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If you if you brought a Bible this morning, I want to encourage you to turn to Galatians chapter five. And this is why I want to encourage you to do that is, as a church, we want to always encourage you to do whatever it takes to get God’s Word in you. And if that means open up your Bible, marking it, studying like you got an exam coming. Uh, study God’s Word, know God’s Word and embed it in your heart. And God uses that to transform your lives. And so we’re in we’re in the book of Galatians chapter five. We’re finishing the series on the book of Galatians together. And we’ve got just this this week and next week, and we’re done with Galatians. And so the theme that we’ve focused on together in this book actually comes from Galatians chapter five and verse one. And I know last week you guys were in chapter five. So I’m going to I’m going to end it with the conclusion part of what chapter five is about for us as believers and looking going through all of chapter six next week. But Paul is in the process of making a transition in in chapter five, he’s explained to us he’s moving what it means to to live free in Christ, what it means to know Christ and be free in that, and then to experience that freedom relationally. He began with your new life in Christ, how to have that new life in Christ, and then how to now enjoy that new life with Christ.
And Galatians five is that that pinnacle mark within the book where he really explains how, you know, you’re experiencing that relationship with Jesus and the way that he does that he’s he communicates to us something he calls in this passage as the fruit of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit is the evidence to us that Jesus has made himself known in our lives, as we have put our faith in him. If I could tell you this morning, if you’re reading the Bible and you’re looking for places as a believer or a new believer in Christ, that you should just know where certain passages are, this is one of those power passages within Scripture that every Christian should know about. Galatians chapter five. We’re going to pick up in just a minute and in verse 16. But before I get to that, let me, let me just give you a couple thoughts. What Paul’s transitioning to, the idea he carries into this, this thinking in chapter five is this God wants to do great things in your life. God didn’t just save you and and be done with you. If you’re a believer in Christ, Jesus didn’t come to this world, just that he could get you out of hell. God came that he may walk with you. And that you may enjoy him.
We very clearly communicate within the Bible that what God is after is and not your religious living. What God’s really after is your heart. Because when God gets your heart, he gets your life. Religion tells us this way that we we work for God’s acceptance by our religious living, and we just hope it’s good enough that Jesus would accept us. And the Bible says this Jesus already accepts you. Jesus has done everything he can to prove to you that he desires to have that relationship with you. And then this is the question. He laughs. He asks you, do you want that relationship with him? You don’t prove it. You don’t work for his acceptance. He’s died on the cross for your sins that you might have his acceptance. And now he’s asked, do you want to place your faith in what he’s done on your behalf? That you may enjoy him for eternity. Paul’s desire is to communicate in this passage of Scripture to you that God wants to do great things in your life. And then he leaves us with his thoughts. Did you get it? I mean, did you get what he said in chapters 1 to 4 of the book of Galatians? I mean, if you look at the book of Galatians sort of as a as a framework, he’s saying in chapter 1 to 4, this is what it means to be justified in Christ.
This this is what Jesus has done for you. Now put your faith in him that you may experience in him, both now and for all eternity, that you may literally, we say saved. He rescued you from the state of sin that you were in before a holy God. Jesus is your Savior. Jesus is your rescuer. In chapter 1 to 4, have you put your faith in him? Are you justified? In chapter three. He gives this indication, I believe it’s in verse five. He says, now did you receive that spirit by law or by faith? Meaning once you came to know Jesus and you were justified, God did something in you that’s supernatural. He gave you his spirit. To save yourself. It’s impossible human beings because it requires a supernatural experience and only the Spirit of God can do that. And so in Galatians three and verse five, it says, did you receive the spirit by by law or by faith? And so when you become a believer in Christ, God puts His Spirit in you. And the purpose is to not only justify. But to also sanctify. Set your part for him. To enjoy him. Interesting thoughts about the spirit. When you consider what the Holy Spirit is. I mean, it’s really a mystery in some ways. You don’t see him. Well, I joke sometimes about the Holy Spirit. When I was a kid, when someone asked me what the Holy Spirit looked like, I figured it was like the Halloween costume on on, uh, kids, where we take the bedsheet, cut out the eyes, and you could walk around.
I used to do that when I was a kid. Cut the bedsheet out. I’m the Holy Spirit, you know. Look at me. Ooh! But in reality, when Jesus described the Holy Spirit in Galatians chapter three or excuse me, Genesis, Genesis, John chapter three and verse eight, he says, the spirit works like this. It’s like a breeze. It comes and it goes. You don’t know that it’s there because you can’t see it. It’s there. But you feel the evidence of his presence. It blows like the wind. Just as you can’t see the wind, you know that its presence is there. And Paul saying the same thing about the Holy Spirit in this passage in Galatians chapter five. You don’t see him. But his fruit is there. We believe as people and lots of things that we don’t see, right? I mean, this past week I’ve learned to reiterate my faith in germ’s. I didn’t see that sucker, but it got in me somehow. If I had seen it, I would have killed it. But now I possess it, and it’s something I never saw. But the evidence of it is there. When you think about your brain, you don’t see it. Some of you have it. All of you have it. We hope.
