Fruits of the Spirit

Good evening everyone and welcome back to Church of the Bible. We are off to a slightly late start today so I apologize. But we are here and happy to be worshipping both in spirit and in the word with everybody today. Our announcements before we begin with prayer and worship. Told everybody last week we finished Exodus.

So for those who have missed, Exodus is now done. And this Wednesday at 630 we will beginning in the book of Ephesians. So we'll be in Ephesians chapter one this Wednesday. Other than that, I don't think we have any announcements. So let's open up with prayer.

We'll worship and then when we come out of worship, we will be in Galatians, chapter five today. Father, we thank you that we could gather here together, Lord, today for Your glory, to worship you, to be in Your word, Lord, to learn what you have to say to us today. And Father, I pray that our hearts and our eyes would open up to you today as you speak to us through Your spirit and Your word, that we will glorify you not only in hearing and receiving it, but in going out and doing Your word as well. And Father, this is our prayer today. In Jesus name amen.

You are here moving in our mid I worship you I worship you here I hear working in this place I worship you I worship you you are way maker miracle worker promise keep light in the darkness my God that is who you are. You are here, touching every heart. I worship you. I worship you here. I hear healing every heart.

I worship you. I worship you.

You are way make miracle work. Promise keeper light in the darkness. My God, that is who you are that is who you are that is who you are that is who you are that is who you are that is who you are that is who you are you are way make miracle work promise keep light in the darkness my God. That is who you are.

Even when I don't see and you're working. Even when I don't feel in your working never stop never stop working. You never stop. Never stop working. Even when I don't see it, you're working.

Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop never stop working. You never stop never stop working. Even when I don't see it, you work. Even when I don't feel it, you work it.

You never stop never stop working. You never stop you never stop working. Even when I don't see it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you working. You never stop.

Never stop working. You never stop. Because you are way make miracle work. Promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God. That is who you are.

You are way maker, miracle work. Promise keeper, light in the darkness. My God. That is who you are. That is who you are.

That is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are.

Be still. There is a healer. His love is deeper than the sea. His mercy is unfailing. His arms a fortress for the week.

Let faith arise.

Let faith arise.

I lift my hands to believe again. You are my refuge. You are my strength. As I pour out my heart these things I remember. You are faithful, God, forever.

Be still. There is a river that flows from Calvary Street a fountain for the thirsty your grace that washes over me let's fade the rise let's fade the rise I lift my hands to believe again you are my refuge you are my strength. As I pour out my heart these things I remember you faithful god forever I lift my hands to believe again. You are my refuge. You are my strength.

As I pour out my heart these things I remember you faithful God forever let me rise. Let me rise. Open my eyes. Open my eyes. Let me eyes open my open my eyes I lift my head believe again you are my rescue.

You are my dream as I pull out my heart these things I remember you are faithful God your faithful God forever.

Let Faith Arise?

Through every Battle, through Every Heartbreak, through Every Circumstance?

I believe that you are my Fortress? Oh, you are My Portion? You are my hiding Place? Oh, I believe you are the Way? The Truth in the life.

I believe you are the way, the truth.

I believe whoever we bless you, whoever we promise every breath I take I believe that you are provider. Oh, you are protector. You are the one I love. I believe you are the way, the truth I believe you are away.

The truth, the light I believe you are who you are who you are.

It's a new eyes set on you and you meet me here today with mercies. That are new. All my fears and doubts, they can all come to because they can't stay long. When I'm here with you, it's a new arrival. And I'll sit on you and you meet me here.

Mercy that I knew my fears and doubts they can all come to because they can't stay long when I believe you are away the truth, the light. I believe you are the way home. The truth, the light it's a new life. You don't stand on you and you need mercy that I knew yeah my feelings I can't say I need you here alive I believe you are trying to be I believe all right, we're almost to an end of our study through galatians. And I realized last week and the week before and this week still haven't changed our title screen from Job.

The Sovereign God. And we're in an entirely new series. So I think with only one week left, we'll finish out with that. And our worship leader was nice enough to let me know that I had the wrong microphone on throughout worship, and I was able to be picked up and heard. So for anyone who thought it sounded off today and not like normal worship, that is why we're going to be today in Galatians, chapter five.

As we are turning there and preparing to read from this chapter, I want to point out the major theme through Galatian so far, and that there's really two major themes through every chapter, the last four chapters, and then this chapter as well. Paul has addressed the issue of Christians, those proclaiming Christ, and Christ's salvation is reverting back to the law, right back to bondage, to slavery, to sin, to law and to death, and that they shouldn't be doing that, they're being that astray. So that's major theme one. But the second major theme, which I would really call the primary theme that plays upon Paul's issue, that the main thing he wrote, galatians Four is that we are saved to live for Christ.

Throughout Galatians, we see over and over again that we are Christ. And Paul says it most strikingly in Galatians 220. He says, It is not I who lives, but Christ who lives through me. And we discussed that it was so important. We spent an entire week on that one verse discussing what it is for Christ to live through us.

