By My Spirit (Part 9) – The Fruit of the Spirit
We’re in Galatians Chapter 5 and we’ve been going through a study on Sunday Nights on the subject of the Holy Spirit. The series is called “By My Spirit”. And it’s really been a systematic study of the Holy Spirit. And we’re now in the 9th week of this study and it’s been a very doctrinal study. And you know, something that we should be doing is learning very practical things from the Bible, from the Word of God. But we should also be learning some doctrinal things. And we should be not carried about with every wind of doctrine. We should know what we believe and why we believe it.
And so, we’ve been studying the Holy Spirit and I hope you’ve been taking notes and learning. It really has been a systematic study of the Holy Spirit. Some people pay good money to learn these things at Bible College and you’re learning it for free. And you’re not getting all of the heresy. There has been no Dispensationalism. There has been no weird, doctrinal heresy. But we’ve been talking about the Holy Spirit. And we learned about the person of the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit as God, The Holy Spirit in the Trinity, the Work of the Holy Spirit, The Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, The Gifts of the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament vs. his role in the New Testament, The Filling of the Holy Spirit which we talked about last week. And this week we’re going to talk about The Fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Now it’s good that we’re talking about The Fruit of the Holy Spirit in the 9th sermon in this series because there are 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. So, I don’t know what that means but we talked about the Trinity in the 3rd sermon of the series. So, we’re just making reference to those numbers, I guess.
But I want you to understand a few things about the Fruit of the Spirit. And the Fruit of the Spirit is something you hear a lot about and people talk a lot about. You’ll often see it. People will hang it up on their walls at home. You’ll see a lot of decorations that have the fruit of the Spirit. But I want to teach you some things about the fruit of the Spirit. Before we actually get into the actual fruit of the Spirit. I want to begin by talking about the producer of The Fruit of the Spirit. Who is it that produces the Fruit of the Spirit? And this may seem silly but I want to make this point and there’s a reason why I’m saying it.
Look at Galatians 5:22 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” I want you to notice and understand that when we’re talking about the fruit of the Spirit, we’re talking about just that. It is the Fruit of the Spirit. The producer, the one who produces this fruit in our lives – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance:” Those things are produced by the Holy Spirit.
You might be wondering as opposed to what? And here’s what I want you to understand. Most Christians today have the idea of the Fruit of the Spirit, they have a misunderstanding in the sense that they read the Fruit of the Spirit and they interpret it as the Fruit of Christians. Now keep your place in Galatians 5 but go to Matthew 13. Today you will have people who will talk about the Fruit of Christians and what we produce. And they’ll say, well, we’ll know you’re a Christian, we’ll know you by your fruits, right? Doesn’t the Bible say that by your fruits ye shall know them? And when they are talking about the fruits that they are hoping to see as evidence for salvation in your life, they’ll say, well as a Christian you are supposed to produce fruit. And then you ask them, what fruit? What is the fruit that you are expecting to see in the life of a Christian? And they will reference that to Galatians 5:22 – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: The problem is that the Bible is clear that this is the fruit of the Spirit. This is not the fruit of a Christian.
Matthew 13, are you there, notice Matthew 13:8. Now in Matthew 13 we have the famous parable of the sower. And when you get to verse 8, we have the good ground. Nobody disagrees in the parable that the good ground is a Christian. He’s a saved person. I want you to notice what it says. Matthew 13:8 “8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit,”. And they’ll say see, Christians bring forth fruit. But I want you to notice what it says, the fruit that was brought forth by Christians was “some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.”.
So, I want to ask you, if the Fruit of the Spirit is somehow really the Fruit of the Christian. And what they mean by that when they teach that is that we should be able to identify whether someone is saved or not by whether or not they have these characteristics in their lives. And they’ll say that this is the fruit of a Christian. Well let me ask you something, when it says a hundred-fold, what does that mean? I mean does it mean that the Christian is going to produce 100 love? When it says sixty-fold, does that mean that some Christians are going to produce 60 joy. Some of them are going to produce 30 longsuffering. And some are going to produce 100-fold of gentleness.
And I want you to understand that throughout the Bible, and I’m not going to take the time to go through the references because we have a lot to cover tonight anyway. You’re there in Matthew 13, go to Matthew 7. Throughout the Bible, it is very clear that everything produces after its own kind. And the fruit of the Christian is not love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. That is the fruit of the Spirit. And we’re going to talk about how you can have what the Spirit produces in your life. But I want you to understand that the fruit of the Christian is the same as the fruit of anything else. Everything brings forth after its own kind. An apple tree brings forth apples. A dog brings forth dogs. Cats bring forth cats. And I’m not preaching on evolution yet, that’s next week.