Right. But the evidence of it’s there. And it’s the same thing with the Holy Spirit. It’s kind of like the attitude check of the life of the believer. If you claim that you know Jesus, then this is what the results should be within your life as evidence that Christ is in you. Um, uh, Paul says this in Galatians 220 I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, it’s not I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life that I live. I live by faith through the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. The evidence of the spirit makes himself known in your life when you put your faith in Jesus. That desires to do great things within your life. The only reason. As believers, you’re able to bear fruit is the only reason we seek to bear fruit is not so that God accepts us, but it’s because God has already accepted you as you put your faith in him. Bible tells us some wonderful things that happens in our justification. Just in the book of Galatians in 216 it says this. We too have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ. Galatians 313 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law he has given you and adoption. 326 In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. Galatians 314 that by faith we might receive the promise of the spirit.
Once justified. God gives you a spear. Bible describes the permanency of the spirit within the life of the believer. He says in Romans 811 that you are indwelt by the spirit. Ephesians 430 that you are sealed by the spirit. It’s it’s the marking of a guarantee that you will see Jesus face to face as you put your faith in Christ. Colossians 316 619. Tells you that you have become the temple of God, the place where you may worship the Lord wherever you are. As you gather to worship Jesus, his spirit is with you and so you can engage in that relationship with him. God has given you his spirit for salvation. God has also given you His Spirit by sanctification. The sanctification of the life of the believer is different than the justification. Justification is a one time event, meaning we put our faith in Jesus. Jesus rescues us. Your eternity is sealed and guaranteed in Christ based on the spirit that has sealed your life in Christ, who has given his life on your behalf. It is forever. But your growth in the Lord. Deals with the surrender of your own heart. How much do you desire to be near Jesus? To have him only justify your life, but transform it. To look more like him. Bible tells us in a few passages. Look on here on the screen. It says in Galatians five.
And. Excuse me, verse 16, but I say, walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh is recognizing within the life of the believer. Even though you have the spirit, there is a battle that exists within you, and what you choose to surrender to will dictate what leads your life, whether it is of Jesus or of the world. There was a need within us to submit to Christ rather than to submit to the false idols. To allow the work of His Spirit to sanctify our hearts, that we may enjoy our relationship with him. The Bible says it this way. And in first, uh, excuse me in Galatians 525, if we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit. The phrase here that Paul uses as the term for walking in the spirit. He he, he carries this idea of surrendering or submitting to it. The Spirit of God. Now, as it’s entered, your life wants to direct your life and the course that God desires for you to go. We surrender to that. Paul wrote it a couple of ways in different portions of Scripture. When he said in Thessalonians and Ephesians, he says this do not quench the Spirit of God in your life. Quench means this. You’ve been in some athletic event, I’m sure, in your life, and you’ve been sweating and all of a sudden you realize, man, I have let so much of this sweat go.
It’s gross, but I need some water to replenish it, right? And that’s a good thing. Doing that with the spirit is a bad thing. Meaning. When the Spirit of God comes into your life, he will encourage you to reflect the beauty of Jesus in this world. Don’t quench it. Surrender to it. An opposing thought to that he says this. Or maybe the the opposite thinking in Ephesians 430 says, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. It means, as the Spirit of God directs your life and obedience to Christ and surrounding yourself to him and enjoying that relationship with him, when when you ignore that. Spirit of God is grieved. Literally break his heart. Spirit of God is within us for a particular purpose, and that is so that Jesus may be evidenced through us. God wants to do great things in your life. And Paul shares this portion of Scripture to demonstrate that to you. Jesus has already done great things for your life. He has proven to you that he desires great things for your life by by calling you his child, by adopting you, by giving you an eternity, and by giving you his life, that you may know him. He desires great things for your life. And he didn’t just leave you alone. He. He embedded within you his spirit.
