Character Produced by the Spirit

Transcript

GRM 1015
8/17/2008
Character Produced by the Spirit
Galatians 5:22-24
Gil Rugh


We're going back to the book of Galatians 5. We can't stop with the ugliness of the works of the flesh, we need to look at the beauty of God's work in producing His character in the lives of His children. In I Peter 1:3 we're told that God has caused us to be born again, and then in II Peter 1:4 we're told that God has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of divine nature. Often when God talks about our being born again, you remember Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born from above, a second birth. Then Peter begins his first epistle that God has caused us to be born again, we've been born again by the living and abiding Word of God, as Peter goes on to say. And what that really involves is we have become sons of God, the children of God. And through these precious promises of the gospel and His salvation we have become partakers of the divine nature. We haven't become divine, we haven't become deity. But the very character of God is now being produced in us and the ugliness of sin is replaced with the beauty of God's perfection.

So in Galatians 6, that's where Paul is moving in contrast to the works of the flesh that are described in verses 19-21. There he listed 16 characteristics or manifestations of the flesh, the sin nature, the old man and the works that he does that manifest in a life controlled by sin. Now he is going to move on and describe nine of the qualities that are part of the fruit of the Spirit that is produced in the life of the child of God. What a contrast. These things, these nine characteristics are really descriptive of God's own character and we'll some of that as we move through. These very things are said to be true of God and what He's done now in producing the beauty of His character in the lives of His people.

That conjunction but that starts verse 22 draws the contrast. The deeds of the flesh listed in verses 19-21, but, in contrast to the works of the flesh here is the fruit of the Spirit. And the fruit of the Spirit is what the Spirit grows, if you will, in a life. And it's interesting, the word fruit here is singular because this is the fruit, it has then the various manifestations. But the fruit of the Spirit, and you see various manifestations of the fruit, singular, that is being produced in the life by the Spirit of God. And these things go together, they overlap, they are intertwined. And just like the works of the flesh as we saw, they come from the source of a depraved heart or a depraved mind, and they are intertwined and interlinked. So the fruit of the Spirit in a beautiful way is part of the work of the Spirit in our lives as His people.

It starts out, the fruit of the Spirit is love. And that's the first evidence of the Spirit's work in a life—this unselfish, self-sacrificing love. Back in chapter 5 verse 6, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. Down in verse 13, but through love serve one another. This is that self-sacrificing, self-giving love. It is not based upon the attractiveness of the one love, the benefits that you are acquiring from that one being loved. This is the kind of love God has for us, for God so loved the world. This is what we call the agape love, agapao love, that self-sacrificing love demonstrated by God. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Back in Galatians 2, we read verse 20 in our earlier study. I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me. It's that self-sacrificing love, what was in it for Him, what was attractive about me that He should love me and die for me, what could I bring to Him, the Son of God who needs nothing. I was His enemy, ugly, defiled, vile in my sin, but He loved me and gave Himself for me. So that becomes the defining characteristic of this love described in some detail in I Corinthians 13.

I want to take you over to I John 4:7, beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifestated 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 He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation, the satisfaction for our sin. Beloved, if God so loved us we ought to love one another. So you see that emphasis. Down at the end of verse 16, God is love. The one who abides in love abides in God, God abides in him. This is part of God's very nature, His being. This is not all there is to God, but it's a vital part of His essential being, He is love. And so through faith in His Son we have come to abide in Him and He in us. And so naturally the divine nature is being produced and manifested in us. Verse 19, we love because He first loved us. Verse 21, this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. So that driving emphasis, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

In Colossians 3:14 love is said to be the perfect bond of unity. Remember the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:20, things like enmity, strife, disputes, dissensions, factions. All stand in contrast to what true, godly love does in a life. That's the perfect bond of unity. We have divisions and factions and conflicts among ourselves as God's people because we become self-oriented instead of concerned about serving one another in love. We think about myself, and that begins to cause division, not the kind of division that comes from the outside from those who promote false doctrine, teaching contrary to the Word of God. They bring their own division. But when God's people lose the focus of love, then that which binds them together is lost. And so you have divisions and factions.