And the point is this, we as Christians, we produce Christians. We go out and labor together with God. We preach the gospel. The Word of God brings about a birth, a new birth, a new life. Someone is born again. And what do you produce a hundred-fold of? What does God desire for you to produce a hundred-fold of in your life? He desires for you to produce a hundred-fold Christians. Sixty-fold Christians. Thirty-fold Christians. And I want you to notice that when we talk about the fruit of the Spirit, we aren’t talking about an evidence of salvation. Because the fruit of the Christian is you reproducing yourself. Just like physically, when a man and a woman have a child, and they reproduce themselves, what do they reproduce? Well they’re in love so they reproduce love. No. They reproduce a child. They reproduce a human being. Why? Because everything brings forth after its own kind. So human beings reproduce human beings. And Christians, spiritually reproduce Christians.
And people say, well doesn’t the Bible say that by their fruits ye shall know them. But look, you always have to be careful when pulling out statements out of the Bible, out of their context. So, let’s look at that, yes, the Bible does say that by their fruits ye shall know them. Let’s look at the context in which God says that. Matthew 7:15 “15 Beware of false prophets,”. I want you to notice the context. It’s not even Christians. It’s false prophets. It’s bad preachers. “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”. Verse 16, here’s the context. “16 Ye shall know them by their fruits.”.
So how do we judge, how do we identify a false prophet? You identify them by what they produce. You identify them by their converts. Didn’t Jesus say that the Pharisees were making twofold more the child of hell than themselves in those that they were proselytizing and the converts that they had. He said ye shall know them by their fruits. “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”. He’s saying look, thorns don’t produce grapes. And thistles don’t produce figs. “17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” Verse 20, here’s the context. “20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”.
So, when someone says, by their fruits ye shall know them. And they’re talking about whether or not someone is a Christian or not, whether someone is saved or not. They pull that statement out of context. Because the context is about false prophets. You’ll know false prophets by their fruit. And by the way, you’ll know any prophet by their fruit. You know, today I hold the position of a Pastor, a Preacher, a Prophet, if you want to figure out whether I’m a good guy or a bad guy, you say how would I figure that out? Do you figure that out by watching my life to see whether I’m loving or caring or kind? Because listen to me, if you watch Joel Osteen then you’ll think he’s loving and caring and kind. But he’s a false prophet. If you watch Billy Graham, you’ll think that he is loving and caring and kind. But he was a false prophet preaching a false gospel.
So, you say, well what does it mean? Here’s what it means. If you want to notice if I’m a good guy or a bad guy, a false preacher or a right preacher, here’s how you examine me, you just inspect the fruit. You inspect what we produce. Look, walk around here on a Sunday morning. Go around and just randomly ask our church people, hey do you know for sure if you died today that you are on your way to heaven? Now look, obviously we have guests, we have visitors, we have new converts that don’t know all of the answers to the questions. But I promise you this, if you talk to most people that call Verity Baptist their home and they will say, “Ya I know I’m saved. You can’t lose it. I didn’t turn over a new leaf to get it. It’s a free gift.”. Why? Because that’s what we preach and that’s what we produce.
Look, we go out soulwinning in the streets of Sacramento and I knock doors of people from over the last 8 years. I may have knocked the doors of 100 members of one church and every single one told me that you can lose your salvation. Well you know what, that tells me a lot about that preacher. I inspected the fruit and the fruit told me he is preaching a false gospel. That’s the context, by their fruit ye shall know them. So, don’t get caught up in this idea that we can identify Christians based on whether or not they are loving or joyful or longsuffering or any of those things. Because here’s what you need to understand, that is not the fruit of a Christian. That is the fruit of the Spirit. And whether or not the Spirit is doing a work in your life is totally up to you. But it does not determine whether you are saved or not.
Let’s go back to Galatians 5. The producer of the fruit is the Spirit, not you. If you have this fruit in your life, it’s because the Holy Spirit is doing a work in your life, not you. Let’s talk about the production of the fruit. The producer is the Holy Spirit. How does it get produced? What’s the production? Notice Galatians 5:16. “16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”. Now, we’re going to talk about the fruit of the Spirit but this chapter also talks about the fruit of the flesh. Notice verse 17, “17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”. Notice verse 18, “18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”.
So, look, he’s saying that the people who he is going to talk about in Galatians 5, they don’t just have the Holy Spirit, they are walking in the Holy Spirit. They are being led of the Holy Spirit. They are allowing the Spirit to guide them. But there are other people who are being led. Other Christians who are being led of the flesh. They’re not walking in the Spirit. They’re not allowing the Holy Spirit to move them. They’re allowing their flesh and their own desires to move them. Well what is their life going to look like? And I want you to understand this. Because in verse 17 he talks about this eternal struggle: “17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”.