Today we're going to look at how we really can identify that if Christ is living through us, there should be obvious signs, obvious things that are happening in our life that would demonstrate not only to us or to other Christians, but to the world that God, that Christ is living inside of us. And this will be all the way at the end of the chapter, Galatians 522. And I want, as my pattern normally is to do verse by verse, but we're going to hit on every verse up to verse 22 and verse 23. But it's going to kind of be a glaze as we get to the meat of this passage. So with that said, let's begin with getting me back to where I should be here with Galatians, chapter five, verse one.

He says, for freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. We are pardoned. We have been set free for freedom, we're pardoned. We have, as we've discussed through Galatians, we've had a burden, a yoke around our neck, a curse of death through the law of sin and death.

All of us have been enslaved to it, whether it's enslaved to idols, to ourself, to some form of sin. And we have all been enslaved to the law and the demand of the law, which is death. And Christ has freed us for freedom, it says, he has set us free, therefore, stand firm. Stand firm in what? What is it that we're standing in that freedom.

We are standing firm in what Jesus did for us in the morning service today. We drove hard today. What the gospel is, I probably asked church members this morning in church as we were worshipping here in Milford. I probably asked them 20 times what the gospel is randomly throughout our service, because I wanted to drive that home. Right?

The gospel is that Jesus died, that he was buried, and that he rose again, and that's the good news. The perfect being died for us and rose again, given us victory, and we stand firm in that. And Paul says, stand firm. Do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. We are standing firm in that freedom.

That because Christ died for us and our debt has been paid, we are ransom has been paid, that we are free. We are no longer going to allow ourselves to be brought back into a place of bondage to the law. Verses two through twelve, we continue. Paul says, Look, I, Paul, tell you that if you become uncircumcised, Christ will profit. If you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.

And again, I testify to every man who becomes circumcised that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. You are estranged from Christ, you who are attempting to be justified by the law, you have fallen from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly await the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision. But faith worketh through love.

You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from the one who calls you a little leaven, leavens the whole batch of dough. I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will think nothing different, but the one who is confusing you will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Now, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?

In that case, the stumble and block of the cross has been abolished. I wish that the ones who are disturbing you would also castrate themselves. Wow, Paul.

You think that Paul is that he is firm in his point here. He says, I wish they would castrate themselves. So there's a problem. And this problem is the root. All the way from Galatians, chapter one and verses eight and nine, paul says, if anyone would preach to you another gospel, right.

If anyone, he puts it as a myth. But then a few verses later, he says, there are those out there who are pervert in the Gospels to benefit themselves. They're pervert in the Gospel the message of Christ to attract you to whatever it is they want to benefit themselves. So if not if, but when, right? Anyone preaches another gospel other than the one that we had received, let that person be damned.

And the problem comes back to the fact that they keep going back to jewish ceremonies, to Jewish traditions, to the law. And salvation does not come through the law. Paul says if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. Now, Paul's issue is not with circumcision. That's not the issue here.

The issue is turning to circumcision as a way to demonstrate your righteousness, to demonstrate as a requirement your salvation. Being circumcised or not being circumcised. He says this later on means nothing. Whether you are or are not is not the problem. The problem is why you are getting circumcised.

Remember the judaizers, the sympathizers? Those Jewish converts who did not really fully leave behind the burden of the law had come and had demanded of the Gentiles that they had to obey all of the ceremonies, all of the traditions, all of the laws if they were to be saved. And they are turning to it. And Paul has called them foolish and he says this will not profit you anything. And then he remind us, if we are under bondage of the law, we are bound to keep the entire law.

We read that in James. I actually have that written down right here. James 210. James says that if you keep the whole law but violate one part of the law, you are guilty of the whole law. Our worship leader just put that up here for us, for whoever keeps the whole law, but stumbles at one point only has become guilty of all of it.

So did you tell a little white lie? What now? You're guilty also of murder, of adultery, of blasphemy, of using the Lord's name in vain, of not honoring your mother and your father. You're guilty of cheating. You're guilty of the entire law because the curse is the same.

It doesn't matter if it's a little white lie or if it's murder. The penalty is always death. We're reminded in verse three that is the case, that you are under obligation to the entire law. Verse five then reminds us, though, that through the Spirit by faith we eagerly await the hope of righteousness.

Christ death is what cleanses us from sin. We eagerly await the hope of righteousness through the Spirit by faith, through Jesus Christ. For in Christ Jesus this is in verse six neither circumcision counts for anything or uncircumcision, but faith working through love. Faith working through love is the only thing that counts if you have faith. It should be working through love in two ways.

It should be working through the love of God toward you, right? It is the love of God that nailed Jesus Christ to the cross, the love of God that offered us a ransom, that offered us a salvation. And it also should be the love of God through us working back toward Him. We'll read more about that in verse 22 and 23.

And then he says this you were running well. You were running well. Remember last week, Paul's problem with them? He says he has birthing pains all over again. He says, you listen to me when I'm here, when I'm in person, when I'm working with you, when I'm laboring, when I'm preaching.

You preaching to you the Gospel. He says, you received it as if I were an angel or Christ himself. But then when I leave, when I'm no longer here, you instantly fall away and begin following all these various side paths. Says you were doing well. You had it.

You were responding, you were obeying. So what happened?

Who hindered you from obeying? The truth? They are following Christ until someone hinders them from continuing further.

