A progressive prayer, Lord, speak, teach, fill,
and use. We open the Word of God today to the
book of Galatians and the fifth chapter. We're
going to begin focusing on verses 22 and 23,
the fruit of the Spirit. But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace. patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.
Against such things there is no law. Every person
in the world is dominated by something or someone.
There is no such thing as absolute freedom. Every
person... Every person in the world is dominated
by something or someone. The unsaved person is
dominated by his sin nature. He is dominated
by the world system of which he is a part. And
ultimately, he is dominated by Satan in whose
kingdom he is a citizen. Likewise, the saved
person. The regenerate person is a dominated
person. The saved person is either dominated
by sin working through the flesh or by the Holy
Spirit in his new nature. One who thinks that
he is freely doing his own thing without regard
to what I've just said is sadly deceived. Every
person is dominated. And that includes every
person sitting in this room today. Whether saved
or unsaved, we are all dominated by someone or
something. Now our subject relates primarily
to the child of God. How can we know which is
in control, the flesh or the spirit? You say,
I'm in control. Then the flesh is the one who
is really in control. The flesh is the one who
is really dominating you, though you may think
you are in control. We are a dominated people,
either by the flesh or the Spirit. How do we
know which one is in dominance? The answer to
that is by the manifestation of either the flesh
or the Spirit in the saved person's life. You
see, the flesh produces works. As verse 19 says,
now the deeds or the works of the flesh are evident.
They're obvious. They may be seen. We all understand
what they are. And he lists 15 items and then
says, and other things like these. They may be
visible or invisible, actions or attitudes, but
these deeds or these works manifest the fact
that the flesh is dominating the Christian. The
Holy Spirit, on the other hand, produces fruit.
That is the verse that we read in verse 22. Note
that the fruit of the Spirit is not synonymous
with the gifts of the Spirit. The gifts of the
Holy Spirit have to do with those... special
abilities that he gives the child of God by which
he can serve the Lord acceptably and fruitfully.
Those are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the
gifts of the Spirit are quite controversial these
days. Perhaps the emphasis needs to be upon the
fruit of the Spirit rather than the gifts of
the Spirit. For the fruit of the Spirit has to
do with the quality of living. The gifts have
to do with what one can do, the fruit of the
Spirit with what one is. And that certainly is
more important. Notice it is not called these
things the fruits of the Spirit, but it's singular.
That suggests that what he's going to list actually
are cohesive. It suggests a harmony in the life
when these things are being manifested. When
the fruit of the Spirit is being evidenced, there
is a oneness to the life. There are no glaring
contradictions, no disharmony or discord. The
fruit is the result of the life of Jesus Christ.
Warren Wiersbe has said, A machine can manufacture
works. Only life can produce fruit. And so the
blessed fruit of the Spirit is the life of Jesus
Christ being expressed in the members of his
body, revealing his likeness to the world. He
does that through his children in whom he lives.
The fruit of the Spirit is not the flesh reformed,
for God has no plans to reform the flesh. It
is not His intention to improve the flesh. One
day, indeed, He will remove the flesh from us
when we are with Christ. That which is of the
flesh is fleshly and is therefore unacceptable
to God. God is not dealing with the flesh to
try to improve it or reform it. Our flesh may
be cultured flesh, but it's still flesh. It may
be educated flesh, but it's still flesh. It may
be sincere flesh, but it's still flesh. It may
be religious flesh, but it's still flesh, and
therefore unacceptable to God. It is only the
Spirit's fruit which God finds acceptable in
our lives. God's plan is that this new man that
has been created in us, which we are in Jesus
Christ, This new man which has been created in
the righteous and holy likeness of Jesus be revealed
in and through us. And since that is God's plan,
he works by the Holy Spirit in us to establish
a new pattern of attitudes and actions to reflect
the Christ life. This new pattern of attitudes
and actions is not forced on us from without.