Please understand this, if you are saved, there is and there will be, and there will be until the day you die, an internal struggle and an internal fight within you. It’s called the old man vs. the new man. It’s called the carnal man vs. the spiritual man. It’s called the spirit vs. the flesh. Until the resurrection, until the rapture, until God takes away this flesh and gives you a new glorified body, you will struggle with the lust of the flesh. And they will be combatting each other inside of you. So, if you ever feel that struggle inside of you where you want to do right but then your flesh doesn’t. Your Spirit wants to read the Bible but your flesh wants to sleep in. Look, that’s normal. And what you do with that struggle will determine a lot about whether you will succeed or fail in the Christian life. But realize that there is an internal struggle in the Christian life.
You say, what if I give in to the flesh. Well here’s what your life will look like in verse 19 “19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like:”. Look, he’s saying that Christians can live like this. You say why? Because a Christian has the ability to not walk in the Spirit but to walk in the flesh.
But what about a Christian who chooses to walk in the Spirit like verse 16 says? What about a Christian who chooses to be led of the Spirit like verse 18? What about that Christian? What will be produced in their life? Verse 22 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”. Look at verse 25 “25 If we live in the Spirit,” I want you to notice what it says “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”. And here’s what the Bible is teaching. You can live in the Spirit and not be walking in the Spirit. Because when you got saved, and this is a point from another sermon, but when you got saved, you got sealed with the Holy Spirit of God. Every Christian lives in the Spirit, with the Spirit, with the Holy Spirit indwelling you.
But like we talked about last week, not every Christian is filled with the Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit, you have to walk in the Spirit. You have to be led of the Spirit. We talked about that last week. I gave you real practical things you can do to experience the filling of the Holy Spirit. But the point is this, but you can have the Holy Spirit and not be walking in the Holy Spirit. You can have the Holy Spirit and not be being led by the Holy Spirit. Now you’re there in Galatians. Go to Ephesians.
While you go there, let me read from 1 Thessalonians 5:19. You know this verse. You’ve heard it. “Quench not the Spirit”. I want you to think about this. Ok. Because today we have people who will say, “Oh no, if you don’t have love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith then you’re not saved. Because this is what the Holy Spirit will produce in your life. And this is what they’ll say, if you have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will produce these things in your life. Here’s the problem with that, 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says “Quench not the Spirit”. You are commanded not to quench the Spirit. Remember, one of the emblems or the pictures of the Holy Spirit is that he is a fire in the Bible, he is a consuming fire, but you and I have the ability to quench the Holy Spirit.
Now look, if we couldn’t quench the Holy Spirit, why would God command us not to do it. So, don’t think that if I have the Holy Spirit then these things will be produced in my life. No, you can live in the Spirit but that doesn’t mean that you’re walking in the Spirit. And the only way that the Spirit can produce the fruit of the Spirit, then you must walk in the Spirit. You must be led of the Spirit. You must be allowing the Holy Spirit to lead you in your life. Are you there in Ephesians 4? Go to verse 30. “30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”. See it’s possible for you to have the Holy Spirit and for you to grieve the Holy Spirit. “Oh no if you have the Holy Spirit then he will produce these things”.
Then why would God tell us not to grieve the Holy Spirit? Why would God tell us not to quench him? There’s 1 reason why he tells us that, because you can grieve him. You can quench him. And just because you live in the Spirit, doesn’t mean that you’re walking in the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit, and this is what I really want you to understand and we will jump in to the fruit of the Spirit in a second. But the fruit of the Spirit is not evidence of salvation. Ok. The Bible is clear that the evidence of salvation is your testimony. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. That’s what the Bible says.
That’s why we ask people, do you know for sure if you died today that you’re on your way to heaven. And based on how they answer that question, we know if they’re saved. Because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. And they tell us what they believe. And when someone says that they think they are on their way to heaven. And we ask what gives you that confidence? What are you trusting in to get you to heaven? And they say, “Well you know, I used to drink alcohol. I used to be in to drugs. I used to do this. And now I don’t do that”. Hey you know what, but that’s the wrong thing that you’re trusting. Because quitting alcohol and quitting drugs isn’t going to get you in to heaven. “Well, you know I got baptized.”. Great. But you’re trusting the wrong thing.
“Well, you know my grandma is a Baptist Preacher”. Ok, I don’t even know where to start with that one. But again, that’s not what saves you. What are you trusting in to get you to heaven? “I asked Jesus to save me. I put my faith and trust in him and there’s nothing I can do. I just accepted the free gift of salvation”. Ok then you’re saved. Because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
So, you say, well what is the fruit of the Spirit? What does it teach us about ourselves? Because what does it prove? Here’s what it proves. The fruit of the Spirit is evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in your life. So, it doesn’t tell us whether you’re a Christian or not. Your testimony tells us whether you’re a Christian or not. But the fruit of the Spirit will tell us whether you are a Spirit filled Christian or whether you are a carnal Christian. It doesn’t tell us whether you’re saved. It just tells us if you’re right with God. It doesn’t tell us if you’re saved. It just tells us if you’re allowing the Holy Spirit lead in your life or if you’re allowing the flesh to lead in your life.