What Paul wants us to know, he says, the persuasion is not from the one who calls you, the one who calls us, the one who preached to us the message of forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ, right? God, the one who calls us is God. The one who preached the message is God. The one who died on the cross. Is God.

The one who saved us is God, the one who does all of that. He will not persuade us to do something different. Why would Jesus, who died for us to atone for our sins, who suffered that anguish, who was forsaken by the Father? Why would he persuade us to go any other route but through Him, right? God is not the author of confusion, and that is confusion.

To see God do all of this, go through all of this effort to then attach to our next the yoke of slavery, to the law, that's confusion. And God is not the author of confusion. Verses 13 and 15 says, for you are called to freedom, brothers, only. Do not let your freedom become an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, but if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

So we have liberty. When we are going through Romans Road, we had discussed this very thing. We had discussed the liberty that Jesus Christ gave us. Paul says that all things are permittable unto him, but not all things are beneficial. Christian freedom, right?

The freedom we experience in Christianity by following God, by following Jesus, is not a strict set of rules and obligations that we must follow and laborously endeavor to make sure that we are crossing every t and dotting every I and obeying every comma. But it is liberty. It's freedom. It allows us the freedom to enjoy the life that God designed for us. However, that freedom has a limit, and that limit is to not allow that freedom, to allow us to do wrong.

Paul says, do not let your freedom become an opportunity for the flesh. For as free as we are, there could be a tendency to take that freedom, to take that realization that we are free and allow it to control us rather than God control us. Rather he says love one another, right? Serve one another through love.

That's interesting. Not just serve one another. God doesn't want us to just serve each other. God does not want me to wake up tomorrow morning and begrudgingly drag my feet across the street to my neighbor to begrudgingly help him with whatever yard project or house project or work project he has to then begrudging thee drag my feet back home to shower and feel like I wasted my whole day because I was over there helping, right? There is service and there is service with love.

Strictly doing service one to another is out of obligation, right? That is out of the works of the law. Serving one another through love is out of want, out of desire, out of freedom, because we love our neighbor, because we love God, because we love glorifying God by allowing Him to work through us, right? Jesus Christ. Was he not the master?

Was he not God? Or was he not glorified? But how many servants did he have when he was here on earth? How many people served Him while he was here compared to the Master serving us, healing us, teaching us, leading us, feeding us, clothing us, washing us? Did he not wash the feet of everyone there at that last supper?

Did not the Master come and through his love serve us? And that is what we want for the world to see. We want the world to see God serving them through living inside of us. And then he says something very interesting. The entirety of the law can be fulfilled and summed up in one statement love thy neighbor as thyself.

As Christians, we don't need to be concerned if the Ten Commandments I'll be watching for a week or two weeks from now when somebody has taken this video clip and cut out the entire sermon except for that statement. As Christians, we do not need to be concerned with the Ten Commandments. And they're going to post that somewhere on Facebook or YouTube and declare that I'm blaspheming saying, we don't have to be concerned with that. But we don't. We do not have to be concerned with the Commandments, thou shalt not bear false witness.

Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. We don't have to worry about that. Why?

Because there's only one law we have to be concerned with, the law of love. That's it. The law of love. If I love you, I will not steal from you. If I love you, I will not covet what is yours.

If I love you, I will not bear false witness against you. I will not cheat. I will not harm you, I will not murder you. If I love you, I don't have to know what the Ten Commandments say, because out of my love for you, I will automatically fulfill through that one law, all of the laws of the Old Testament.

And if we lack love, look at the world we live in, Paul says. He says, if you do not love one another, if you devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed, right? When the world, when people do not operate out of a love for one another, turn on CNN, Fox, ABC, any other of those networks. Watch what's on there. Watch the hate and the rage and the riots and everything else.

And that is what it turns to. We consume one another. Verses 16 through 21 but I say, live by the Spirit, and you will never carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another. So that whatever you want, you may not do these things, but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident which are sexual immorality impurity licentiousness that awkward moment when I don't know if I'm saying it right idolatry sorcery enmity strife jealousy outburst of anger selfish ambition dissension factions envy drunkenness carousen and things like these things which I am telling you in advance, just as I said before, that the ones who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

So we are told here that we have to separate the flesh from the Spirit, right? Christ said in his Sermon on the Mount, you cannot serve God and Mammon, for you will hate the one and love the other. Otherwise you will serve the one and despise the other. You can't serve God and money.

Likewise, we are told by Paul, it is either by works or by grace. The two are mutually exclusive. You cannot receive something for free and then have to work to earn it. And they cannot work to earn something and then be told that it's a free gift. In Christianity, we cannot be saved by the grace of Jesus and attach the yoke of bondage from the law of sin and death to our necks.

Likewise, we cannot live in our flesh and in the Spirit. We cannot both be of the world and of the kingdom of God. There is no walk in the line. There's no 1ft on this side and one on this side, carefully straddling between the two worlds until we die. But you are firmly in one or firmly in the other.

He says the two are at opposition, one to another. And when you try to walk in one, when you try to walk in the flesh, it prevents you from doing what you ought to do in the Spirit. And when you were walking in the Spirit, it prevents you from being able to fulfill the desires of the flesh. It is a battle, one with another. And then we know from Paul what these desires of the flesh are.

