I need to work harder on love.

I think Constable said it reasonably well. And by the way, I think if you go to commentators, you're going to get lead all over the board here. And I'm not being critical of Weiss listing all the attributes and then scripturally founding them. But I think he didn't intend them to lead us. and provide some support for that. But Constable says again, it appears that Paul is not so concerned with precisely how each of these matters works out in practice, but with the underlying orientation of selfless and ongoing concern for others. For in commitment to God through Jesus Christ, one discovers a new orientation for life, an orientation that reflects the selfless Bob, also, almost by listing this list, you begin to see, I can't do it.

I can't be good in all those attributes. If you're truthful with yourself, I can't do that. Maybe I can do one. I'll focus on one of those. I'll try my hardest, but I can't do it. But when they list them all, you think, I can't do that. And that's exactly the point. You can't do it. You have to, by faith, trust that He will do it. He will live His life through us.

I think in many churches, these things are emphasized in terms of what the Christian walk really looks like. And yes, the Christian walk from above does look like this, but not because the flesh is getting buffed up to perform better in loving one another or in being, you know, having self-control or anything else here.

So then, when we examine the verse, how should we interpret all of these things? I think we've been kind of discussing that already. Is not this our condition based on our position by which our life in Christ Jesus is demonstrated? And again, I think, maybe I'm just a little bit too opinionated about this, but returning to our position always is the place to begin. Because as our position, we see ourselves as righteous as He sees us. Then our condition needs to conform to that position in our walk, and that's by faith. And that's entirely a grace-based operation. We don't try harder. We trust and believe.

Kristen, my daughter, is going through some things right now with her life in general. It's a parent and a wife and a husband who's trying to find work and been unsuccessful. But she wrote me a text before she left for California to give a talk in California this weekend. She said, I'm going to try harder to trust in God. is entirely oil and water, is it not? We need an emulsifier.

So are not all of Paul's epistles founded on sound doctrine before we're commanded, by the way, in a pair of them, share a verse here. We're commanded by faith to walk in our new creation. Yes, all of Paul's epistles are doctrinally soundly presented before what the walk looks like. And I think I've just shared one example, but there are many.

And that's in Romans 12, chapter 2, or verse 2. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed, which is a present passive imperative. We're told to be transformed. This is a command. By the renewing of our mind, God. Tremendous verse, but it occurs after 11 chapters of sound doctrine that now we're challenged, imperatively, to be transformed by the renewing of our mind and to prove what's good and acceptable.

Thus, let's not pick and choose to focus on kindness or self-control or any of these other behaviors or attributes, but believe in the work of the Holy Spirit to manifest the new lives we have in Christ Jesus. So this is a life, it's not a battle of choice. And I'm going to share just a few verses.

Philippians 1.21, for love is Christ.

John 16.13.14, however, when he, the He will speak and He will tell you things to come, and He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it unto you." If you want to be overly simplistic and really state what the role of the Holy Spirit is, it's really to glorify God through the walk in His Son. It's really, and Christ Himself said it here, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it unto you.

And then Galatians 5.25, which will be a verse that we'll take a look at next week.

If we live in the Spirit, let's walk in the Spirit. Pretty straightforward. If we live in the Spirit, let's walk there. So that's an act of faith. It's not an act of trying hard. So now I'm going to turn to our brother who's been tremendous in terms of his impact of this small body of believers we have here. And he had four questions, and the fourth one was, Spirit be manifest in their lives. What are some thoughts there? Well maybe we ought to first look at It's 417. We don't need to turn to these here.

Fruit influence on unbelievers. That was a little tough to drill down. And that's a sermon I'm about. finding a chapter and verse exactly in the states that I wasn't able to do. Bob, what about with, remember, the wife with the unbelieving husband? That would be an example. That's the only one I can think of. But the fruit wasn't stated. The term fruit wasn't there. Right. Exactly. That's great.

But there are many examples like that. And in fact, that was true of my own wife. I had a wife that got saved. years. At that point, how long were we married? A decade, absolutely. So for 17 years I saw a new woman. So there's a perfect example of that application. The fruit I saw in a woman that I'd known for a long time, who changed my life, at least opened the door for me to get saved. So that's perfect. So thanks for sharing that. And finally, John 15, 1 and 2. I'm the vine. We all know this well, don't we? My father's the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may bear fruit.

And it's impossible for the fruit of the Spirit, which is the glory of Christ, to be manifested unless we abide in Christ. And that's what these verses say. And that's a tremendous prophecy from the church that he stated in John 15. Ultimately, what do we make of that? If we think of the fruit tree or house of We're going to end it, no less than that.

Well, first of all, we need to get to know Him. We know Him through the Word, right? This is an experience, this is an emotional knowledge of abiding, this is ultimately knowing the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think the fellowship we have here as a body helps us get to know Him better. Even individually, we're commanded to be in the Scripture, I think a vibe sometimes is like to be at home with. And it's back to his word, right?