It is not a legalistic code of man -made rules
that we are to obey. But this new pattern of
attitudes and actions is rather a power working
from within. It is a transformation which the
Holy Spirit produces in our lives as we walk
in His power. He expresses these new attitudes
and actions in the fruit which he produces. You
will notice in our text that the fruit is ninefold.
Nine words are used to describe various aspects
of the fruit. Please understand that the fruit
of the Spirit does not come in pieces and parts.
By that I mean it's a single. fruit. It has been
compared to a cluster of grapes, but I think
perhaps a better comparison to the fruit of the
Spirit might be an orange, for an orange comes
in segments, not in individual pieces. The segments
together form the one fruit, and so it is with
the fruit of the Spirit. All of these aspects
together form the fruit of the Spirit. Therefore,
we do not manifest a few aspects of the fruit
with no manifestation of others. By that I mean
that we do not manifest, let's say, joy and goodness
with no manifestation of gentleness. or self
-control or faithfulness. That's impossible because
the fruit of the Spirit doesn't come in pieces
and parts. It comes as a whole. All aspects of
the fruit of the Spirit are revealed at once
in the believer's life when the Holy Spirit is
dominating. Do you understand that? All nine
aspects. of the fruit of the Spirit are revealed
at once in the life of the believer under the
Spirit's domination. Now having said that, I
want to go on to say that at any moment there
are some aspects which may be more visible or
obvious than others because the situation would
require that. And I think it's also important
to recognize that both personality and maturity
level may affect the degree to which any aspect
of the fruit might be apparent in our lives.
In other words, one's level of maturity, one's
temperament or his personality may affect to
some extent the degree to which any aspect of
the fruit would be apparent. in one's life. It
is interesting that in the New Testament there
are commands or exhortations which correspond
to each aspect of the fruit. Let me illustrate
that and we will as we work through the list.
It says here the fruit of the Spirit is love.
What does that mean? It means the Holy Spirit
produces love. in the life of the one where he
is dominant. On the other hand, we are told,
love one another. You see, there is a command
that we are to obey which corresponds with what
God says is the fruit of the Spirit. Now, there
are those who would respond by saying, well,
that's a contradiction. On the one hand, God
says it's the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.
He produces it. And then on the other hand, it
says we are to do it. We're to love one another.
Well, in fact, this is not a contradiction. These
two complement one another. It is an illustration
of how we must cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
You see, He leads. But we follow. He initiates,
but we respond. So we are responsible to love
one another. But in fulfilling that command,
in keeping that command, we must depend upon
the Holy Spirit to work through us. When we say
that we are going to love that difficult person
that we have to work with, We cannot love that
person in our own strength. We can by faith say
to the Lord, Lord, I will love her. Though she's
a miserable wretch to work with, I will love
her. And the Holy Spirit then takes that obedience
by faith on our part as a signal. He begins to
work in our lives to enable us to truly love.
that unhappy person in our office. The Holy Spirit
works with the commands that we obey to produce
the fruit of His presence and dominance in our
lives. The Holy Spirit produces His fruit in
the life of the believer under His control. Now
this morning I had intended to study through
three. aspects of the fruit of the Spirit. However,
I have been persuaded by the Lord that we should
not do that. He's given me too much to say on
love, and so today we're just going to talk about
love. And then after the Missions Festival, we'll
pick it up there and talk about the other aspects
of the fruit of the Spirit. Let's talk this morning
about love. The fruit of the Spirit is love.