Let me direct you. And I love what Paul does is he communicates to us the evidence of the spirit. Because when it comes to the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is such a mystery and we can’t necessarily see him. When people talk about the spirit man, they say crazy things about the spirit. This is what Paul does. You know, it looks like. When the Spirit of God moves within your life, do you do you know what the evidence is for that? Here, have have a check. Determine right now within you when Jesus has come to save you. If you put your faith in that is His Spirit really working in you? Do you want to know what that looks like? And he says, here, here it is in Ephesians five and in verse 22 your. What happened? Did I click all the way through everything? Give me Ephesians 522. Maybe not. I’ll read it. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things there is no law. The evidence of the spirit. I’ve got some crazy thinking. These beautiful fruits and the attitude of your character as you walk in this world. When you came to know the Lord. Well, let me back up before you knew the Lord. You remember the kind of life maybe that you lived? I don’t know, this was everybody. Dive into sin.
Live for self. Enjoy that sin. The Bible says sin is fun for a season. And then you come to know Jesus. God transforms your heart through His spirit. And try to go back to that sin. It’s like the same. We’ll find a joy in it that you used to. Something’s different. Somebody crashed the party. Rather than you and maybe someone else walking in darkness. There’s a third wheel in that group. It’s called the spirit. It’s a Holy Ghost party, you know. Sorry, I don’t where I came from. You guys played. What did the fox say? I don’t want to hear it. Spirits present. And he wants to make his fruit known. And what does it look like? It’s very simple. It’s love, joy, peace, patience and to see those things happen in your life. You don’t strive to be better at that. You you give yourself over to the spirit. You walk in it. You surrender to him. And so Paul gets this passage of Scripture and he’s just saying, do you have the evidence of salvation? Are you demonstrating in this world that you’ve been justified apart from the works of the law, but by Jesus? And if so, you’ve got the spirit. And here’s the evidence of that. You have the spirit. The legalism. Religious living is what Paul has been addressing throughout this whole book. It robs you of joy. It robs you of your relationship with Christ.
It diminishes what Jesus did on the cross. If righteousness could be achieved through the law of the Bible tells us. Galatians 221 Christ died needlessly. It’s not done by you. It’s done by him. He’s been dressing legalism and religion through this entire portion of scripture that you just put your faith simply in Christ, where it belongs. And legalism and religion. Look at this fruit all wrong. This is the way, if you walk out of this room thinking this way about the fruit of the spirit, then I want you to tell you, before I tell you what it is, that it’s wrong. Okay? Paul lists the fruit of the spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. Not so. You have a checklist and you say to yourself, oh, you know what? I’m not being loving enough. I need to be more loving all. You know what? I’m not being patient enough. I’m going to try harder to be patient. Uh, I’m not I’m not being good. I’m not being faithful enough. I’m going to try harder. I’m being all that. I don’t have any self control. I’m going to try hard. I’m being all that I want to tell you. If that’s your response to the fruit of the spirit in this passage of Scripture, you’re missing the point to what Paul is saying in this passage of Scripture. That’s the religious thinking. I’m not doing good at this. I’m going to try harder to find acceptance in this.
It’s like saying this, you know, I had a I bought a house, um, up the road a few years ago. And one of the cool things I loved about it is it had an apple tree and a cherry tree, and I love cherries. I don’t care about the apples. They just fall on the ground. But I love cherries. So I thought, cool, I want to have my first cherry tree. And for some reason, if it doesn’t come out of the store, I don’t like to eat it either. But but I got, I got I got something weird about your own tree. So. So I’m all happy about this tree. And when I when the spring time comes and it starts to bloom like only half the tree bloom, what’s going on? And then the limbs died. That’s ridiculous. So what did I do? Well, I pulled the limb off, you know, I’ll just. I’ll just separate this sucker and we’ll get the right fruit, you know? And and then, you know what happened next year? The whole thing died. So I got that, you know, and somebody come up to me and said, you know what your problem was? And I’m like, well, I think I got to figure it out, but you can go ahead and tell me it’s the root. From his fruit. Proper was through. She was sick. Now. My apple tree still there.
But that’s what this is. It’s the diagnostic tool. In your life when you realize that the evidence of your life isn’t suggesting the fruit of the spirit, the answer isn’t try harder manifesting fruit. I don’t go up to a tree when when my my apple tree is not doing the right kind of apples and smack my apple around and say, grow more apples. I don’t do that. That’s useless. The evidence is this. Something’s wrong with your heart. And the idea isn’t to come back to the the the fruit and ask for more fruit. The idea is to come to the source of who controls your heart, and that’s Jesus. Are you walking with Jesus. See evidence of the spirit being made known in your life. Religion would tell you to try harder at this. But this isn’t about trying harder. It’s a diagnostic tool to determine within your life if the Spirit of God is really directing you. Now you’re probably doing what I do when I read this list. I’m all right. All crud. Oh. That’s good. Oh, no. You know. Ah, I got some checking to do. And that’s precisely what Paul wants. To allow and learn within our lives to have that Spirit of God take control. When you bear bad fruit, it’s an indication of what’s happening in your heart. That’s why as parents, we always encourage the parent that what you’re after in your children is not behavior modification.