The next thing we're going to look at, just so you know, is the desires of the fruits of the spirit. But Paul tells us first, I want to look at it again, what it means to be living in the flesh. Let's pull these up. The deeds of the flesh so you can tell when somebody is living in the flesh, when they are living fleshly desires and allowing the lust of the world to consume them, right? Sexual immorality, gayness, right?

The LGBTQ plus thing, this transgenderism, all of these sexual immoral deeds are evident of deeds of the flesh. These are not works of the spirit. They can never be works of the spirit. They can never be approved by God, despite the many and various claims of so called Christians that God does not care about your sexual orientation. Right?

Don't you find that interesting? The first work of the flesh here, first deed of the flesh that Paul has to point out is sexual immorality. If you go read Romans one, when Paul starts to talk about the sins that people were committing that caused God to cut them loose, paul spends a whole paragraph and a half talking about sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, worshiping other gods, especially back in the time of Paul. Today, it looks a lot less like worshipping gods and more like worshiping money, worshiping yourself, worshiping your job, worshiping your car, worshiping your pets or your trees or your political agenda or whatever the case may be. It is all idolatry, sorcery right.

Magic, so called magic is evil enmity, right? Making enemies with people that strong anger against one another, strife and jealousy. Jealousy is a work of the spirit. If you are in Christ Jesus, you have everything you need. You have everything.

You've got eternal life, you've got God, you've got forgiveness. He promises to take care of you, to provide for you. He promises that he has a plan for you. And if you're sitting there jealous about what your neighbor has or your friend has, or your brother, or your uncle, whatever the case may be, if you're sitting there jealous, you are not walking in the fruits of the spirit. You're walking in the fruits of the flesh.

For in the spirit, there's no room for jealousy, outburst of anger, that's a work of the flesh. Selfish, ambition, dissension and factions. He goes on the drunkenness carousing envy.

And this list of sins is nothing new, Paul says. And things like these, which I'm telling you in advance, as he has said before, this is not the first time that they or we are hearing these things. Those who practice such will not inherit the kingdom of God. They won't inherit it. It's said plainly and clearly.

Now let's look at the meat tonight of what it is we really wanted to see. Let's read verses 22 and 23. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things there is no law. Right?

Compare that to the impurity to sexual immorality, to enmity, to jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish, ambition, drunkenness, envy, right? Compare to what? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. These two things are vastly different. You can't have gentleness and self control if you are prone to outburst of anger or to drunkenness.

Right? No one can both be drunk and in control. No one can be in a rage of anger and in self control or gentle.

No one can love or have joy or have peace when they are angry, when they are jealous, when they are involved with strife, when they are stealing. These are two totally different sets of beings. You cannot walk the line between them. Let's look today briefly at each of these things. I want to go in depth beginning with love.

The first thing mentioned here is love.

The fruit of the Spirit is love. I want to look at love in several ways. First, I want to look at love in terms of divine love. Christ said to the disciples, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. If we are walking in the Spirit and being controlled by that and love is evident in our lives, the first thing that you will see is that you love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul and all of your mind.

I love that. Worships God. You can't be in the spirit of God and not want to worship Him. If you come to church on Sunday and you're worshiping and you're thinking, man, I just can't wait till worship is over, you wake up in the morning and it's like, man, it's time to sit down and write five things that I'm thankful for today. Oh, what am I thankful for?

I guess my house, I guess my job. I guess I'm grateful that I've got food on the table. If that's your attitude towards worship, toward God, you are walking in the flesh that's begrudging right there, right? A love to worship God should be evident in the Christian life. If Christ is living in you, you will love to worship God, right?

It'll be John 424. He says, God is a spirit, and the one who worships him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Spirit, right? Not flesh and spirit and in truth I love that waits on God. When we love God, we are willing to wait upon him.

We trust in him. We trust in what he said he will do. We turn to Him to receive our strength and our power. How about a love that works for God? Right?

Is our is our attitude. We talked about this this morning in the morning service a little bit when we were going through Romans one. Paul says in his greeting. To the church in Rome that he is eager to share the Gospel with them, right. He is eager to preach, eager to go and work for God.

What does your love for God say today? If I were to ask everyone that's, band together and we'll pick one of you and we're going to go to your city and we're going to band together and we're going to share the Gospel with every person there. What does your love for God say? Man, that sounds like a lot of work. I don't want to do that much walking.

I don't really want to go and share and be mocked at or laughed at or have door slammed in my face, right? A love for God would cause you to want to work for God, to fulfill the commands of Christ. One of the commands of Christ is found at the very end of Matthew the Great commission go ye therefore and make disciples. Go and make disciples. Or does your love for God say, yes, I'm on fire.

Jesus saved me. He wants to save my neighbor. He wants to save my friend. He wants to save my coworker. Let's get out there and work for God, right?

Mark 1615 christ says, go into the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Then love is dedicated as well, right? We looked at divine love toward God, but let's look at love for friends, right? We are told to love one another. Christ says, by this will the world know you are my disciple, that you love one another, that our love for one another is so strong, there's no strife, no anger, no jealousy, no sin against each other.