Philippians 1:9 says, this is the love in which we are to abound still more and more in all real knowledge and all discernment. So we've talked much about love, but it's something we constantly need to be reminded of. We easily slide back to a selfish, self-centeredness—what I like, what I enjoy, what I want, why doesn't anybody think of me. And all of that is to say, I'm turning to look back at myself. Nobody knows the difficulties I'm going through, nobody knows how hard it is for me. But love turns my attention, my interest, my passion to serve someone else and to sacrifice for their good and their benefit. That's to be the defining characteristic of our relationship together.
Back in Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. You know things don't change. We like to think that our day is so much different than another day. But I was interested in reading on joy. In Paul's day joy was associated, happiness, joy, it was dependent upon external circumstances, pleasant circumstances. When you read the writings of the day they would talk about being happy and the happiness that comes, it's related to having pleasant circumstances, things going well in your life, things going well for you, your family, your job, your business, those kinds of things. That's much the same as today. People are filled with joy and they are happy when everything is going well. This is not the kind of joy that the Spirit produces in a life, He produces a joy that is not dependent upon external things. You remember He's changing us from the inside, we become partakers of the divine nature. So here is a joy that finds its source within and so doesn't have the ups and the downs that come when your joy is dependent on what is going on around. This is a joy produced by the Holy Spirit who dwells within, as we submit to Him and allow Him to do His work.

Turn to Philippians 3, interesting the context. He starts out this chapter by saying, finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. And that's what we're talking about—rejoice in the Lord, have joy in the Lord. To write the same things again, to repeat myself, I don't mind doing that and it's a safeguard for you. Then he goes on to talk about, beware of the dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the false circumcision. And he talks about that there's a false teaching, a false doctrine. In this context he tells them, rejoice in the Lord, now he tells them about the troubles, the conflicts, opposing false teaching, those he refers to as the dogs. I mean, this is serious business. In this context he's talking about joy and having joy, not that you're happy to have to oppose things. But even this kind of opposition, these kinds of difficulties, they don't change the fact that I have joy springing from within.

Look over in Philippians 4:4, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. I think it's remarkable when you consider the letter to the Philippians is one of what we call Paul's prison epistles because he wrote it when he was in prison. Obviously when he's saying rejoice in the Lord always, that's joy that the Spirit of God is producing within him and hasn't been changed by the external circumstances. So here he can write about the importance of joy and rejoicing even though there is going to be conflict, there is opposition as he said in chapter 3, even though I'm in prison. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.

This joy is often seen in the context of trouble and difficulty, which clearly marks it off from the world's pattern of joy and happiness. Back up to II Corinthians 6. Paul here is unfolding his experiences as a servant of the Lord. And we'll have to break into this long sentence which really encompasses what we have in the first ten verses. Verse 4, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance and afflictions, in hardships and distresses, in beatings and imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love. You see him break into what we would call miserable circumstances—afflictions, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, sleeplessness, hunger. Here we come, verse 6, purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, evil report, good report, regarded as deceivers yet true. Unknown yet well known, dying yet behold we live, punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing. Even in the painful situations that caused sorrow, I have joy. If you've been a believer very long you've experienced that kind of dichotomy, where sorrow and grief comes and yet you can say there's a joy in my heart even though there is sorrow that has come upon me. Only the Spirit of God can produce that—the joy of knowing that God is at work. Painful and unpleasant as this is, the joy of knowing that my God cares for me, that He has allowed this to come into my life for His purposes, and so on. So sorrowful yet always rejoicing.

Over in II Corinthians 8 he talks about the characteristics of the churches in Macedonia and in verse 2 he says, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. He talks about their great ordeal of affliction, their deep poverty. In this context he talks about their abundance of joy. I mean, the Apostle Paul knew affliction, he knew trial, he knew what it was like to go without. So he talks about a great ordeal of affliction and deep poverty, he's not someone who thought a little bit of trial in a life qualified as great ordeal of affliction, deep poverty. These Macedonians were going through extremely difficult times. He talks about their abundance of joy. I mean, externally it looks like their world is falling apart or caving in on them, but he talks about they have an abundance of joy. It's not dependent on the external, it's depending on the work of the Holy Spirit within a life. It's remarkable.