You’re after heart transformation. And if you can get their heart, you can watch their lives be changed. Just modifying their behavior might work for a little bit, but one day rebellion will rear its ugly head. It will always rear its ugly head. Likely. But. But if you try to speak to your child’s heart. Makes all the difference in the world. And Jesus is doing the same thing with you through this fruit. I love what he says at the end of this passage. He says against such things there is no law. Do you know? You know why there’s no law against these things? Because you can’t legislate them. And we we said, we said a few weeks ago in talking about the law and when people try to make law to prove to God that we should be accepted. You can’t legislate the wickedness of a heart. Meaning I can write a law into effect that says, do not murder, but I can’t make you not be angry. I can make a law that says do not steal. But I can’t stop you from coveting. Hey, it’s illegal to hire a prostitute. But you’re still going to last in your heart. Can’t legislate those things. Only Jesus can transform the heart. The same thing’s true with the spirit. I mean, you can make me do good things for people, but I could do it without loving.
I can show patients, but on the inside I am just bouncing everywhere. Can’t legislate these things. Shows our need for Jesus. Try all you want within your own strength. But reality is, when push comes to shove it, it recognizes for you. When you read this list and there are places in my life I’m just not surrendered. And the beauty of it is that the answer? It’s just surrender. Come to the Spirit of God. And allow him to pour in your life that Jesus may be reflected. The joy of this fruit is that it’s not up to you. It’s up to the spirit. As you walk within him, he bears it. Are you? And so as you take a look at the fruit within your life and you see what you’re bearing, let me just ask you a few questions. What do you do? If you’re bearing some good fruit and you’re bearing some bad fruit, how do you handle that? I got I got love, but patience, you know, that’s hard. I’m an American. We got microwaves. I don’t want patience. Drive thrus, man. That’s what we’re about. Give it to me now. My way. That Burger King. What do you do? You’re bearing good fruit and and bad fruit. Let me, let me bring us to our lowest point for just a minute. When the Spirit of God is at work. It doesn’t just bear one fruit at a time.
It bears all these fruits together. That’s why he says the fruit, the fruit of the spirit is not the fruits of the spirit are. When the Spirit of God works in your life, all of these things are to be evident within your life. And so if you go through this list, you’re thinking, okay, I’m all right with that, and I’m bad at that. I’m all right at that. I’m bad at that. And that one I don’t even want to talk about today. You know, if that if that’s what your attitude is. Let me, let me let me encourage you to think about it this way. It could be. That in these fruits, when you feel like you’re doing well at those things, it could be because you’re good at those naturally. And it could be the places that you’re bad, or really the evidence of where your spirit is in the Lord could be. I mean, if God is trying to evidence all of these spirits in your life simultaneously, maybe. Maybe you’re so good at loving because before you came to Jesus, you, you. It just was a natural thing for you. Maybe we’re just naturally patient, but self control. You’re badass. And now that you come to know Jesus, maybe it’s still the same way. And maybe it’s an indicator of your submission to the spirit. So what do you do when you’re bearing some good fruit and bad fruit? I would say this.
Look at the bad fruit and really question if that’s really where your spirit is with the Lord. If that’s the indicator of where your heart has given itself over to God and where it hasn’t given itself over to God. Here’s another good thing. Maybe. Maybe. Ask those closest to you to give you a fruit check. Right? I mean, I love that phrase. Fake it till you make it. What? When you go to work or wherever you spend just a small portion of your time. It’s easy to fake this stuff with people. I mean, everybody at work, you can have everybody at work sold on how great you are, but go to your home. Go to where you’re under the roof of people 24 hours a day, seven days a week. How’s that fruit looking? I will tell you, you know, if two spouses are here today and you’re ready to take boxing gloves and, you know, whatever, you know, to the spouse who may be offended by things like this, it’s a good place to just be gentle. Encourage each other. Well, I told you, I just drove 5000 miles across the country with a baby and a three year old and a dog, and my wife and we had all this stuff packed in our car. And, you know, the blessing for me was I knew when I got back I had to preach on this.
