The Living Water Produces Goodness

John 7:37–39 CSB

37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” 39 He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Galatians 5:22–25 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. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22 CSB

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

Now we know that Jesus the living water produces life. His life gives us love. His love gives us Joy. His joy gives us peace, His peace gives us patience. His patience shows his kindness and his kindness is supposed to lead us to repentance.

So tonight we are going to talk about that very thing.

What does it mean to be good?

What are some things a good person does?

Does doing good things make one a good person?

Slop bucket illustration:

Take the slop bucket from dinner. Have a pitcher of clean water. Call a student to come and add a little of the water to the bucket.

Ask the question

Does adding water to this slop bucket make the slop bucket clean enough to drink?

You see God is the source of goodness because he has never ever done anything wrong.

So goodness is not measured against our belief of goodness but measured against God himself.

The word used in the fruit of the spirit is also used for the word “generous”. It means to be good all the time or seek God’s goodness all the time because Jesus is the source. He is the living water.