So, let’s look at the fruit of the Spirit. What is it? Go to Ephesians 5. And what I’m going to do as quickly as I can…. Honestly, we can spend 9 weeks going through the fruit of the Spirit and maybe one day we will. Maybe in a different series, we will spend time dissecting each one of these. I’m going to try to give you each of these quickly. And I want you to think about during this sermon, do I have these characteristics in my life. And if you do, then great. And if you don’t, that doesn’t mean that you’re not saved. It just means that you’re not walking in the Spirit. It just means that you’re not being led by the Spirit. It just means that you’re not being filled with the Spirit. So, this is what the Bible says that the Holy Spirit will produce in your life when you allow him to lead, when you walk in the Spirit, not just live in the Spirit, but walk in the Spirit.
#1 – Love. Now you’re there in Ephesians, I want you to look at Ephesians 5. And again, I’m going to go through these quickly so I’m not going to develop them a lot. And we could talk about love a lot through the Bible. The Bible talks a lot about love. And if you’re writing notes, if you could write “Sacrificial and selfless” beside love. Throughout the Bible, and I would encourage you to study this out on your own. Throughout the Bible, the way that the Bible describes or defines love, it defines it in this way – sacrificial and selfless. Sacrificial and Selfless. I’ll give you 1 example from Ephesians 5.
Ephesians 5 is a famous passage between husbands and wives and how they should respond to each other. Ephesians 5:25 says this “25 Husbands, love your wives,” Then God is going to explain to us how to do that. He says “even as” or in the same way “Christ also loved the church,” So he says that I want you to love your wives even as Christ loved the church. So, we’re going to learn what love is. And notice “and gave himself for it;”. What is it? Sacrificial. Love is always sacrificial. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. In the Bible love is always identified by sacrifice but not just sacrifice. But also, by selflessness which is the opposite of selfishness. Look at verse 28. Ephesians 5:28 “28 So ought men to love their wives”. Notice “as their own bodies.”.
Men are hard headed, right. So, God has to give us 2 examples. He says love your wife as Christ loved the church. And then guys are like, I don’t get that. So, he says let me give you something that you do get. You know how you love yourself? You know that selfish love that you have? I want you to have that same love by in reverse. Not selfish but selfless. “So ought men to love their own wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.”. He says look, love your wife like you love yourself. I’m sure you get that one. You don’t understand the sacrifice one but you get the selfless one.
Here is the point. Love is sacrificial and selfless. So you need to identify. You say, how can I know if the fruit of love is apparent in my life. Here’s how you know. Are you sacrificing and being selfless to those that you love? Are you putting them first? Are you esteeming other better than yourself? Are you being selfless or selfish? Are you sacrificing or are you expecting them to sacrifice? Because the fruit of the Spirit will produce love. Which is sacrificial and selfless. You’re there in Ephesians, go to Colossians 1. The fruit of the Spirit, what is it? Love. How do I identify that? Sacrifice, selflessness. Am I being sacrificial? Am I being selfless?
What’s the 2nd fruit of the Spirit? Joy. Joy. Now the word joy means happiness but it’s a different word than happiness. And here’s the difference. Often times happiness is connected to your circumstances. Even the Bible teaches this. The Bible talks about blessed is the man that and the Bible will tell us something that they do. The Bible will also say happy is the man that. And it uses those words interchangeably. Why? Because you are happy when you are blessed. Now we could take that too far and make that a bad thing where your happiness is only connected to your circumstances. But joy is different in the sense that joy is happiness that does not find its source in the outside world or outside circumstances. Joy is something, if it’s produced by the Holy Spirit then it’s something that has its source inside of you. So that joy is not dependent on what’s going on with the outside world. Because that joy comes from that Holy Spirit’s work inside of you.
Colossians 1:24 “24 Who now rejoice”. You see the word rejoice there? It’s just a different way of saying the same thing. Joy, rejoice. Notice to what he says. “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you,”. Ok, why would you rejoice in sufferings? Well you would only rejoice in sufferings if your joy was not connected to your outside circumstances but found its source from something that cannot be connected by outside circumstances. The Holy Spirit of God. He says “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:”.
Let me give you another example. Go to Philippians. Now here’s what’s interesting about the book of Philippians. Philippians is the joy book of the Bible. You found the word rejoice often throughout the book of Philippians over and over and over again. You hear Paul telling people, commanding people to rejoice. Be joyful. Be content. What’s interesting is that Paul wrote the book of Philippians from prison. While incarcerated for his faith. And this is what he says in Philippians 4:4 “4 Rejoice in the Lord alway:” Alway meaning always. All of the time. Alway meaning the entire way. The entire time. Your entire life. “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”.