This is what enables you to rejoice, be happy when others are doing well and you are not. We could have stopped in II Corinthians 13:9, we rejoice when we ourselves are weak but you are strong. I mean, I rejoice over that. You see how these go together—when you really love someone, your children, aren't you glad when they are doing well? I mean, if your body is breaking down physically and your kids are so healthy, you don't look at that and say, I'm miserable. I wish their body were unhealthy and mine .......... No, just the opposite—you love them, you want them to be healthy, you have great joy they are. That helps mellow even the fact that your body may not be healthy right now. You can rejoice that your child is healthy, for example. That's an evidence of true love, right? So Paul really loved the Corinthians. We rejoiced when we ourselves were weak and you are strong. He's not in competition. What a blessing to see you're doing so well. When I am weak, he had his physical problems, he had his other issues, but you are doing well and that causes me to have joy. The Spirit produces that, it doesn't come naturally. We are self-centered people apart from the gracious work of God in our lives. That's what the Holy Spirit produces—His joy, in that kind of context. We have a little song, Jesus, others and you, what a wonderful way to spell joy. And there's an element of truth in that. You're not concerned about yourself, you're concerned about your service for Christ, serving others, and you come in last. That helps put life in proper perspective.

Come back to Galatians 5. Love, joy, peace. Peace is the tranquility of heart and mind that the Holy Spirit produces in our hearts, the result of our relationship with God. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and we also have the peace of God that Romans 5 talks about, as a result of the peace we have with Him, the peace He produces in us. We don't have time to go through but there are numerous times in the New Testament—Romans, II Corinthians, Philippians, I Thessalonians, Hebrews—where God is referred to as the God of peace. He's the God who brings peace to our hearts and minds. You know it's something the world wants. All you have to do is watch television, you have a drug for everything. And maybe you're depressed, maybe you're troubled, maybe ............... Well, you ought to talk to your doctor about this pill. But you know God does bring a peace that only He can bring. It's a supernatural peace produced within. He has provided peace for us in our relationship with Himself through the death of His Son. But now that is the beginning of an ongoing peace that He produces. Philippians 4:7 says, the peace of God will stand guard at your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And that's what we're talking about. So the peace of my heart and mind is not shattered by what happens out here, because God never promises things will go well for us, humanly speaking, now that we are His children. In fact Jesus assured His disciples, in the world you have tribulation. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Paul told Timothy, all who will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

So God never promised that because we're His children He'll make life easy, He'll take the painful things out of our life, we won't have the difficulties that unbelievers will have. He never promised that, but He did promise to give us His joy, His peace, His tranquility of heart and mind in all of this. In Romans 14:19 he told the Romans, so then let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. That peace that God brings to our hearts and minds, also a peace that is to characterize our relationships together as God's people, now, because of the peace that He has produced.

You know those who are controlled by the flesh have turmoil within, and that turmoil spills over into their relationships. James 4 says that conflicts and wars and fightings and all that come from within. That's why it's not resolveable ultimately in any real sense apart from the work of Christ in a life. Christ promised that He would give His peace to them, John 14, to His disciples as He prepared them for the crucifixion, that He would bring His peace to them.

So that's God's _______. He doesn't intend us to be in turmoil. Why did this come into my life? Wait a minute, is your peace, your joy dependent on these things out here? Well then you're looking at the world's version. God says He'll bring peace that will stand guard in your heart and mind and the storm can rage around but it's not unsettling my heart and mind. The Spirit of God within me is producing a peace and a tranquility of heart and mind, and that carries over, then, into my relationships with other believers. You know what it's like when we get worked up on the inside, pretty soon we're in conflict with someone, it spills out. But that tranquility of heart and mind, and we are to pursue the things that will produce peace among ourselves as God's people in manifesting that work of God.