But instead we support each other, we help each other, we lift each other up, we carry each other. When we're down, our love for each other is evident. And it's so evident that God shall be seen. Right. The second greatest commandment thou shalt love thy neighbor as yourself.

If Christ is in us, our love for one another should cause us to love each other the way that we love ourself.

This is an interesting one. How about a love for foes? Right? A love for your enemy. If Christ is in you, or if you say that Christ is in you and you do not love your enemy, you're a liar.

And that's not me saying that. That's the Bible saying it. John writes it in his epistles that if you say you are in God but you love not, you know not God, for God is love. That comes directly from the Bible. John says it pretty clearly that if you love not and say you know God, you have deceived yourself.

So if you say, Christ is in me, yet I do not love my enemy, you have been deceived.

Look at Matthew 544 says but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Love them. And why would I love my enemy? Other than the fact that Jesus just told me to in Matthew 544? Aside from that, why would I love my enemy?

Because it's not I who live anymore. Matthew Davis died the day that he got saved, and Christ Jesus came into the body of Matthew Davis and lives his life for him.

Shawnee Davis, the day she got saved, died. It's no longer Shawnee who lives, but Christ who lives through her. And what we know about Jesus Romans tells us that God demonstrated his love for us and this that while we were his enemies, he died for us. How did he demonstrate his love? He came and died for his friends, died for his family, died for those who loved him dearly.

No, it says he demonstrated his love for us in this, that while we were his enemies, while we were waging war against him, while we were persecuting him, while we hated him, while we actively fought against him, he died for us.

The Matthew Davis would not love his enemies, but Jesus Christ would. And if it is not Matthew Davis who lives, but it is Christ who lives in Matthew Davis, then I will love my enemies. Even a love for the friend list, right? The outcast, those who are neither our friends nor our enemies, they are just the outcast, the down and the out. We love them.

Did Christ not love the outcast as well?

We have a description of love as well that I feel we need to define what is love? First Corinthians 13 four through seven says that love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous, it does not boast, it does not become conceited, it does not behave dishonorably, it does not become angry, it does not keep a record of wrongdoing. It does not rejoice at unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. That is love.

Church if the Spirit of God is in you, you will see. It will be evident not just to you, but to your family, to your neighbors, to your coworkers, to those in church, to the world that the love of God flows out of your vessels. The second fruit of the Spirit is joy. The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy. This is interesting.

How many of you can say right now that you're truly happy? How many of you, no matter what goes on, you are just filled with an abundance and overflowing abundance of joy. That's a fruit of the Spirit, the birth of Christ, it brought joy. It brought great tidings of joy to all people. The angels rejoiced, the shepherds rejoiced, the wise men rejoiced.

It brought great joy. Why? Why did it bring great joy? There's a reason for it. Christ's life brought joy.

Acts 1038 says that Jesus of Nazareth how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil because God was with them.

His life brought joy wherever he went, right? There was nowhere that Christ went, that there was a downcast mood, right? Christ did not go somewhere and then leave people feeling depressed. Well, he was a party killer, or well, he sure is unkind, or well, I mean, I'm angry. Christ was around me.

Wherever he went, he brought joy. He did it through his teaching. What did he teach? He taught, hey, you, you sinner, you perishing, you lost, someone loves you and he is going to save you. He's going to redeem you.

He wants you to come into his kingdom forever, right? His ministry? He healed people miracles. He cleansed the lepers, he gave sight to the blind. He allowed the lame to walk.

He healed diseases, cast out demons, even raised the dead.

He brought joy. His death brought joy. Although not initially. Everybody wept and cried, and I would have too, myself. But his death brought joy.

Because through his death, we have a full pardon of our sins, right? Is that not reason to be filled with joy? No matter what I have done up to this point, it doesn't matter how bad, how horrible it was, I have a full pardon. God says, look, all of that, it's gone. It's erased, it's clean, it's white, it's like it never existed.

And anything I do tomorrow, or the day after, the week after, the year after, it is clean. It's erased. It's gone because of the death of Jesus Christ.

Joy through the death. His resurrection brought joy. Because he lives, we too shall live. Christ said, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even though he dies, will live.

That's John 1125. Because he lives, we too shall live.

A Christian walking in the Spirit should be filled with joy. We have great reason to be filled with joy. We're forgiven, we're loved, we're cherished, we have an eternal home. He will heal us. Even if he doesn't heal us the things we want Him to.

Right now, we will be healed of all things, right? All believers who are blind, physically blind, when they resurrect, they will see. All believers who are deaf, they will hear. All believers who have cancer or heart disease or diabetes or any, they will be cured of that and never face it again. All of those who have lost limbs, who are paralyzed, who have had accidents, who have been burned, they will be healed.

It is a promise that all of these things will be wiped away in the Resurrection, right? Christ wants us to be full of joy. In John chapter 15 sorry, 16, he gives us a list of things he wants us to do. He says, he who abides in me and I abide in him, he will bear much fruit. And he says he also says in john 1624 says you have asked nothing in my name, but ask and you will receive that your joy may be complete.