You say that sometimes bad things happen to good people. And that is true. But true joy that is produced by the Holy Spirit will not be affected by outside circumstances. True joy that finds its source from the Holy Spirit will not be affected by things going on around your life. Problems with your health. Problems with the health of those you love. Problems with your relationships. Problems with your finances. Problems with your career. I’m not minimizing any of those things. Those are real things that we go through. Real heartaches. But here’s what I’m telling you. You can go through heartaches and still experience joy in your life when it is the Holy Spirit that is producing it inside of you.
You say Pastor Jimenez, how do I know if I’m filled with the Holy Spirit? Well let me ask you something. Are you joyful? Or are you always sad? And discouraged? And upset? And down in the dumps? And we’ll have those people in our lives. You avoid them. You don’t ask them how they’re doing. Because you don’t want to get in to that conversation. Because they’re never doing well. Things are never going right. Because they’re always throwing a pity party because things are always tough. And look, I get it, pity parties are fun. They are fun parties to throw. You don’t have to invite anybody else. I get it. But it is not the life of a Spirit filled Christian. Because a Spirit filled Christian will experience love and joy that is not connected to the outside circumstances.
Here’s another one. Here’s the 3rd one. It’s peace. What’s peace? Peace is a calm that is not connected to circumstances. So joy is happiness that is not connected to circumstances. Peace is a calm that is not connected to circumstances. You’re there in Philippians 4. We just read verse 4. “4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” But look at verse 5 “5 Let your moderation” You see that word moderation there. The word moderation means the avoidance of excess extremes. It means that you’re not doing real well. You’re not doing real bad. You’re just kind of living life. “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.”. Verse 6 “6 Be careful for nothing;”
You see that word careful there? The word careful is not careful like I am trying to be careful not to spill the soup when taking it to the table. The idea is not that. The idea of the word careful there is to be full of care. Anxiety, worried. He says be careful for nothing. It’s the same idea when Peter would say “Casting all your cares upon him for he careth for you.”. It’s the idea of worry. Anxiety. “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God,” Don’t miss this. “which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”. Here’s what the Bible said: The Holy Spirit will produce in your life love, joy, peace, that doesn’t mean that you don’t go through heartaches. That doesn’t mean that you don’t go through trials. That doesn’t mean that you don’t go through difficult times in your life that are stressful that are hard. It doesn’t mean that. But what it means is that you can go through those trials and have joy in your heart. And you can go through those trials and have peace of mind.
It’s interesting because he said “And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. The definition of the word peace is freedom from disturbance. A mental call. Here’s all I’m telling you. If you do not have peace in your life, then you do not have the fruit of the Spirit. I’m not trying to beat you up. I’m trying to give you 9 reasons to be filled with the Spirit. “Why would I want to be led of the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and have the Spirit come upon me, be filled with the Spirit”.
Well, there are 9 real good reasons why you might want to be filled with the Spirit. One is so that you can experience Love. One is that you experience Joy which is not connected to the outside. Which is not connected to circumstances. That’s not connected to what’s going on in life. One is so that you can experience peace. That people would look at and say, your life is falling apart. Why are you so calm? And here’s what you will say. For the peace of God which passeth all understanding. You say that it doesn’t make sense to the world. Because the world only gets peace when all the ducks are in a row. The world only experiences peace when everything is fine. When everything is good. When everything is right. But we as Christians can go through tribulation and still experience peace. Because our peace finds its source in the Holy Spirit.
Here’s #4 – Longsuffering. What does the word longsuffering mean? It means patience. Let’s look at that. Colossians 1:10. It means more than that but let’s look at that and I’ll explain. Colossians 1:10 says this “10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful” You understand that word fruitful there. “in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power,” Notice. “unto all patience and longsuffering with” Don’t miss this “joyfulness;”. The Holy Spirit will produce these things in your life. Patience and longsuffering.
Here’s the question: Are you patient? And see patience, longsuffering is patience but there is more to it. They are actually 2 different words with 2 different definitions though they are used synonymously. Patience is to wait when you don’t want to. Right? You want things to go faster than they are going. We have this drive through, microwave culture where we don’t want to wait. We want it and we want it now. Patience is the ability to wait when you don’t want to. Longsuffering is the ability to be patient when you are suffering. Hence the word long-suffering. Here is the definition: Having or showing patience in spite of trouble. Especially those caused by other people. See, longsuffering is when I can be patient with those that are hurting me. When I can be patient with those that are attacking me. When I can be patient with those that are reviling me. When I can be patient with those.