Patience, oh what a word. Patience. There is a different word used for patience in our New Testament, we'll see another one in a moment. This word really is a compound word, it means long tempered, long tempered, in contrast to being short tempered. The works of the flesh included outbursts of anger, verse 20. Here we have the opposite, here is a person who is long tempered. One commentator said, it's the ability to put up with other people, even when that is not an easy thing to do. You wonder why the Lord puts this mix in a church, and some people that get on your nerves. So the Spirit can produce this element of His fruit in your life. It's that ability to put up with people that get on your nerves, that get under your skin. I mean, you don't need this with the people you just love to be with, that are easy to be with and make life easy, you need this fruit of the Spirit with those who are the opposite. Long tempered. This is what keeps you from getting frustrated with other people, losing your temper with other people, thinking in your mind how you'd like to get back at them for something that happened. Paul refers to Christ as the One who had perfect patience, I Timothy 1:16. Christ had perfect patience. And you see the character of Christ, of God, that is being produced by the Spirit of God, who is Himself God, from within. And this quality, He had perfect long temperedness, perfect patience. So we are to have that patience.

It's used of God and of Christ in their dealing with sinners—Romans 2:4, I Peter 3:20, II Peter 3:15. Paul says in I Timothy 1:16 that God saved him so that Christ could demonstrate His perfect patience. How come He put up with Paul while he is persecuting believers, hauling men and women alike off to prison for their faith in Christ? His long temperedness, Christ patiently dealt with him.

Turn over to Colossians 1:11. Here we say Paul's prayer for the Colossians and what he is praying for them. He's praying that they might be strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father. Paul says that's what I want to see being produced in you, the working of God's power and His might so you develop steadfastness and patience and joyously give Him thanks.

So God saves us and He brings us together into the body of Christ. Now there is a context where these things get worked out and the difficulties, how do we handle them, what happens. We all get tried, things happen even in the most spiritual activity. We're going to a Bible study and something happens, it just irritates us, and maybe we were “justly offended”, so to speak, we were really wronged. What happened shouldn't have happened to us. Wait a minute, that's where I get a chance to demonstrate my patience, my long temperedness, as well as my love, that overlooks it, because love covers a multitude of transgressions. So you can see how these things go together. As love is operating as it should, so patience will be operating. And so we manifest that we are a body, we are bound together in unity by His love and demonstrating the patience that He as shown to us in our salvation.

The book of Proverbs has some things to say about this, let me read you some proverbs. Proverbs 14:29, he who is slow to anger has great understanding, he who is quick tempered exalts folly. Proverbs 15:18, a hot-tempered man stirs up strife, the slow to anger calms a dispute. Proverbs 19:11, a man's discretion makes him slow to anger, it is his glory to overlook a transgression. So now God is producing in us what He says should be there in us. A man's discretion makes him slow to anger, we'd say long tempered, patient. It's his glory to overlook a transgression, it's nothing. Well didn't you take offense at that? No. I think they even meant to offen you. Oh did they? I mean, it's nothing, is it? Do I have reason to be offended? So you sat in my seat on Sunday. Well you ought to know, I've been sitting there for years. That's all right, I'll overlook it.

Galatians 5:22, kindness. This is also frequently used of God. We could go through these but we're not taking the time to do that. But look at the places where these particular qualities are said to be characteristics of God Himself. And it's used of God again, denoting His attitude toward sinners. Interesting verse with the combination, Romans 11:22, behold then the kindness and severity of God. And you see we want to be careful we see the balance that scripture brings. Behold the kindness, that's our word here, and the severity of God. There's coming a time when He demonstrates His severity in dealing with sin. He's also dealt with us in kindness in bringing us our redemption.

Turn over to Ephesians 4:32, be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has forgiven you. Being kind, when do you have an opportunity to be kind? When you've been offended, when you've been wronged. You forgive it, you show kindness. That's what God did to you, He did to me. So you see how we get the overlap. Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other. The kindness comes to play here. My love, my patience, my kindness because God has forgiven me, He dealt with me in kindness, He forgave me. So we ought to deal with one another that way as well.

In Colossians 3:12, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, forgiving each other whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, you forgive them. So of all people we function in this way. We find it hard to be kind, hard to be forgiving. Why? One who has been forgiven all I've been forgiven, what could you do to me, what could another do to you in light of the forgiveness we've experienced. So kindness is to be a characteristic. Interestingly in I Corinthians 13:4, the love chapter as we call it, both patience and kindness are listed as essential ingredients in love. And you do, you show patience, you show kindness to those you love so you can see the intertwining of these qualities.

