Unmasking the Holy Spirit Week 3 - Why We Need the Holy Spirit Part 2 (Fruit That Lasts)

Announcements:

Pumpkin Patch today after church!

2. Sponsors for BGMC materials for the kids (third Sunday)

3. Offering box is in the back

4. Bible reading plan is on the back table

5. Our next TableTalk is on Sunday, October 26th at 5PM and the theme is “Around the World” and putting the candy bags together for the square

6. Hang With Us today after service

7. Ladies please register this week for the women’s conference. If you have any questions, please see Pastor Charity.

Worship:

Your Grace is Enough

2. Who Else

3. Take Me In

4. We Fall Down

Introduction:

Last week I used a GPS as an illustration on how it can sometimes lead us to where we don’t want to go (an open field, etc.). Little did I know, I would be taking Hannahlynn back to school and, on the way back from TN, my Apple Maps wouldn’t load! I could see where I was but it didn’t provide a route for me to get to where I am going! Talk about feeling out of control and weak! I called Pastor Charity and told her what was going on and said I would prayerfully get home whenever I could! Thankfully, I made it home safely and the maps app decided to display my route home even though it was a little late! ROFL

The first week in our series we talked about revealing important aspects of the Holy Spirit such as He is a person, He reveals God the Father and God the Son, and He is always with us.

Last week we talked about how the Holy Spirit can help us in our weakness, when we don’t know how to pray, and that He always prays according to the will of God. We talked about the importance of removing the mask we wear to cover up our weakness and need to help from God and others.

We live in a culture that knows how to wear masks of appearance. Social media lets us filter our lives by only showing what we want others to see — we can look happier, healthier, and even more spiritual than we really are. But masks only cover the outside; they don’t change the inside.

Paul teaches us in Galatians that the fruit of the Spirit is the evidence of real transformation. This is not about outward appearances but about inward change. The Holy Spirit unmasked in our lives means fruit that lasts.

Main Point: The Holy Spirit removes the mask of false religion and produces genuine transformation.

Before we read our text for this morning, I want to give us some context. Paul is writing to the Galatians about living in the freedom we have in Jesus Christ (5:1). The only way to do that is by walking in the Holy Spirit (5:16). The Holy Spirit is our litmus test to make sure we are walking in the freedom of Christ and not according to our flesh/sinful nature.

Paul lists the acts of the flesh in verses 19-21, as if we don’t know what the flesh is, since that is our default lifestyle. He also tells us what it looks like when we are walking in the Spirit and in the freedom we have in Jesus Christ. Look at our text this morning:

Exposition of the Text

Galatians 5:22–23 CSB

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

Body:

1. The Holy Spirit produces real love, not counterfeit (v. 22).

Galatians 5:22 CSB

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

I wonder if love is the first fruit listed because it is the root of all the rest. Without the Spirit, love is often conditional and masked — “I love you if you meet my needs.” But Spirit-filled love mirrors the love of Christ — genuine, sacrificial, and unconditional.

1 John 4:7–8 CSB

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Romans 5:5 CSB

5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Illustration: When I was younger and visited my grandparents/A plastic apple may look shiny and perfect on the outside, but when you bite into it, you discover it’s hollow and fake. The Spirit’s love isn’t plastic fruit. It’s real, nourishing, life-giving, because it flows from the love of Christ.

You may look like you have love for others but remember what Jesus said in the sermon on the mount in:

Matthew 5:43–48 CSB

43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The love we are talking about here is loving others in the same way we love those who love us back!

Transition: But love isn’t the only mark of the Spirit’s work. When the Spirit moves in, change becomes visible. What’s inside starts to show on the outside.

2. The Holy Spirit’s fruit is visible evidence of God’s work (vv. 22–23).

Galatians 5:22–23 CSB

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

Fruit is meant to be seen. People should taste the presence of God in our lives through patience, kindness, and peace. A Spirit-filled life doesn’t need to announce itself; the evidence is obvious.

Matthew 7:16–17 CSB

16 You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.

Ephesians 5:9 CSB

9 for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth—

Illustration: In California, there’s an orange tree locals call “the mother tree.” Planted in 1854, it’s over 170 years old and still produces fruit every season. As the years passed and the tree flourished, growing to a height of over 60 feet (18 m), it was a favorite attraction of miners. They would sample its fruit and save seeds to plant in the dooryards of their cabins. On average, it yielded about 600 pounds (273 kg) of oranges that ripened between February and May each year.

In 1998, a severe frost struck and the tree stopped bearing fruit for a number of years. As a result of the frost, decay fungus entered the trunk and hollowed it out. To ensure preservation of the tree, propagation experts at the University of California, Riverside successfully cloned the tree in 2003 and three clones were brought to Oroville for planting. The tree has since resumed fruit production.

You don’t question whether it’s alive — the fruit proves it. In the same way, Spirit-filled fruit is proof of spiritual life.

We are all producing fruit in our lives. Just as Paul listed in Galatians 5, it is either the fruit of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit. What fruit are you producing in your life? When others meet you and find out you are a Christian, are they surprised? Or do they already recognize a difference in you compared to other people?

I love sour candy! I think that is why my kids love it so much. The best sour candy is the candy that makes your mouth pucker and eyes halfway close because of the sour taste. The face that is made is funny to look at and tends to create some laughs, but there are church people that walk around with similar sour faces. What fruit are they producing?

Transition: So if the Spirit’s fruit is the visible evidence of life, how do we grow it? The answer isn’t in trying harder — it’s in staying connected to Jesus Himself.

3. The Holy Spirit’s fruit is cultivated through abiding in Christ (John 15:4–5).

Fruit doesn’t appear by straining but by staying connected to the vine. We can’t produce fruit by willpower; it’s the natural result of abiding in Christ.

John 15:4–5 CSB

4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.

Philippians 1:9–11 CSB

9 And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Illustration: A branch cut off from a tree may still look green for a while, but it will never produce fruit. The Holy Spirit cultivates fruit in us only as we remain connected to Jesus daily — in prayer, in worship, in His Word.

Application:

We don’t need to wear masks of religiosity — pretending to be kind, patient, or loving. Instead, the Spirit invites us to take off the mask and allow Him to grow real fruit from the inside out.

James 3:17 CSB

17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense.

Ask yourself: Am I wearing fruit as a costume, or is the Spirit producing fruit in me that reveals Christ?

Conclusion:

Masks may fool people for a time, but fruit doesn’t lie. The Spirit produces what is real, lasting, and life-giving.

Matthew 12:33 CSB

33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit will be good, or make the tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.

So let’s live unmasked — not putting on the appearance of religion, but bearing the fruit that shows the Spirit is alive in us.

What are some ways this week we can actively allow the Holy Spirit to produce fruit in our lives?