The Character of God Produced in Us

Transcript

GRM 851
05/11/2003
The Character of God Produced in Us
Galatians 5:22-25
Gil Rugh

We’ve been talking and looking into the word that last few weeks, particularly on our Sunday morning hours, just on some of the, what we call the work of God in our sanctification. We looked in Psalm 1 on God’s intention and provision for the happiness and blessedness of His people. Provision for our completeness of joy and happiness in Him. We looked into Romans, particularly Romans 12:1-2, God’s plan for us, to live our lives yielded to Him. This morning we talked about particularly the area of our marriage relationships and how the provision He has made for us in Christ, as an all-encompassing provision that reaches down into the most intimate and close of our human relationships. Into the relationship of the husband and wife.

I want to direct your attention to Galatians 5 for our time together this evening. Galatians 5, as you would expect, as we talk about this kind of subject, it all relates to the area of our sanctification. God’s ongoing work in preparing the redeemed for glorification, eternity in His presence, there is overlap. In Galatians 5, as Paul has through the book of Galatians made clear that “salvation is by grace, through faith in Christ.” It’s a grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone salvation. He has made clear that it’s not only our justification where God has done a work of grace in our initial salvation, but it also His ongoing work of grace in sanctification. In Chapter 3 of Galatians, verse 2, after rather sharply rebuking them with the question in verse 1, “you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” Galatians, you’ve been put under someone’s spell. I want to ask you a question. “Did you receive the Spirit, the Holy Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?” Well, the Holy Spirit came into their lives when they believed. It wasn’t a result of trying to keep the law, their works. Well then verse 3, “Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Many people have the same confusion today. Oh, yes, I was saved when I trusted Christ, then now the Christian life, it’s a matter of their own works and own efforts. Here for the Judaizers who were infiltrating Galatia, you have to go back now to keep the law to maintain your salvation, to grow in your salvation. Paul says, that’s foolishness. You don’t begin by the Spirit and now continue by the flesh and that’s true for all of us. Of course, today, it’s not just a matter of keeping the law. We do not live the Christian life by our own energy, our own strength, our own efforts. We do work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We do so because it is God who works in us. That’s what Paul is emphasizing in this section of the book of Romans. When you come over to chapter 5, he says you cannot be saved by faith plus works, by faith plus keeping the law. He started the letter to the Galatians by pronouncing a curse on anyone who would teach such a thing. He says in verse 4 of chapter 5, “You’ve been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law. You have fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit, by faith are waiting for the hope of righteousness.” In other words, if you’re depending on your faith in Christ plus, you’re keeping the law, keeping the ten commandments, you’re not being saved by grace. You’re cut off from Christ. Doesn’t mean you’ve lost your salvation; it means you’ve never experienced salvation. There are certain areas of confusion that prevent a person from coming to salvation. I think the most dangerous, as evidenced by Paul’s dealing under the direction of the Spirit with the Judaizers, repeatedly in his New Testament epistles, is that confusion of trusting Christ, but then mixing that with our works. Judaizers, yes believe in Christ. We talked about this in our study of Acts. In Acts 15, where at the Jerusalem council, the Judaizers were willing to line up and say, yes you must believe in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, but that alone is not enough, you must also keep the law.

I’ve used as a modern example, Roman Catholicism, who would agree, salvation is by grace through faith in Christ, but they do not believe it is by faith alone. I shared with you, watching a program on the Roman Catholic channel a month or so ago, two months ago, loose track of time. That was the subject of a series that they were doing. Why salvation is not by faith alone. That’s just a variation of the Galatian heresy, replacing circumcision with another kind of work. But it’s the same error. Verse 5 says “we through the Spirit, by faith, through the Spirit, by faith are waiting for the hope of righteousness.” This is how we’re living our life now. It’s a life of faith. We begin by faith; we continue by faith. Just as the Holy Spirit, by God’s grace came into our lives through faith, so His work continues in our life as we live by faith.

At the end of verse 6 he talked about faith, working through love. In verse 11, Paul gets to the heart of the matter. The reason people wanted to preach, keep the law, be circumcised in addition to preaching faith in Christ, is people wanted to avoid the stumbling block of the cross. “The stumbling block of the cross is not that we preach, you have to believe, the stumbling block of the cross is, it is faith alone in Christ alone that brings salvation.” So, the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. The stumbling block is that it is faith in Christ and faith alone in Christ alone that brings our salvation; and we now live by faith.