There are some who understand this verse to say
that love is the fruit of the Spirit, and that
the other eight words actually magnify or draw
out the meaning of love. And that is certainly
possible. There's some truth to that. And we're
going to look at a text in 1 Corinthians 13 which
will seem to illustrate that truth. And yet in
the list as it is given here, It seems in Galatians
5 that the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us that
the fruit of the Spirit, while it begins with
love, love heads the list. It goes on to embrace
other beautiful attributes as well. How do you
describe love? Love is... How would you complete
that sentence? Love is... The word love in the
Greek language means agape. It is a kind of love
that is reserved for God and God alone. That's
why John says what he does in 1 John 3. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. He says, behold what
foreign kind of love the Father has bestowed
upon us that we should be called the sons of
God. What foreign kind of love. In other words,
it is a kind of love that cannot be manufactured
by a mere human being. Agape love is God's kind
of love. And it's the kind of love that he sheds
abroad or floods into or overflows the heart
of the believer with. It might be defined with
a phrase like this. It is sacrificial care for
another, irrespective of the response that it
may bring. Sacrificial care for another with
no thought about whether the person will say
thank you or even appreciate it. 1 John 4 .8
is a significant verse, I think. It's one of
the few places in the Bible where a very simple
statement is given regarding the nature of God.
In the Gospel of John, John says, God is spirit.
And they who worship Him must worship Him in
spirit and in truth. In 1 John chapter 1, he
says, God is light. And in Him there is no darkness.
at all. There's a third statement which John
gives in the fourth chapter, the eighth verse
of this first epistle. The one who does not love
does not know God, for God is love. Now there
are some who try to reverse that equation and
they say love is God, and that cannot be done.
But it is true that God is love. In other words,
agape love, this kind of sacrificial care for
others, is so descriptive of the very essence
of what God is that it can be said that God is
love. It is a simple yet profound statement of
God's very nature. This kind of love seeks the
welfare of its object, even though that object
may be totally unworthy. And of course, that's
how we see it illustrated in what God has done
for us. Let's talk for a moment about illustrations.
We've talked about a description of love, but
let's think about an illustration or two. I would
like to point out one on a human level. As is
found in the book of Romans, in the 10th chapter.
Here's an illustration of agape love that I think
is worth noting. The word love is not even used
here. And yet we see the spirit of love, agape
love, in Paul's words. He says, brethren, My
heart's desire and my prayer to God for them,
that is for his fellow Jews, is for their salvation.
Notice that he has a desire in his heart. That
desire is for the nation of Israel, his fellow
Jews who were in unbelief, those who had rejected
their Christ. And he says, it is my heart's desire,
it is my prayer to God that they might be saved.
Back in chapter 9, he says something further
about this, which gives us additional insight
into his heart. He says in verse 1, I am telling
the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience
bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. Do you
notice how he... He phrases this. He says, I
want to make a statement which you're not going
to believe. But he says, I am telling the truth
in Christ. He says, I am not lying. My conscience
bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that what
I am about to say is really the way I feel. He
says, I have great sorrow and unceasing grief
in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were
accursed, separated from Christ for the sake
of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,
who are Israelites. You know what Paul is saying
there? Paul is saying, if it were possible, I
could wish that I could lose my salvation. and
spend eternity separated from God and Christ
in hell, if somehow in doing that, my brethren,
my kinsmen, according to the flesh, the Israelites,
could come to the truth. Oh, if the nation of
Israel would only come to their Messiah, he says.
Now, who are the people that he says this about?
They're the ones who have attempted to kill him
already. Those who have put out a contract on
his life. Those who had caused him to be sent
to Rome for trial. Those who persecuted him.
And as we will study tonight, those who perhaps
even did actually murder him in the city of Lystra.
An experience from which... Paul was apparently
resuscitated by the power of God. Those are the
people that he prays this for. People who hated
him. People who despised him. A people who yet
to this day carry that same feeling of hatred
for Saul of Tarsus. But in his heart, he says,
I would be willing to go to hell. if somehow
they could come to Christ as a nation. My friend,
that's love. That is self -sacrificial care for
someone else, irrespective of their response.
But of course, there is a greater illustration
of this love, and that is in God's love for us.
I'd like to go back to 1 John 4 once again. This
time, verse 9. We'll pick it up. After it says,
God is love, it says in verse 9, By this the
love of God was manifested in us, that God has
sent His only begotten Son into the world, so
that we might live through Him. In this is love,
not that we loved God, but that He loved us and
sent His Son to be the propitiation. for our
sins. How is the love of God illustrated? It
is in this, that the Father sent the Son. The
Father sent the Son. Why? To reveal God? Yes.