See, here’s the thing. You can’t live the Christian life and you cannot successfully live the Christian life without the fulfilling of the Holy Spirit. Because you can’t live the Christian life without the fruit of the Spirit. You can be a Christian without the fruit of the Spirit. But you can’t live the Christian life without the fruit of the Spirit. Look at the famous chapters of the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5, 6 and 7 where Jesus was preaching very practical, rubber meets the road Christianity. What did he say? Love your neighbor. What did he say? Love your enemy. What did he say? Pray for them that persecute you. He said, I say therefore love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them which despitefully use you.
You can’t do that without longsuffering and you can’t have longsuffering without the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And the filling of the Holy Spirit. You say how do I know if I’m filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, do you experience love? Let’s put it this way. Would the people around you say that you are loving? Selfless and sacrificial. Do you experience joy that is not connected to your outside circumstances? Do you experience peace of mind that others would say, I don’t understand. Are you longsuffering? Are you patient in suffering? Are you patient while being hurt. While being attacked. While being lied about. While being criticized. While being attacked by your enemies.
Here’s #5 – Gentleness. Gentleness. Now the word gentleness in your King James Bible, and you can study this out later if you like. The word gentleness just means this – to be kind. To be kind. And the idea with gentleness is to be soft or tender. Let me show it to you. Ephesians 4:32 “32 And be ye kind one to another,” And then he uses this word “tenderhearted,”. What does it mean to be tender? It means showing gentleness. It means being soft. It’s the opposite of harsh. It’s the opposite of mean. It’s the opposite of brute. “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”.
Doesn’t the Bible say this in Proverbs 15:1, “A soft answer turneth away wrath.”. You can only do that in the power of the Holy Spirit. You can only be gentle and kind and have a soft answer and be tenderhearted in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now I’m not trying to beat you up. I’m really just trying to help you. But please understand this, if we talk to your kids, and we won’t, ok. We’re not CPS. But if we talk to your kids and we said “Is that harsh?”. What word describes dad? Harsh or Gentle?
Here’s all I’m telling you. It doesn’t mean you’re not saved. It just means that you’re not walking in the Spirit. It just means that you don’t have the fulness of the Spirit. And I’m not trying to beat up you dads. I’m right there with you. This is why the Bible tells us “Provoke not your children to wrath”. How do I do that? Walk in the Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit. Produce the fruit of the Spirit by allowing the Spirit to have a work in your life. Why? Because when you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you, to guide you, to fill you, to produce in you, it will produce love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness.
What’s #6? Goodness. Goodness. Let me take a few minutes to explain this one. Matthew 19. In Matthew 19 we have the story known as the story of the rich, young ruler. And you have the rich, young ruler approach Jesus. And I want to show you this story because it defines this word “good” or “goodness” for us. Matthew 19:16 says this “16 And, behold, one came and said unto him,” So we have the rich young ruler coming to Jesus. Here’s what he says. “Good Master, what” Notice the words “good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”. It’s interesting.
And I want you to understand the conversation that Jesus is having with this young man. Because there’s a lot of confusion when it comes to this story because of the way that Jesus was dealing with this young man. But I want you to notice that Jesus dealt with this young man with the attitude that the young man brought to Jesus. Ok. Now here’s the problem with having a conversation with Jesus or having Jesus be the soulwinner that is trying to get you saved. The problem is this: That Jesus knows your heart, knows your thoughts, knows everything about you. So if you’re going to try to engage into a conversation of wits with Jesus, you’re going to lose. Because he’s God. Alright.
We’re actually going to have a series here soon after Father’s Day. I’m going to do a series called “Encounters with Christ”. And we’re going to look at all the 1 on 1 conversations that Jesus had with individuals. And we’ll learn a lot. But this is one of them. Notice what it says. He says “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?:” Now there’s a problem with this young man. Problem #1 – He did not believe that Jesus was God. Problem #2 – He thought that he could work his way to heaven. Because notice, he doesn’t say “What do I have to believe to go to heaven”? “What do I have to believe to have eternal life”? He said what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? So Jesus is having a little fun with this kid. Because Jesus knows his heart. “17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one,”
And look, everything Jesus is saying is true. Because there is none that doeth good but one. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If Jesus was just a man which is what this kid thought then Jesus was not good. Now Jesus wasn’t just a man but this is what this boy is telling him. He says “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God:”. So here is what Jesus is trying to tell him. If I’m good than I’m God. And if I’m not God then I’m not good. “but if thou wilt enter into life,” Let me answer your question. You want to ask me what you have to do to go to heaven. Well here’s what you have to do “keep the commandments.”. Here’s the problem with that, you can’t keep the commandments because you’re not good.
