HS Part 4 THE
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Gal.
5:22-23
Intro: We are in our 4th
week of our series on the HS – Looked at the Person of the HS -/ His Deity /
His work in Salvation/ Sealed
A)We
have NOTED that one of the very
important works of the Holy Spirit is that of conforming us to Christ.
B)God’s ultimate purpose for the believer is for him/her to be like Jesus
1.) Rom 8:29
conformed to the image of his
Son….
C)KEY INSIGHT Christianity
not only points to the IDEAL
(Jesus), it PROMISES the POWER to CONFORM to the ideal.
1)Christianity is
about God the Holy Spirit coming to live within fallen man and by HIS POWER
conforming him to the image of God.
2 Cor 3:18
But we all, with
open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the
same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
We have seen that it is also the work of the Holy Spirit to seal the believer.
A)The seal of the Spirit is God’s mark of ownership.
B)The Holy Spirit makes God’s ownership of our
lives something tangible and real. He makes TRUTH real to us....
1) He makes JESUS real to us. Our salvation
becomes tangible to us.
C)To be sealed with the Spirit also means that the Holy Spirit stamps
upon the hearts of God’s purchased possession the very image of God.
1) He leaves the stamp of His character
upon our hearts and lives.
KEY APPLICATION: Herein lies the PROOF
of redemption. God’s mark of ownership is the Expression
of Jesus Christ in our lives.
That expression is what we
would call The Fruit Of
The Believer
A)Jesus said that His character being expressed in an individual was
something that could be seen and enjoyed, like fruit on a tree.
B)Jesus said that a true
believer is known by his fruit.
Mat 7:16-20 6You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from
thorn bushes or figs from thistles? 17Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can
a bad tree bear good fruit. 19Every
tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20Therefore by their fruits you will know
them.
C)INSIGHT - The believer is like a tree planted by God.
2.) Psa 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings
forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever
he does shall prosper.
D)INSIGHT
- The main purpose of the tree is to bear fruit.
John 15:8 By this My Father is glorified,
that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you
should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain,
E) So the goal of the Christian life is to bring forth fruit that is pleasing to God – but – what is the fruit that is to flow from out lives ?
1) Gal 5 Defines it as THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT - turn & read
One Fruit, Eight Characteristics
A)Neither the Greek, nor the English speak of fruits (plural). It is fruit (singular), and that fruit is love
B)The
fruit
of the Spirit is love and what follows is a list of 8 characteristics
of that love. / Love defined in 8 ways
C) Now sometimes when doing a series like this one –People are real eager to get to the gifts of the HS
1) Lets talk about TONGUES & PROPHECY – those things
D)
As wonderful as those things are / those gifts of the HS can be – they are but
one aspect of His ministry – not the Chief
1)
His Chief ministry
& desire is to Produce w/ in us this Fruit of Love – Greatest expression of
the Person of Christ in our lives
Some Christians act like the Triune God is Skits. – God the
Father He is mean – unapproachable – distant – Holy & to be feared
A)God the Son – Jesus – He is Loving – compassionate – caring – friend sit down & have coffee w/ - Loves sinners patient – w/ adulterers
B) Then there is God the HS – He is this Cosmic –entity – wild –spooky –
He is referred to as the Holy Ghost –
1)
All that is Mystical
& all that is mysterious gets associated w/ Him /
C)He
is the unpredictable part of the God head that never know what He is going to
do – Grab a hold of your tongue / throw you on the floor
1)
Force you to do these
weird things & lose control –
D) Those who view
Him that way – have this Skits view of God – that quite frankly is not
Biblical-
1)
Just like we would
never consider picking up God the Father / or God the Son & throwing Him –
some do God the HS
E) Neither would the HS do those things to us – not His nature –
John said this That God is Love – His very essence is love /
not force himself upon anyone –
A)Jesus said that He & the Father are one – seen me seen the Father / what I do – the father does
B) Jesus went on to say concerning the HS – He is going to testify of me
1) He is going to bear witness of me – Things that belong to me / that are of me – He is going to bear witness that it is so
C)
This tells us that there is a Commonness amongst the members of the God head –
Chief Characteristic is Love
1)
The Expression of the
HS in the Life of the Church is going to be seen by the Fruit of Love that comes
forth from our lives
D)The fruit of
the Spirit is love and what follows is a list of 8
characteristics of that love. / Love defined in 8 ways
Being that there is but one fruit
of the Spirit - love, it is important for us to define that term.
A)In our English language we
have ONE word to express many different kinds of love. EXAMPLE: I love Pizza / Dog .... I love my wife
B)The same word is used, but
it has different meanings.
1)
Hopefully
there is a big difference between how I feel about Pizza & Dog and how I feel about my wife.
C) But in the Nt – Grk Greek
language had several words that we translate into the English as love that
describe different kinds of love
1)Eros -
The word was NOT used in the New Testament, but was common in
Greek literature.
D)We get our English word erotic from this word. It speaks of the
kind of love that says: “I desire you”. It is a love that is self-gratifying
Phileo - This
word is commonly used in the New testament. It means to be a friend to... To be
fond of an individual or an object).
A)Brotherly love It is a reciprocal kind of affection: “I love you
because”
B)Agape - This is the word that we are concerned with in
speaking of the kind of love that is produced by the Spirit.
1)It is different from Phileo in that Agape is a kind of love that does
NOT look for returns.
C)It is a love that GIVES
with nothing hoped for in return.
1)Agape is the word used to describe God’s love
3.) 1
John 4:8 God is love.
4.) John 3:16 For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son
Defining Loves Characteristics
A)Now that we understand
that the one fruit of the Spirit is love, and understand what love means, let’s define it’s characteristics.