So that the one who has seen the Son has seen
the Father. The fullness of all that God wants
to say is found in the person of Jesus Christ.
He came to reveal God. Yes. The Father sent the
Son. Why? To show us a perfect example of living
in obedience to God. That's true. He lived a
life that was absolutely sinless. Neither in
thought or in deed or in word did Jesus ever
once sin. The Father sent the Son for that purpose.
My friend, the thing that manifests the love
of God is neither of those. The thing that manifests
the love of God is that the Father sent the Son.
to be the propitiation for our sins. Notice,
first of all, it drags out what we are. Our sins,
our unloveliness, our repulsiveness, our hostility
against God, our disobedience to the commands
of God. It draws out first what we are, showing
how unworthy we are. We are sinners. We are the
reprobates of God's universe that He has created.
He exposes us. But He says that the Son has come
to be the propitiation for us. Propitiation.
What in the world is that? Well, the simple idea
in propitiation is satisfaction. God's holiness
was offended by our sin. Because God is light
and there is no darkness in Him at all, God cannot
be in the presence of sin. He must judge it.
He must condemn it. He must deal with it in His
holiness and justice and righteousness. We understand
that. I don't think there's any of us who has
a tough time understanding why a sinner deserves
judgment. That communicates. But the amazing
thing, the truly amazing thing, is that that
same holy God who demands justice came into the
world in the person of His Son. And he himself
paid the price of justice. He satisfied the holy
demands of his justice by becoming the propitiation
for our sins. Unworthy and unlovely and disgusting
and repulsive as we were. Death. is the greatest
illustration of agape that could ever be pointed
out. In light of that, there are a couple of
exhortations that we need to take a look at.
Exhortations which, when obeyed, will allow the
fruit of the Spirit, which is love, to be manifested
in our lives. The love that we are to display
as a fruit of the Spirit is to be sent in two
directions. First, a vertical direction toward
God, and then a horizontal direction toward others.
We are to love God. In fact, we'll just stay
right here in this chapter. Look at verse 19.
The thrust of this verse is that we love. God,
we love Him because He first loved us. Or we
could turn to Matthew 22, verses 36 through 38,
when Jesus was asked, what is the greatest of
the commandments? His enemies thought they had
Him because there were hundreds of them, and
whatever He would say would disbelieve somebody.
He said, the greatest of the commandments is
this. You shall love the Lord your God with everything
that you are. That's it. That's the greatest
commandment. How is the fruit of the Spirit,
which is love, to be manifested in our lives?
It is by our loving God with everything that
we are. We say to God, I love you. But is there
not a one of us that who would have to say, my
love for God is so shriveled and so immature
and so imperfect. Love God with all that I am?
All that I have, all that I could be, love God
that much? That's what the commandment is. We
are to love God. You say, how is that measured?
It's measured, Jesus said, by keeping his commandments.
He said, he who has my commandments and keepeth
them, he it is who loves me. You see, the measure
of our love is the extent, to which we keep His
commandments. So we can say that we love God,
but the real measurement of that is not the words
we use, it's the way that we live and whether
we keep the commandments. Not keeping them in
some legalistic, harsh, brutal fashion, but keeping
them out of glad, willing surrender, a desire
to please the God who has so loved us. I have
to move ahead to the second of the exhortations.
It too is found here in 1 John 4. He says in
verse 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for
love is from God, and everyone who loves is born
of God and knows God. This is the horizontal
direction of love. Excuse me. We are to love
one another. This is the force that motivates
us to take whatever action is necessary to help
another with no concern about the cost to us
personally. I wish we had time to read chapter
3, verses 9 through 18, because he tells us there,
That this is what manifests who the real children
of God are. They love. If a person hates and
has the fruit of hatred in his life, it is evidence
that the love of God is not in him, says the
Bible. John says in verse 16, we know love by
this, that he laid down his life for us. And
we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
But whoever has the world's goods and beholds
his brother in need and closes his heart against
him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little
children, let us not love with word or with tongue,
but in deed and in truth. We are to love one
another, and that love is to be manifested by
the way we treat others. The idea of love includes
deep affection, tenderness, readiness to assist,
promoting another's welfare, doing nothing to
offend or maliciously hurt. It means being forgiving.