Christ wants us to have joy. A few months ago we spent well, we spent several months in the Book of Job, lost all that he had, everything. Job was a faithful man, very faithful man. Believed in God, worshipped God, served God. He lost all that he had.

And even so he proclaims. In chapter twelve, verse 15, he says I know, he says, I have faith in God. He says if he withholds the water and they dry up, if he sends them out and they overwhelm the land, he says it doesn't make any difference to him. He knows that God's alive, right? John 1925 job says I myself know that my Redeemer is alive and at last he will stand up upon the earth.

He lost everything, and yet he knew that his Redeemer was alive. He was tried and he came out like gold. In chapter 23 in all of the sorrow of Job, he found great joy. He had hope. He knew his Redeemer was alive.

And we too, in times of sorrow, can find great joy in the Lord. Psalms 30, verse five he says there is a moment in his anger, there is a lifetime in his favor. Weeping lodges for the evening, but in the morning comes rejoicing.

We can have a moment of anger. We can have something terrible happen and have that moment of anger. We can weep when we lose a loved one, when something tragic happens, but in the morning comes rejoicing. Because in the morning with the sunrise, we know that our Redeemer lives. We know that he is sovereign.

We know that he works all things for our good.

And so joy comes in the morning. Because despite all of that, we know that Jesus Christ works all things right everyday happenings to our betterment and to his glory. Did not Paul and Silas imprison. They were imprisoned, they were shackled, they were treated poorly. And at midnight in this prison, act 1625.

Now about midnight, paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them. Such horrible circumstances. Circumstances you and I will likely never face. And through it all they're singing hymns and praises to God.

If Jesus is in you, you will be full of great joy. The next fruit of the Spirit to look at is peace. And peace comes because of our salvation. When we live close to God in his word, in prayer, in worship and praise, when we are close to Him, when we have that salvation, we have peace in our heart. We have peace because of forgiveness, because our sins are forgiven.

It doesn't matter. Were you a rapist? Were you a murderer? Were you an adulterer? Were you a thief?

A liar? It doesn't matter. They are forgiven. There is no fear for the person in christ. When you stand before that great white throne, there is no fear.

There is no worry about what's going to happen. But you have peace. You know all is well. You do not have to be afraid, right? He calls us to follow Him, and he makes us to be what he wants us to be.

We have peace because it's not my job. I don't have a list of rules and regulations to keep of 20 different rites of passage and ceremonies that I have to do if I'm to go live with God, if I'm to make it to the so called celestial kingdom that places the burden on you. That's not peaceful. But the One who calls us to follow Him makes us into what he wants us to be. He does the work.

It's all on him. And there is great peace and knowing that the Master, the God Almighty, creator of the heavens and the earth, he is the one who is in control of all of that peace because of fellowship. John want first. John one seven. He says if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.

And the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. When we have fellowship with one with another, when we don't have to be afraid to be around each other because of judgment, because we're going to persecute one another, we're going to mock one another, but we have fellowship. There's no fear among each other. We have peace. We have peace because of security.

Philippians Four Seven says, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds. In Christ Jesus, we don't have to worry about anything. Did you lose your job? I know it can be stressful. I know that.

But you do not have to worry about it. You have peace because you have security in God. Do you have an illness that seems to be kicking your butt? Paul did. Paul said he had a thorn in his flesh.

He asked three times for God to remove. And God says my grace is sufficient for you. But we have security for whether God removes that from us now or later. There is security in what God will do. Hebrews Eleven One tells us that faith is a realization of what is hoped for by the proof of things not seen.

Right. If we trust in God, we can be free from doubt. We don't understand everything, and we don't need to. But because of our trust in God, because we are relying fully on Him, he is our anchor. We have security and we have peace.

There's peace through satisfaction. When you are in Christ Jesus, you are satisfied. We talked about the works of the flesh. Jealousy. If you are jealous, are you satisfied with what you have?

Are you satisfied with your allotment and condition in life? Not really. But in Jesus you are satisfied, and because of that you will have peace. That satisfaction looks like this psalms 20 911 may Yahweh give strength to his people. May Yahweh bless his people with peace, those who dedicate their lives to Him, he promises us in Isaiah 26 three says, you will protect a firm inclination in peace in peace because he trust in you.

Patience. Oh, shoot. Can we skip this one, guys?

I think I'm the least patient person on the planet. I hate this. This is a P word, right? My pet peeve starts with a P. Patience.

I hate the word, but if Christ is in us, we have patience. Patience and temptation. This is part of self control, patience. That when we are being tempted, when we are being tried, trials, troubles, temptations, tribulations, we will be patient. One Corinthians 1013 says, temptation has not come upon you except what is common to humanity, but God is faithful who will not permit you to be tempted beyond what you are able, who will also make a way out together with the temptation so that you may be able to endure it.

Two Peter two Nine says, the Lord knows how to rescue the Godly from trials and to reserve the unrighteous to be punished. At the day of judgment. When we are being tempted, what do we do? Do we fight that temptation with the word of God, with prayer? Do we patiently endure it as we seek God?