Goodness, back in Galatians 5:22. One commentator on the Greek word here said it conveys the idea of benevolence and generosity toward someone else, going the second mile when such magnanimity is not required. Goodness, going beyond what would be expected, what would be required. We see that demonstrated again often in the body, people just willing to put themselves out, do whatever they can to meet a need, to make a provision, to help. We understand we have a certain obligation to do certain things, but they've gone far beyond that, they just put themselves out, if you will. That's what we're talking about here. That magnanimous kindness which produces a generosity. Goodness, there's a goodness that the Spirit produces that enables us to be involved in one another's lives in an overflowing way.

Faithfulness. What do you say? It's used of the faithfulness of God in scripture. God is faithful, He's described as faithful in a number of passages. It describes them man whose faithful service we can rely on, whose loyalty we may depend upon, whose word we can unreservedly accept, a person in whom there is the unswerving and inflexible fidelity of Jesus Christ, the utter dependability of God. You see that quality of God, being faithful, you can always depend upon Him. He is always faithful, He cannot deny Himself. Now the Spirit of God is producing that quality in us and so there is that dependability, that loyalty, that faithful service that goes on. That's what we're talking about here—faithfulness.

In I Corinthians 4 the Apostle Paul says that we are stewards of the mysteries of God and the quality of a steward, it is required of a steward that one be found trustworthy, faithful, one that God can depend upon, one who will be loyal to God, faithful to God. Timothy is to take the teaching he has received from Paul and teach it to faithful men who will be able to teach others also, men who will be loyal and faithful to that truth, will not swerve away from it and will loyally, faithfully pass it on to others. That's our life, our ministry. We are faithful to one another as God's people, we are faithful to Him, we are faithful to His truth, we are loyal in that sense.

Gentleness, a word that combines a variety of ideas. Our English word, I went to a Greek lexicon and looked up this word and it says gentleness, humility, courtesy, considerateness, meekness. One writer said it's important for the Christian to see that the self-assertiveness that is so much a part of 20th century life should not be valued highly. Much better that each of us curtails the desire to be preeminent and exercises the proper meekness or gentleness in the situation in which we find ourselves. You know you can take course now on learning to be assertive. And we need to be careful that we understand what the Spirit of God desires to produce in the lives of God's people is gentleness, a meekness, a quality of life not respected, not admired by the world. Now we're not talking about being a wimp. Moses was the leader of God's people, some 2 million people under his authority. He could be stern, he dealt out some harsh punishments as God's representative. And yet the Bible says he was the meekest man on the earth _________, gentlest man on the earth ___________. That doesn't mean he walked around, wouldn't harm a flea kind of thing. He was genuinely gentle, meek.

Christ identified Himself in Matthew 11:29, I am gentle and humble in heart. Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavyladen and I will give you rest. Gentle and humble in heart. It's often joined with patience—Ephesians 4:2, Colossians 3:12. Blessed are the gentle for they shall inherit the earth, Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.

In Titus 3:2, the chapter begins, remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration. That's a form of the word we're talking about—gentleness. Showing every consideration for all men. For we once ourselves were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our lives in malice, envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us. You see we've experienced it. So we are to show every consideration.

Gentleness, that meekness. We need to be careful with the Word of God. We are to be bold, we are to stand firm, but we are to understand the condition of the lost first. We don't speak to them from a position of arrogance, of superiority. We show them every consideration, for we once were fools ourselves, we were once in sin like they are. So that kind of meekness, understanding that comes here. Peter uses it in I Peter 3:15 in our presentation of the truth of God and defense of the faith as well.

So here we are, submissive to God's will and God's work and recognizing we are but sinners saved by grace. And we bring to them the message of life that was brought to us and in our dealings with one another we demonstrate this meekness. We want to be careful in raising our kids, sometimes we think we want to teach them to be assertive, particularly for girls and women today. We think they have to learn to assert themselves and so that brashness. This word is used of the quality that God admires in a woman in I Peter 3, a meek and gentle spirit which is precious in the sight of God. It's not just for a woman, it's for us as men because it's a fruit of the Spirit. And here we have indeed what God desires for us.