I remember when I was in grade school and saw
a prism for the first time. Do you remember that
experience? When some teacher or perhaps even
another student brought out one of those prisms
and for the first time you saw the sunlight broken
into the spectrum of its colors. That is fascinating
to a child. I'd like us to take the ray of sun
from God, the sunlight of his love as it shines
down this morning, and hold up the prism. This
is it. And let's allow that prism to break down
the love of God so that we can see various aspects
of it. The prism is found in 1 Corinthians 13.
We'll begin with verse 7. Excuse me, verse 4.
He says, love is patient. Well, shall we stop
there? How do you know if you love that roommate?
How do you know if you really love your husband
or your wife? Teenager, how do you know that
you love your parents with agape love? It is
when you are patient. The idea behind patience
is that it bears with difficult people and circumstances.
We can say we love, but if we're not patient,
it's not the love of God we're talking about.
It goes on to say love is kind. It is it obeys
the golden rule. It's courteous. It's thoughtful.
For brother and sister love each other. It means
that they're kind and thoughtful. It means that
the husband opens the door for his wife. It means
learning to say simple things like please and
thank you. Love is kind. It chooses its words
carefully. And then it places those words in
the tone of voice. that communicates love. Love
is not jealous. It does not want what is rightfully
someone else's, whether it be position or possessions
or power or whatever. Love does not brag and
is not arrogant. Pride cannot fester in the heart
when that heart is washed by love. Love does
not cause one to elevate his own gifts or abilities,
but rather to evaluate them accurately. The attitude
of being a show -off, or talking about oneself,
or trying to top the story of somebody else with
what happened to you. Have you ever been in one
of those situations? Where everybody's got a
story that's a half an inch more thrilling or
more daring. or more exciting, or more awful
than the next person. Love doesn't brag, and
it's not arrogant. It does not act unbecomingly.
It knows how to act under the circumstances.
It does not seek its own. It's not provoked.
Are you provoked at somebody? Are you aggravated?
Love doesn't take into account a wrong suffered.
It's not a bookkeeper. There's no ledger that
love keeps. It doesn't say, that's one for you.
It does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices
with truth. This kind of love we're talking about
is not wishy -washy love. It's not a love that
compromises. It is a love that rejoices with
the truth. It bears all things, even with that
driver in front of you. It believes all things.
That does not mean that it's stupidly gullible.
It means that it believes the best about people
rather than the worst. It hopes all things. It
has great aspirations. and expectations. It endures
all things, and that brings us back full circle
to patience once again. That's love. That's the
prism of love. If you look at your life in the
light of God's prism, is the fruit of the Spirit
being manifested? There was a man in England
who was praying. In the prayer meeting he said,
Lord, we can't hold much, but we can overflow
lots. How can the world, can you and I love God
with everything that we are? And how can we love
other people with all of their faults? The way
that God tells us to. Only When we choose to
do it and allow the Holy Spirit to enable us,
that's the only way. Would you bow with me, please?
Our time is gone and the Spirit of God has spoken
to my heart and I trust to yours. What do you
want to say to the Lord? Maybe it's a prayer
of confession for the way that That you've thought
about another person. Or acted toward another
this morning. Or last night at that party. Or
yesterday in the game. It may be a prayer of
confession. But certainly wouldn't it be from
all of us who are the children of God. a prayer,
an appeal, saying, Lord, I want to love. I want
to love you with all of my heart, and I want
to love others. By your Spirit, enable me to
do that. Lord, fulfill that prayer in our lives.
Write it upon the tablets of our hearts. Do not
allow us to escape the point of the Holy Spirit
this morning, that the fruit of the Spirit is
love. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.