Or do we just say, oh, this temptation, it's so strong, so powerful, so overcoming, and we give in to it patient and troubles. Romans 1212 says, rejoice in hope, enduring an infliction being devoted to prayer. In Romans five, Paul tells us to rejoice in trouble and in tribulation, because at worketh, patience and patience knowledge, right? All of these things work to our faith in God. Trials, tribulations, are the hardest things that we go through.

God does not always promise. He doesn't promise to always deliver us from trouble. He doesn't promise that every trial that comes our way is going that he's going to stop it and bring us around it. There's no promise to go over or under or around, but there is a promise that he will help us to get through it. And patience, the ability to wait on God patiently, to endure, to trust in Him in the long term, shows stability, right?

The Psalmist says in Psalms 41 says, I waited patiently for yahweh, and he inclined to me and heard my cry for help. And in trials, James 114 says, let endurance have its perfect effect so that ye may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing, right? Patience will work everything out if we are patient in God. He tells us in Romans 828 that he will work all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to his purposes. But it's a fruit of the spirit, your ability to be patient, to endure intimation, endure in trouble, enduring trials.

To wait for God to get you through it and to do what he has promised to do is a fruit of the spirit.

Next number five is kindness. Kindness are you mean to your neighbor? To your brother? To your sister? To your coworker?

Being kind one to another. This goes all the way back to the very first fruit of the spirit love. Kindness is a fruit of the spirit. Colossians 312. He says, Therefore, as the chosen of God, holy and dearly loved, put on affection, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Right? Kindness is more than just saying to your neighbor, hey, you look nice today.

It's more than saying, I hope you have a good day. But kindness is in your deeds and your actions, how you treat them, not just by what you say to them, but behind their backs. What you do for them, how you act toward them. Physically humbleness, realizing that you are nothing without God. What does humbleness look like?

Realizing you are nothing without God, that without God, I'm a sinner, I'm perishing, and I'm bound for hell. Meekness is put in Jesus Christ first, right before what I want to do, what I want to buy, how I want to spend my time, I put Jesus Christ first. And long suffering. You cannot be kind to someone without having long suffering, without the ability to patiently stupid word, patiently wait through everything that they do and put you through. Patient kindness is considerate.

When you are kind to someone, you are considerate of their needs, you're considerate of their issues.

Why are we stopping? Service?

Well, from this point on, it won't be recorded.

A wrong button got hit to stop service.

It's considerate, there's concern, and it's Christ like. Part of being kind is forgiving one another.

You can't hold a grudge against someone and be kind. Goodness, supernatural goodness. The fruit of the spirit is goodness, a personality of God. God says there is none good. No, not one.

Because none of us are good, because none of us practice goodness. It's only a fruit of the spirit. When God lives inside of us and we begin to be righteousness, when our personality is like God, like Jesus. Right? We are demonstrating God lives in us, faithfulness.

Faithfulness in living for Christ.

Christ says in Luke 646, he says, Why do you call me Lord and do not what I tell you? How many of us proclaim Jesus as Lord, but we willingly choose not to do things that we know we should do, that he wants us to do, because we don't like it, because it's inconvenient to us, because the timing is not right, because we got something else to do. Whatever the case may be, faithfulness is calling him Lord and doing what he tells us to do.

Faithfulness in loving Christ again. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. With all your soul, with all your mind. You cannot love God with all your heart, mind and soul, unless you are faithful to God, to love Him first and love others as we love ourself. It's a controlled love as well, right?

The faithfulness to God. Look what he says in Matthew 633 seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things will be added to you. Is your love for God, your faithfulness to God, strong enough to put Him first in every aspect of your life? No matter what aspect it is, what you've got going, what you like or don't like, will you put Him first in all things?

Right? Learning God's will. Psalms 143, verse ten says teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your spirit is good. Lead me onto level ground.

A faithfulness in Christ is a desire to learn His Word, to pick up the Bible and read it. Not because you have to, because you're commanded to, because your pastor tells you to, but because you desire. You desire to be there and to devour the Word, to fill your mind and your soul with it, to feast upon it, to look for the coming of Christ. Acts 111 says man, why do you stand there looking into the sky? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven like this will come back down the same way you saw him departing into heaven.

A faithfulness to Christ is a faithfulness that will watch for his return. Faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit. You cannot be faithful in living for Christ, in loving Christ, in learning of Christ in His Word, and in looking for Him, unless it is he who lives inside of you. Two more meekness. The fruit of the Spirit is meekness.

Right? Christians should be humble. If Christ is in you, you should be humble like children is humbleness. Is that natural for humanity? No.

Pride is right. Look what I did. Look at who I am. Look at how great I am, what I accomplished. Or refusing to admit your wrongdoing because it would hurt your pride.

Refusing to be seen with the poor because it would hurt your pride and your self image. Or I want this, I want that, I'm going to work to do all of these things for myself. Me, myself and I are at pride. Pride is the common denominator to humanity. But the fruit of the Spirit is meekness.

Humility.

A person does not pray for humility, he practices it meekness. And humility again, is realizing that without God you are nothing. And the final fruit of the Spirit is self control. This is a big one. We live in a day, in a time where self control is severely lacking.

But what are some ways that we could have self control, that that it could manifest itself? How about control of our time? Psalms 90, verse twelve, says teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom in the grand scheme of the universe, of the timeline of infinity. How long is 85 years to live on Earth?