And this is the conversation that he’s having and I won’t develop it. We’ll talk about it in a few weeks or a few months I’m sure. But he’s pointing out to him that he’s not as good as he thinks he is. But I want you to notice from this passage that the word good means Godly. Because God is good. It’s the good things we do, are the things we do that are like God or Godly. Go to Matthew 5. Matthew 5:16 “16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works,” Your Godly works. “and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”. See goodness is Godliness.
You say how do I know if I’m filled with the Spirit? Are you Godly? Do you have good works? You don’t need good works to be saved. We’re talking about people that are already saved. If you have the Holy Spirit then you are saved. But you know that God saved you and he says that you are saved by grace through faith, not of works and then in that same passage he says “But ye are my workmanship”. He’s working on you. And God wants you to have good works. And the opposite of good works, I mean read it there in Galatians 5. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. That whole list of the works of the flesh, that’s the opposite of good.
#7 – The 7th fruit of the Spirit is Faith. Now the word faith means trust or confidence. When the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the way the words believe and faith are used interchangeably. They are the same thing. When it says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, it doesn’t mean believe like you believe he existed. It means to put my trust or my confidence in Him. Hebrews 11:1, you don’t have to turn there. I’ll just read it for you. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; The evidence of things not seen. Now I’ve been talking a lot about faith on Sunday mornings and I’m not going to re preach those sermons.
But I do want you to understand that faith is the confidence or trust in the things that we do not see. But it is not a blind faith. Because we can reason our faith. Our faith will stand up to logic. And I’m not going to re-preach that. Here’s the point, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The Bible says the just shall live by faith. You say how do I know if I’m living by faith or walking by faith. The just shall live by faith. We’re going to walk by faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. And here’s what you need to understand. Faith is walking as if it’s already happened. That’s faith. It’s a confidence. It is a trust in God. That’s what faith is.
An example of that in the Bible, and we won’t have you turn there. But if you remember when the Centurion came to Jesus asking him to heal his son, and he wanted Jesus to come back with him. And Jesus said I’m not going to go with you but just go back home. I’ve already healed him. Remember the Centurion walks back and then a servant meets him and says hey, your son is recovered. And he asked for the time when it happened. And he knew he recovered at the same time that Jesus had told him. What that Centurion did was he was walking by faith. He was walking back home as if, with the confidence and trust that what Jesus said had already happened and would happen. As he said. That’s what faith is.
So you say well how do you know if I’m exercising faith in my life? Do you ever walk with an unseen confidence that God will do what he said that he will do? Look, every time you tithe you are exercising faith. I’m going to give his 10% first, trusting and believing that he will take care of the rest like he said he would. That’s faith. You say I don’t tithe because I’m too afraid. I’m not mad at you. All I’m telling you is that you’re not filled with the Spirit. You’re not walking in the Spirit. Because the Spirit filled life will be a life of faith. You will walk as if it’s already happened. You will walk in confidence. You will walk in trust.
See, we live our lives a certain way. We raise our children a certain way. We have our marriages a certain way. We follow the Biblical Principles in certain ways. And you know what the world is constantly telling us? You’re wrong. You can’t raise your kids like that. You’re going to ruin them. You can’t have a marriage like that. You’re going to ruin your marriage. You know the people that have 60% divorce rate are telling us that we are going to ruin our marriages. You say well what do you do? What do you do when you have the in laws telling you not to homeschool. That they won’t be socialized. I’m thinking to myself, have you seen the kids at the public school? I’m not mad at you if you’re at the public school but don’t tell me that a kid with black nail polish and a hood around his head and makeup is socialized properly. If that’s socialization then I don’t want it. I’d rather just come to church 3 times a week and let me kids run around with the 30 kids around here. I think they get socialized enough.
The point is this, we have to exercise faith in what the Bible says. When God says do it this way, then we just with confidence and trust say, you know what, forget what Oprah says. Forget what Dr. Phil says. Forget what the world says. I’m just going to follow and I’m going to walk as if. With confidence and trust. But look, you will not do that. You cannot do that. You will struggle with that if you’re not filled with the Spirit.
The opposite of faith is fear. Remember Jesus kept telling his disciples, he would tell them fear not. One of the main things that Jesus told his disciples over and over in the gospels fear not. Fear not. Fear not. And he would tell them, fear not oh ye of little faith. He says be not doubting but believing. Why? Because they were constantly afraid. Jesus said that we are going to go to the other side of the sea and then a storm would happen and then they were like, Oh we aren’t going to make it. And Jesus would say why don’t you just trust me. I told you we’re going to make it. The opposite of faith is fear. So you ask, do I have faith? Well let me ask you, do you have fear? Are you afraid to trust, to have confidence. Because faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And it will be produced in a life that is walking in the Holy Spirit. Are you there in Ephesians 4?