Back in Galatians 5, self-control. This is self-control in the biblical context, this is not mind control here and learning those kinds of techniques. This is what the Spirit produces in a life, the ability to exercise restraint, self-discipline. So you don't practice those things which are contrary to the will of God. This is important. There is responsibility in all of this, you just don't lie back and do nothing and the Spirit grows this stuff in your life. We've studied Galatians previously, the whole book, and there is a responsibility placed upon us in submitting to the Spirit, in drawing upon the sufficiency and the strength that He gives. Self-control, self-discipline, what the Spirit produces in a life. I can't help myself. Well if you're truly a believer, that's a lie because the Spirit will produce self-control in you life. You don't want that help, because I don't want to not do what I want to do. And so we say I can't help it. But unless you're saying I'm not a believer, then you are enslaved and under the control of sin and satan. But for a believer the Spirit produces self-control, I don't have to sin ever. We're talking about what the Spirit produces here in that enablement, so that we might live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.

In I Corinthians 9, we have the Olympics going on. Paul uses an athletic metaphor there and an analogy. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control. That's what we're talking about here, same basic word. So you're competing in the games, and the olympics, the athletic games. The Greeks were well known for they exercised self-control, self-discipline. You watch these people and how many hours a day, they'll tell you, their regimen and exercising discipline so they can excel to that level. Could any of us here go out and compete with them? No, not if you haven't exercised that kind of self-discipline in that realm. Here we're talking about the self-discipline that God ____. Paul proceeded to apply that to himself, he exercised discipline over his body. I discipline my body and bring it into subjection so I won't be disapproved by God. That's a responsibility placed upon us, the Spirit of God produces that. We sometimes want to stifle it because in this particular case I don't want to exercise self-control. The Spirit of God wants to produce that in my life, that's why I submit to Him and allow Him.

It's used in I Corinthians 7:9 or exercising control over sexual desires. God has made adequate provision for us His children to never have to sin, any kind of sin. And any time we do it's because we chose not to avail ourselves of the provision He has made for us. It's just the opposite of what the world tries to do with sin—we're products of our environment, we're products of our genes, we're products of how we were raised. All that, but when you come to believe in Christ you're made a new creature. Now the Spirit of God is there to produce what only He can in a life.

So we have verse 24-25, now those who have belonged to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. When I died with Christ the old man died, all associated with him, his passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit let us walk by the Spirit. We do live by the Spirit, that's how we entered into life. As the Spirit of God through our faith in Christ identified us with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. If we live by the Spirit, that's a first class condition in Greek, it's a Greek that assumes the reality of something. So if we live by the Spirit, and that's a given if you're a believer because it was a work of the Spirit of God that made you alive in Christ, now let us walk by the Spirit. And the word for walk here is an unusual word, it means to stand in a row, keep in step. A book was written a number of years ago, Keeping in Step with the Spirit, drawn from the meaning of this Greek word, to walk by the Spirit. Keeping in step by the Spirit. In other words you keep in line, you keep in step with the Spirit. Here you have the Spirit of God directing the steps. I'm in line with Him because He is directing. And so those who have been made alive by His Spirit now are having their steps, if you will, directed by the Spirit. And that's a responsibility, keep in step by the Spirit, a responsibility placed upon me. The Spirit is there to produce the character of God in our lives as those made alive.

The wonder of our salvation. This is what we bring to a lost and dying world, for it can be found nowhere else, in nothing else, in no one else. The wonder of God's salvation.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the wonderful, marvelous transformation that you bring about in a life. Lord, the change is overwhelming, the transformation is unbelievable. But it's your work and to you belongs all the honor and all the glory and all the praise. And Lord, you have placed upon us the responsibility now to live consistently with this great work you have brought about in our lives. Lord, how can we even contemplate the reality that you, the living God, dwell within us, that your Spirit is there to direct our steps. Lord, how could we do anything but submit to Him. May that be the passion of our hearts and lives in the days and the weeks before us. We pray in Christ's name, amen.