It's not very long at all. It might feel long. It might feel like it takes forever to get there. And you get there and look back and you might feel like, wow, what a long life I have lived. But knowing just truly how short life is.

Self control must adjust our time accordingly so that we can seek first the kingdom of God. And remembering the importance of time. Solomon and Ecclesiastes had all that somebody could ask for, and yet he forgot God.

He didn't have time for God redeeming time. Colossians four five says, live with wisdom toward those outside making the most of your time.

We must be wise with our time. How about our temper? The fruits of the flesh are anger, outburst of anger, drunkenness. If you are not in control of your temper, you do not have self control, right? Does that mean you can't be angry?

No. The Bible says, be ye angry and sin not. The difference is, do we control our temper when we are angry about something? Are we in control of our actions, of our thoughts? Of our self?

Are we sinning? How fast do we become angry? The fruit of the flesh says outburst, right? You just burst out in anger with Christ in you. It's slow, it's righteous.

You do not sin during your anger. Look at this. The punishment for anger is God's judgment. In Matthew 522, I say to you that everyone who is angry at his brother will be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, Stupid fool will be subject to the counsel.

And whoever says Obstinate fool will be subject to fiery, hell control of your talents. Every one of you has a talent. God has gifted all of us with the talent. For some, it's preaching. For some, it's teaching.

For one, it might be craftsmanship. For another, it might be music. For worship. He has given all of us a talent. And there is a reason for that talent.

And it's not so that we can go and make money and get rich and become famous. It is so that we can worship God, right? It's so that the kingdom of God can grow through the use of our talents, and his glory can grow.

There's a parable we're not going to read today because time is short, but I would ask everyone to go read Matthew 25, verses 16 through 18. It's the parable of the talents, right? One person was given five talents, and he increased them to ten. The second person was given two talents and he increased them to four. And the last person was given a single talent and afraid of losing it, went and dug a hole in the ground and buried it and waited for his master to come back.

God has not given us talents to use for our own selfish ambition and he has not given us talents to hide them away, for no one to see or to use or to enjoy or to glorify God. He has given them to us so that we can glorify Him.

And I'm going to correct myself when I ask you to read Matthew 25 re, verses 15 through 30, the whole parable. Those who did not use the talents were cast out and self control of the tongue when we looked at the fruits of the flesh, slandering, lying, foul language, those are all fruits of the flesh, but self control the tongue, right? A slandering tongue. James, three five through seven, says, the tongue is a small member of the body and boasts great things. Behold how small a fire sets ablaze, how great a forest.

And the tongue is a fire. The world of unrighteousness the tongue is set among our members, defiling the whole body and setting on fire the course of human existence being set on fire by hell. The power of the tongue. The tongue is the most powerful muscle that we have in our body, ounce for ounce. It's not only the strongest physically, ounce for ounce, but the most powerful in terms of impact of what we can do with a sharp tongue, a harsh tongue, a slandering tongue can destroy others entirely.

We don't have to lift up a weapon or a fist. We don't have to do anything physically. A sharp tongue can destroy people, but a surrender tongue ephesians 431 says all bitterness and rage and wrath and clamor and abuse of speech must be removed from you together with all wickedness. A surrender tongue will remove from it all slander, all foul language, all works of the flesh.

And lastly, James tells us in chapter one, Verse 26 if anyone thinks he is religious, although he does not bride his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

One more time. What are the fruits of the spirit?

Paul says that the fruits of the spirit, the works of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

As we end this message today, I ask each of you who are here as a Christian, who are here as someone who proclaims to be redeemed by God to examine whether or not you are controlled by the works of the flesh or by the works of the Spirit. And you can know by whether or not those nine things love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control are evident in your life. And if you are not saved, you can be today. It begins with admitting that you are a sinner, that you cannot save yourself, but believing that Jesus Christ had rose from the dead, that he was victorious over sin and death, and that your confession of him as your. Lord and your Savior is sufficient for your salvation.

And at that moment, Jesus can begin a new work in you where you will begin to experience love and joy and peace and the other six works of the Spirit that go with them. If you're ready for this, we're going to go to our closing prayer now, and I invite you to accept Jesus into your heart. For those who already have, I invite you to prayerfully. Ask God to show you if these fruits are evident in your life, and if not, prayerfully seek God's will in having these works become evident. Let's pray.

Father, I admit that I am a sinner and that I cannot save myself. I admit that My ways are evil and corrupt, and that when you say no one is good, no, not one that includes me, but I believe that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh who came down here. And I believe in his gospel that he died that he was buried. Now he rose again the third day that all who would believe in Him would be saved. And now I believe.

I trust in you, Lord Jesus, and I confess you as my god and my king. And I ask you into my heart. I ask You, Lord, to let me die today, that you would live through me and that I can experience Your greatness and Your faithfulness and Your grace. Father, I pray as we all depart today that you will help us to examine these nine attributes of Your spirit, whether or not you are truly alive in us, if you are living through us, that you would be glorified, Father, and that we would eagerly seek to have these nine fruits living overflowing abundantly in our lives. And we love you.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.