There's no other alternative than his word. If you're not in the word, you can't hang out with him unless you know him. You can't know him unless you read about him. You can't read about him unless you open the book. It's actually not rocket science. And you would know.

So chapter 15 goes on to say, abide in me and I in you as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. And neither can you unless you abide in me. And I am the vine, and you're the branches. And he who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For without me he can do nothing.

Boy, that's a strong line. Pretty is. So the next question I'm going to ask in the life or being in fellowship be synonyms of abiding in Christ? Well, again, you're so smart. So Hal lists three things. I'm going to list those for you here. The first was faith. He lists faith, fellowship, and life. But let's look at faith. And I've added to that. So I've said faith in what? Well, it's faith in all who Christ is. And that's what he's done. So I was saved, I'm being saved, and I will be saved. Different verb tenses of who we are in Christ.

He saved me by His crucifixion, and also He's given me life by His resurrection. My walk now is dependent on my faith in that, that I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus. My old man was buried with Him in baptism unto death after being crucified, and my walk is a whole new nature, and I'm seen as righteous. The guys that were part of it were there when Stan mentioned this book that he'd read about somebody who'd seen the Lord after death and then came back.

We don't want to be too misled by those kinds of experiences. You can't doubt somebody's experience, but scripture doesn't tell us much about those kinds of experiences. is dwelling in heavenly places. You're comfortable, like at home. You're comfortable when you're at home.

All right, so faith was the first thing that Tao brought up. The second is fellowship. So fellowship, I think, is with a heavenly Christ in whom we're positioned as citizens and heirs. Again, position is so critically important to be reminded of, of who we are positionally. he hath made him to be made righteous for us, he who knew no sin to be made righteous for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God. So anyway, this guy. All right, and the third is the life itself. So life in Christ and weeks on end in terms of some of the Sunday schools that I remember him teaching. So Christ himself had said that bringing glory to God, full glory to Him, is the power of the Holy Spirit enacted in directing the life that we all have as believers. Yes, Bob.

So, you know, we all have that old sin nature. And if we give in to that sin nature, Are we no longer abiding in Christ? I would say, I mean, positionally we are. So being in fellowship or abiding in Christ can really, that holds to nature, if we give into it, a perfect opportunity to acknowledge that and say, that's not who I am, Lord.

I confess that, and you get back in fellowship. You lose the fellowship, so the essence of abiding is the loss of fellowship, and that's really the second point that Hal has brought up. And that's probably where we can go back to what you said earlier with Romans 12, 1 and 2. We examine our lives So that renewing of your mind tells us, okay, this is where I'm at and this is where I ought to be. And that's actually confession, right?

But in a sense I think, you know, you can take this doctrine of the Holy Spirit and how he enacts and walks and lives by grace and faith I think we can get paralyzed by this over-analysis of how we're walking. And that really relates to how the law is applying to how we're walking. I think the victorious walk is a walk that is not examining him or herself in terms of how we're doing. And that's why I try to distract us from looking at all these components or manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

How many times have I heard you tell us that my Christian life is a lifestyle? That's exactly what it is. It's a lifestyle. It's not a bunch of rules. It's just walking in the Spirit. It's our life as believers. It's the style of the new man. going to read today's because I thought it related to some extent to our lesson. Number three, which is March.

Each section in the None But the Hungry Heart series contains 100 or more interrelated scriptural portions, as well as more than 100 quotations and comments. In mediating upon this material, our attention should be centered Each page may give enlightenment concerning the scripture, ìLet the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. The word of God is living and powerful.î All true devotional reading should give us a greater understanding of and appreciation for our Bible. Anything other than this will hinder spiritual growth. It goes without saying that the Word of God, ministered by the Holy Spirit of God, is the primary means of knowing the Son of God as our life.

The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." John 6, 63. And now I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace. He is able to build you up and to give you of July, 1969. So what I particularly like is, anything other than this will hinder spiritual growth.

And it goes without saying that the Word of God, ministered by the Spirit, is the primary means of knowing the Son of God is our life. And when we're in the Word, I mean, by the way, I think you can be in the Word and not be ministered to by the Holy Spirit. You can study the Word for intellectual reasons, right? You can become very, very informed about what the Word of God says, but there's really no life that stems from that.

We believe based on our position, how our condition is being transformed day in and day out. I often relate to how Paul left us with some of his last words that he felt right before the Lord took him home that he was among the greatest So we don't focus on the sin, but ultimately we focus on our position in heavenly places and how that can impact our lives by faith. Alright, let's finish up here. So, life in Christ is directed by the Spirit. So if you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. And by this my Father is glorified. so that you'd be my disciples.

Now, Bob and Roger will relate to the fact that we were studying the Book of Mark in our Tuesday's med study. The idea, if you have enough faith, the mountain will be moved, and Bob helped us interpret that. It's probably related to the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. But all that aside, this idea here, ask what you will and it'll be done.