QUOTE: D.L. Moody: “Notes From My Bible”
Joy is love rejoicing. Peace is love stability. Longsuffering is love untiring. kindness is love enduring. is love in action. goodness is love in
action. Faithfulness is love on
the battlefield. gentleness or Meekness
is love under discipline. Temperance
is love in training
B) Lets break these down – a little 1st Joy
1)Christian joy is NOT like human pleasure which is dependent
upon circumstances (Happiness depends
upon happenings).
C) I might find
pleasure and happiness in my new car... UNTIL someone scratches
it.
D)Joy is that inward satisfaction that is devoid of circumstances
1) Gives us that capacity to sing & Praise in the mist of the storm
Peace
A)We know that we have peace
WITH God because we trust in the
finished work of the cross
Rom
5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
B)But
there is also the peace OF God.
Phil 4:7
And the peace of
God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus.
C)Peace is a characteristic
of love
in that the Holy Spirit produces in the inner man a Calmness in the
storm - PEACABLENESS towards others. NOTE: God’s
love is NOT quarrelsome or contentious.
D) Now I have to admit that
I wish the Lord would have stopped right here
Love / Joy / Peace –
1)because the rest of this list seem to imply Difficulty –
stretched / trials
A)Many of us fall short
here, but this is a prominent characteristic of the Lord.
5.) Psa 86:15
But thou, O Lord,
art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in
mercy and truth.
6.) Exo 34:6
And the LORD passed
by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
QUOTE: D.L. MOODY
- Longsuffering is love untiring.. love
persevering.
God
suffered long with us..... He persevered in loving us & continues
to
2 Pet 3:9
The Lord is not
slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering
to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance.
A)The
Spirit wants to produce this fruit in us- James tells us that it is born out in
our trials – Pray for patience –
1) God will sometimes bring
someone into your life – Who drives you crazy
B)Kindness = Loves enduring -
1)This is love dealing with others in their
faults. Though we may have to reprove them we should NEVER be unkind. / Speak
truth in love
.
1
Cor 13:4 Love suffereth long, and is kind
1) Goodness is the practical works of love. / Sharing / caring
/ giving / serving
Gentleness is love refined. It speaks of a moral
excellence in behavior towards others. It is doing the right thing at the right
time.
God’s love is faithful. It speaks of FIDELITY and CONSTANCY.
Real love is faithful
to promises and covenants, duties and obligations.
Real love is trusting. It trusts others. It is ready to
believe others. It is ready to believe the best in others.
7.) 1 Cor 13:6-7 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but
rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all
things, endureth all things.
8.) Prov 16:32
He that is slow to
anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that
takes a city.
QUOTE:
SAMUEL CHADWICK
-
“In newspaper English, the passage would read something like this: The fruit of
the Spirit is an affectionate, lovable disposition, a radiate spirit, and a
cheerful temper, a tranquil mind and a quiet manner, a forbearing patience in
provoking circumstances and with trying people, a sympathetic insight and
tactful helpfulness, generous judgment and a big-souled love, loyalty and
reliableness under all circumstances, humility that forgets self in the joy of
others, and in all things self-mastered and self-controlled, which is the final
mark of perfecting.”
Fruit: Grown, Not Made
A)Paul draws a sharp contrast between the flesh life and the Spirit led
life.
He speaks of the works of the flesh in contrast to the fruit of
the Spirit.
B)Insight:-The manifestation of the character of the
carnal man is called works, while the manifestation of
the character of the Spirit-filled man is called fruit.
This fruit of the Spirit is
NOT something that we ACQUIRE, it is something that is DEVELOPED.
A) Not
Love 101 – move on to Joy & peace 102
B)This love has it’s
origins in God. It is a Divine love. It is NOT something that originates
with me. It is NOT something that I can generate.
QUOTE: Samuel Chadwick - “Works
belong to the workshop, fruit belongs to the garden. One comes from the
machinery of the factory while the other is the silent growth of abounding
life. The factory operates with dead stuff; the garden cultivates living forces
to their appointed end. Works are ALWAYS in the realm of dead things. Every
building is built out of dead material. A tree must die before it can be of use
to a builder. There is no life in stones and brick, in steel joists and iron
girders. They are all dead and in the process of disintegration. Nothing
material lasts. Man’s best works fail and fade, crumble and pass away......
Fruit does NOT come of man’s labor. It requires his diligence, but it is neither
his invention nor his product. He does not make the flowers. No skill of his
brings the golden harvest of the fields, or the luscious fruit upon the trees.
When man has done all he can, then God begins and life proceeds. Fruit is God’s
work. The phrase fruit of
the Spirit
assigns the graces of the Christian character to their proper source. They are
NOT of man’s producing.
SECRETS OF FRUITBEARING Abiding- John 15:4,5
A)The
fruit
of the Spirit is NOT a matter of your efforts to imitate Christ.
B)It is more a matter
of PARTAKING of the life of Christ than IMITATING Christ.
POINT: It is absolutely necessary that the believer ABIDE in Christ.
C)The life of Christ (The Vine) flows through every branch
thus enabling the fruit of His character to be produced within the individual.
The NATURAL result of abiding in the vine is the bearing of
fruit.
A branch does NOT struggle and strive, shake and quiver, to develop
fruit.- Fruit trees don’t do that but Christians do
A)The
branch is an integral part of the vine. IF nothing is permitted to come between
it and the vine the result will be fruit.
B)KEY APPLICATION:
IF abiding in Christ is the secret of
fruit bearing, THEN we should guard our relationship with Christ so that
NOTHING comes between us (The Branch)
and Jesus (The Vine)
C)We should NOT let anything break our
fellowship with Jesus. We should remain in communion and conscious fellowship
with Jesus.