But, you know, you know, you sometimes forgot. I forgot about that. I had to preach on this. I mean, you want to spend that many miles cramped together just screaming in a car? I started getting this twitch, you know, those tense moments of your life in relationships that you’re with constantly really reveal where you need to grow in the Lord. That’s why it’s so important to have a body of Christ to gather with when we attract some of the weirdest people, you know, Christian Jesus loves everybody. So we all I mean, I’m weird, you know, you guys know that, and we’re just strange. And then God asks us to get this to walk in unity together. And what better place to learn where I need to be patient or to learn how to best love? For how to to reveal to myself where my weaknesses are, that I may surrender those things to Christ rather than live in the flesh. You have the spirit. And if you do, have you allowed them to have control? Well, here’s the last one. What do you do if you fell on fruit inspection? What if you know that you’re blowing it? In one of these areas. Or several. The answer’s the same. By faith he came to know Jesus. And by faith you walk with Jesus. That’s how the Christian life grows. If you’re blowing it. In these areas of your life that I do, I’ll just call myself out on it.
My wife gave me a fruit check about Wyoming. And in a Denny’s restaurant. I responded. I couldn’t help it, honey. They were screaming. I’m just kidding. It’s not true. When you’re blowing a fruit check or, you know you’re just messing it up. Take it to Jesus. Just bring it back to him, surrender it to him, confess it to him, and just say, Lord, and I want to walk in your spirit. And here’s what else you should do. Go to the person who got the worm. You know what I mean? May I have an apple tree in my house? Every one of them has a worm in it. I’m never going to bite one. But if someone did, I would apologize. I’m sorry. You got the worm. When someone in your life who gets the bad part of you, rather than the Spirit of God working in you, just go acknowledge it. Hey, this is what I did. It was wrong. And this is what I desire to be. And I’m sorry. And God’s not finished with any of us. You know, the reason Paul lists this is because he knows what we’re like. This all came naturally for all of us. There’s no reason to talk about it. But because he knows we’re all in this boat, struggling together. Oh, we bring it up. What the spirit have control. Here’s why. God desires great things for you and great things through you.
And so Paul says this. End of this passage. Now, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the desires. That’s what we do. We’re not. We’re not only seeking to to just surrender to the spirit. We’re we’re laying aside the things that hinder us from that relationship with Christ, the things that stunt your growth. Let those things go and just give over to Christ. You know, one of the things I like to always remember as I go through this. One is when I was a freshman in college, I had to write a passage on this paper and I wrote like a hundred page passage on this paper at this. Never mind. I won’t tell you the story I and I, I hated this passage is basically how I ended up. I spent so much time on this and then I learned to come back and love it again. But the other thing is this it’s a real thing. When the Spirit of God. And he’s moving in your life. Sometimes it’s hard to forget how far you’ve come. Or it’s easy to forget I should say how far you’ve come. When fruit grows, it takes time. And for God to eradicate some of the behaviors of our lives we have apart from him. Takes time. Takes help. It takes sometimes close friendships of people who are going to encourage you through it.
When you confess that it is a weakness and love you enough to stand by your side through that weakness, it takes a. I’ll say sometimes as you read this fruit, rather than just beat yourself up about it, take some time to read about it and just be thankful for what God’s doing in you. As the evidence of His spirit and his presence being with you. I thank you for your love. Thank you for your joy and your peace. And thank you that I recognize I still need more of that. We got. Thank you. Paul lists those things that are opposed to him that help us from growing in him. In verse 19 to 21. I’m not going to go back into it, but this is the last thought I want to leave with you. He’s going to transition. He’s going to say in chapter five, this is the evidence of the fruit. This is what fruit looks like in the spirit. And then chapter six and he’s going to say, and if we put legs to that, this is how it’s lived. And he’s going to encourage us this way. But this is the way he ends this passage as he gets ready to encourage us in the lifestyle that the spirit should bring. And he says this, let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Once you become conceited, the result is you begin to provoke and envy one another.
But. But the thought of conceited is what’s significant here. Don’t become conceited. There’s a few ways different translations say this. Some say vainglory, some say don’t. Don’t become boastful. But when you when you translate it literally in the Greek text, you understand that this, this conceited or this boastfulness is self absorbed. It’s it’s a religious thinking. I’m going to do this on my own. I’m going to be loving on my own. I’m going to be everything. The fruit of the spirit comes by my own power. And Paul is saying, don’t be that conceited. What he literally means in the Greek is this. Don’t be empty of glory. Don’t be so foolish as to forget the spirit that God has given you, that he may move in you. It’s not about you. It’s about him. So how about your strength? It’s about his. It’s not about how good you are. It’s about how great he is. Don’t be conceited. Don’t be empty of glory, but rather trust in the spirit. I encourage you this way this morning. And say this. Satan. Is it afraid of the written word? Just words on paper. Satan is afraid of the living word. Live his word. Think about the power of the Spirit of God that wants to do great things in you. Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. It happens this way. Are you walking in a spirit?