Well, how are you asking We're not asking for a new Maserati here. This needs to be consistent with His will. And what's the will of God? The will of God is one simple thing. That we be conformed to Christ's image. Say that again. That we be conformed to the image of the Lord. We get conformed. The Holy Spirit helps us interpret the truth of the Word of God. And that's how we get transformed by the Word of God. And ultimately that's the will to have all of us being transformed by the Word of God.

That's the idea of renewing of your mind. It talks about how you renew your mind. That's something beyond our understanding. Last question, he always has wonderful questions here. So, how does the Holy State accomplish this in our Christian lives? Well, how stated one verse, I think it's one that Mike Dorrell quotes a lot, one of his favorites.

2 Corinthians 3.18, but, we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we're being transformed again, present, passive, indicative. Here it's not imperative, it's a fact. When we study the Lord Jesus Christ in the Word of God, we're being transformed factually into the same image from glory to glory. So when we're in the Word and the Spirit is leading us to an understanding of what we're reading and have that being applied to our lives, that's how the Holy Spirit accomplishes His task in our everyday life, 24-7.

Now yes, we fall short a lot, but we don't focus on that. We confess, get back in fellowship, and get to know Him even more so. greatest sinner we can reflect on ourselves. Well it seems like he points out what we have observed too, that as you come to know Christ better, you see yourself more, you see that the old man can never do it. You can never ever accomplish his will in yourself. He can't do it. And the more we see him, the more we realize that. Paul ultimately saw at the end of his life that truth, even more so. And if we give Christ as the light of the world, as the light of the Lord It's not the old man or the old flesh that's being conformed.

It's a new creation. If we look at our feelings, if we look at our... Well, I don't feel like I'm doing it right. And you try harder. That's where the law comes in. And that's not the conformity. And I think Miles' sermon last week was really excellent about the law that abrates us to sin. It's hard to understand it.

The law is perfectly holy and righteous, but ultimately because it's a law and it's God-given and it's holy and righteous, it only makes us realize how far short we're falling. It takes us to Paul's over-wretched man that I am, who can deliver me from this body of sin. And so important, as Robert said, and Roger, I think, did such a great job reflecting on the importance of Paul related to covetousness. Roger, you and I were talking about that a little bit.

Covetousness really covers all the other ones. It does. If you look at all the Ten Commandments, covetousness covers them all. Because, yes, Bob? I'd just like to All those examples, I mean, who is it? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's gotta be him, someone else. And that's who we need to look to.

But let's think before one another, or even to the unbelieving world, ultimately we fall short in some way. Let's say we got angry, or we didn't have self-control, or our love, by the way, the love isn't gonna copy love, that's not a reflection anyway. But anyway, let's say we fall short of some behavioral manifestation of these lists, if you will. What do we do with that? How does the Spirit lead us to remedy that? Admit it, move on.

Well, we confess it to the Lord too, but we may need to confess it to one another, and even to the unbeliever if we fall short. See, the unsaved individual, I would say even mainline church people who may or may not be Christians, ultimately are very critical of Christians because they fall short. And they say, how can you be a Christian and think that way or say that or behave in this way? And that's all legal. And unfortunately, when people are critical of that, that shows their lack of understanding.

But all we can do is take a step back and allow the Lord to work through us and either ask for forgiveness if we've offended them or try to see if the Holy Spirit would lead to have them understanding that we still have a sin nature just like you do.

And we fall short at times. I think that sometimes can be a bigger witness than actually trying to share the gospel with somebody. It's having them see us fail and say, gee, you know, this allows me to tell you a little bit about what scripture says. I can still fail, but God sees me as righteous. I mean, I'm just using that as a case in point, maybe a revetro a little bit, but I think when we fall short, sometimes we don't want to be seen as falling short. But, you know, if Margaret, you know, would bury me after every time I fell short before her, I'd be dead long ago.

In our marriage, we have this give and take, and we end the war, we understand. It really is so critically important. You're right. If Heidi depended on what she sees in me to be a believer, she'd never be a believer. I think I can share this. We were in a little bridge club. We played bridge last night. Probably most of you are not believers. All that aside. And afterwards, we were having dessert. And something came up. And we said, well, we have a friend Somebody was asking if this woman would ever want to divorce her husband.

I'm looking for an image to kind of reflect the teaching of the Holy Spirit. And I'm not in any way promoting this book, because I've not read it. But I thought the title I found enticing, The Character of Christ, the Fruit of the Spirit, and the Life of Our Savior, by Jonathan Landry Cruz. Again, I don't know anything about the book. But I thought the title really reflected the message of the fruit of the spirit that we've covered here today. Amen. Jim? Father, we thank you so much for your Word. We depend on it so, so fervently. We just thank you for the reminder that you are God and we belong to you. Thank you for all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.