Let me give you #8. #8 is meekness. Meekness is humility that puts others first. Ephesians 4:1 says this “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness” You see that word lowliness? It’s talking about humility. Lowering yourself, not exalting but lowering yourself. With all “lowliness and meekness,”. And don’t miss this “with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;”. Isn’t it interesting how these words are all connected throughout the Bible. Lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing, love. What is meekness? It’s humility that puts others first. It’s esteeming others better than yourself. It’s putting other people first. And if you don’t have that, you don’t have that, not because you’re not saved. You may very well be saved. But you’re not walking in the Spirit. You’re not allowing the Holy Spirit to have control in your life. Go to 1 Corinthians 9.
Let me give you the last one. We’re talking about the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance. Now the word temperance, it’s an old word. It means self- control. If you are lacking self-control, you are not filled with the Spirit. It doesn’t make you a bad person. I’m just telling you that you may want to get last week’s sermon and look at those 4 steps to get filled with the Spirit. Because when you get filled with the Spirit, you walk in the Spirit, you’re led of the Spirit, these are the things that will be produced in your life. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
This is what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27 “27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:” He says that I bring my body into subjection. I put it under my authority. Under my control. “lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”. He says I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. That’s called self-control. And when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will produce self-control, temperance, in your life. Now go back to Galatians 5 where we started. And we’re going to finish up.
Let me just say this, we talked about the producer of the fruit of the Spirit. Who is it? It’s the Spirit. Not the Christian. The Christian does not produce these things. The Spirit produces these things. Simply living in the Spirit or being indwelled by the Spirit will not produce these things. You must be led of the Spirit or walking in the Spirit or filled with the Spirit or have the Holy Spirit of God come upon you. Or all of those things. Have the Holy Spirit poured upon you.
All those things we talked about last week in order to produce these things in your life. The production comes from a life that is controlled by the Spirit. Not a life that simply is indwelled by the Spirit. Then we talked about the product. What’s the product? There are 9 in this chapter. There are 9 characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit. We talked about them. “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”. The Bible says. But I want you to notice and what’s interesting is that at the end of this chapter, God gives us 2 antonyms to the fruit of the Spirit.
There are different ways to define things. One way is to use synonyms. But sometimes it’s just as powerful to use an antonym. Right? The opposite. So he just got done telling us, “Look, this is what being filled with the Spirit will look like. love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance:”. But then he says that just in case that is too much, let me give you 2 antonyms and if you have these in your life then you know that you’re not producing the fruit of the Spirit in your life. Galatians 5:24 “24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Because remember, it’s not just they that are Christs that produce the fruit of the Spirit. It’s they that are Christs and have crucified the flesh. And have denied the flesh. And have put away the flesh. That are being led of the Spirit. With the affections and lusts. Verse 25 “25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”. Verse 26 “26 Let us not be desirous of”.
Here’s the first antonym. “vain glory,”. He says that if you are led of the Spirit, if you are producing the fruit of the Spirit, here is what you will not have in your life – vain glory. What is vain glory? Vain glory is boastful conceitedness. That’s what vain glory is. And God says that those who are producing the fruit of the Spirit are not exalting themselves. They’re not promoting themselves. They’re not seeking vain glory. They don’t care who gets the credit. Because they have meekness and temperance and love and joy. So he says look, if you’ve got vain glory, if you’re the type of person who is just constantly needing the credit, and needing people to know what you did and when you did it and when you got there, it’s not the fruit of the Spirit.
He says let us not be desirous of vain glory, “provoking one another, envying one another.”. You know there are some Christians that envy. They envy other people. They envy the positions of others. They envy, they want their position. They want what they have. They can’t be happy with someone being blessed. They can’t be happy for someone. God blesses you with a new job and they aren’t happy about. God blesses you with a child and they’re not happy about it. God blesses you with a promotion and they’re not happy about it. Here’s all I’m telling you. Does that mean they’re not saved? No, it just means that they might be saved but they are carnal. Here’s what we know that it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean that they are filled with the Spirit and it doesn’t mean that they are producing the fruit of the Spirit. Because the fruit of the Spirit will be the opposite of vain glory. And it will be the opposite of envy in your life. He says let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
So here’s the question that I have for you. And I’m not trying to pick on you. And I’m not asking you to answer out loud or talk to your spouse about it. I just want you to really determine in your life, how are you doing with the filling of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit? How is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance in your life. Is it there? Is it real? Because if it’s not, it doesn’t mean that you’re not saved. It just means that the Holy Spirit is not in control. The Holy Spirit is not producing fruit in your life. And could you imagine, and I’m done right here, could you imagine what would happen, think about it. What would happen in your home if your teenager started producing love, joy, peace, longsuffering. If your wife, your husband, your neighbor, your co-worker, your church member, what would happen in your life if other people produced that. And think about this, and what would happen in your life if you produced that? How would you bless others? This is where people would see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Let’s pray.