Fruit Of The Spirit Gal. 5:22-23
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I want you to think bout God for a moment and his character or nature. "God never urges himself to be good," because he is good. His nature always inclines irresistibly toward righteousness. God is never torn by evil motives. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. God is love, So he does not need to be reminded about the duty of his deity. No one needs to say, "Now today, God, mind your manners, do what's right, avoid evil, remember the ten commandments."
Now think about yourself this morning. Do I look like Jesus/God? I don’t mean to have the same skin color or hair color. What I mean is, can his character/nature be seen in me. Does my life look as though I walk by the spirit and not by the flesh? Paul in Gal. 5 describes and conflict, a war, if you will of the flesh and the spirit in our lives. Gal. 5:17
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
the spirit and the flesh are in opposition to each-other. They are at war for the whole of our heart and soul. As long as we dabble in the flesh and the spirit you will not be able to do what you please, their will be turmoil, confusion, conflict, struggle. Note some of the contrast Paul gives concerning the flesh and the spirit
FLESH
Gal. 5:13-15 “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” It destroys our liberty & consumes us. Flesh needs restraints (i.e. law or it gets out of control)
Gal. 5:16-17 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” It keeps us from following the spirit.
Gal. 5:21 “envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” It keeps us from inheriting the kingdom
Now when we are talking about the flesh we are not talking about our bodies. Gal. 5:19-21 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” some of those things happen inside the heart and mind. When we are talking about the flesh we are talking about our self reliant ego that refuses to yield to the authority of almighty God, the part of us that yearns for power, reputation and pride. Gal. 5:24 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Passions & Desires
SPIRIT
Gal. 5:16 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
Gal. 5:18 “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” you don’t need restraint (law) because you are led by the spirit of God.
The opposite of Gal. 5:21 “envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” You will inherit the kingdom of God
Gal. 5:23 “gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” no law = no condemnation
What A Contrast. How doe we get rid of the Flesh and walk by the Spirit.
1) Baptism
Gal. 3:26-29
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Picture your flesh—that old ego with the mentality of merit and craving for power and reputation and self-reliance—picture it as a dragon living in some cave of your soul. Then you hear the gospel, and in it Jesus Christ comes to you and says, "I will make you mine and take possession of the cave and slay the dragon. Will you yield to my possession? It will mean a whole new way of thinking and feeling and acting." You say: "But that dragon is me. I will die." He says, "And you will rise to newness of life, for I will take its plan; I will make my mind and my will and my heart your own." You say, "What must I do?" He answers, "Trust me and do as I say. As long as you trust me, we cannot lose." Overcome by the beauty and power of Christ you bow and swear eternal loyalty and trust.
And as you rise, he puts a great sword in your hand and says, "Follow me." He leads you to the mouth of the cave and says, "Go in, slay the dragon." But you look at him bewildered, "I cannot. Not without you." He smiles. "Well said. You learn quickly. Never forget: my commands for you to do something are never commands to do it alone." Then you enter the cave together. A horrible battle follows and you feel Christ's hand on yours. At last the dragon lies limp. You ask, "Is it dead?" His answer is this: "I have come to give you new life. This you received when you yielded to my possession and swore faith and loyalty to me. And now with my sword and my hand you have felled the dragon of the flesh. It is a mortal wound. It will die. That is certain. But it has not yet bled to death, and it may yet revive with violent convulsions and do much harm. So you must treat it as dead and seal the cave as a tomb. The Lord of darkness may cause earthquakes in your soul to shake the stones loose, but you build them up again. And have this confidence: with my sword and my hand on yours this dragon's doom is sure, he is finished, and your new life is secure."
2) Be led by the spirit, live by the spirit
It’s one thing to overcome the flesh & not do evil things, but it’s quite something different to do good things. A person can say I didn’t commit adultery, lie, steal, murder, etc. but can the beautiful graces of the spirit be seen in your life. Are you living as a new creation Gal. 6:15 “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” You become that when the Spirit of God lives in you, dwells in you, molds and shapes you. ThE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT WILL BE EXHIBITED IN YOUR LIFE. Gal. 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
killing sin in our lives Col. 3:5-6 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,” it’s got to be dead in us with the power of God that is possible.
but we must live by the spirit. Rom. 8:13 “for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
read the word - Ps. 1:2-3 “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.”
Col. 3:16 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
constant surrender of your life to Jesus/ abide in Christ
Jn. 15:4-5 ““Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” The more you surrender yourself to Christ the more fruit of the spirt you will exhibit. You see christ character will grow in you when you surrender yourself to Him daily. 2 Cor. 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” Col. 3:9-10 “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—”
Phil. 1:11 “having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
Eph. 4:22-24 “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
Col. 2:6-7 “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”
You see Jesus perfectly reflects the father & thru the spirit we can reflect the character of Jesus the son. That character or fruit of the Spirit will be seen in us.
We must live by the spirit, walking in the spirit day by day, yielding to the spirit hour by hour, depending on the spirit moment by moment. Only then will be bear the fruit of the spirit in our lives and
God will be glorified Jn. 15:8 ““My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” 1 Pet. 2:12 “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
You will show others Jesus and they will see Christ and be attracted to him. Phil. 1:11 “having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” and your life will be better for it. because you will inherit the kingdom (5:21)
Will you surrender yourself this morning to Jesus by confessing repentance and baptism. Will you surrender yourself to be led by the spirit, living by the spirit. If we can help you to do so please come while we stand and sing.