Verse 16, “But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” There’s an ongoing battle and an ongoing warfare between the flesh and the Spirit. But those who have believed in Jesus Christ have been set free from the power and authority of the flesh, so that they might now live by the Spirit. Down in verse 24, he’ll say, “those who belong to Christ Jesus, have crucified the flesh with it’s passions and desires.” Does not mean the flesh has ceased to exist. Down in chapter 6:14, he’ll talk about the world being crucified to me, but the world does not cease to exist. But the power and authority of the world, the power and authority of the flesh, according to Hebrews 2:14, the power and authority of the Devil, the life of the believer has been broken, even though his authority and power, the world, the flesh and the Devil all have been broken, they haven’t ceased to exist. The Devil still works to tempt and so on. The flesh still battles against the Spirit. That’s why we do not yet live perfect lives. Because at times, we succumb to the flesh, our own self-centered desires. But if you walk by the Spirit, that’s the same truth as Ephesians 5:18, “be filled with the Spirit.” Live under the control of the Spirit. Walk by the Spirit, under His power, His control. You won’t carry out the desire of the flesh. The flesh wars against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh.

Verse 18, you are led by the Spirit, “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Now, you want to know what the manifestation is? Here are the works of the flesh. They are evident, they are manifest, they are things like “immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, out bursts of anger, disputes, dissentions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing,” things like these. This is not a complete list, but here is a sample. You look at these kinds of things, that’s evidence of the work of the flesh in a life. You’ll note, it’s not just immorality, idolatry, drunkenness, but its also things like strife, jealousy, out burst of anger, disputes, dissentions, factions, envy, we pick out the big sins, as we look at them, and often focus on them. But you know, sin as sin, is a manifestation of the flesh, sin in our lives.

At the end of verse 21, same kind of warning that we saw when Paul wrote to the Ephesians. “I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you, those who practice such things, will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Christ died to cleanse us from sin and set us free from sin. If you’re still living in your sin, you’ve never been cleansed, you’ve never been set free. You are not on your way to the kingdom. If you’re not on your way to the kingdom, you’re on your way to hell. Kingdom refers to the kingdom that Jesus Christ will establish on this earth. All the redeemed will ultimately share in that kingdom.

The contrast with the works of the flesh, is the fruit of the Spirit, in Galatians 5:22. I just want to walk through these as a reminder to us. You know, we continue to lower the standard I fear, as God’s people. The deeds of the flesh become tolerable, even among God’s people. Now, if we get too fragrant, they have to be delt with. But we become tolerant of them in our lives personally, and in the life of the church. We sometimes discover, nobody is perfect, nobody is perfect, is true. But we are a people growing and maturing, and certain things are unacceptable, and must be so in our own thinking and in the way we live our own lives.

A contrast with the work of the flesh, is the fruit of the Spirit. There may be a contrast drawn here, between what we do by our efforts in our works or deeds, and what the Spirit of God produces, grows in a life. It’s fruit that comes out of our newness in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit. He had listed sixteen sinful practices of the flesh. He’s only going to list nine characteristics of the work of the Spirit in a life. Again, these are not exhaustive. There are other such lists in the New Testament. They are not always exactly the same, because it’s things like these that the Spirit produces in a life. So, the life controlled by the flesh is characterized by sin. The life controlled by the Spirit is characterized by really, the character of God; and that’s what we’re talking about, the fruit of the Spirit is the Spirit producing the character of God in the life of the child of God. Remember, Jesus said in John 8, to the religious people of His day, “you are of your father the Devil.” But he didn’t stop there. “And you always want to do his works.” He’s a liar, you’re a liar. He’s a murderer, you’re a murderer. You’re just like your father.

Now we who have become partakers of the divine nature, the well-loved children of God, 1 John 3, by this the children of God, the children of the Devil are obvious. You can tell the child of God, because he has the character of God. I was looking at some of the girls that were up here singing, and I’m looking down, and I say, you know, I know who their parents are. I know who their parents are. Why? They look like them. That’s often the case. You know, it isn’t surprising, how much we even act like our parents. You know, little habits, little ways of doing things and saying things. My goodness. We were in California last year; we were with one of our nephews. He’s a young man, forty, forty-two, he’s a seminary professor. I was following down the hall, and I said, he walks just like his dad walked. I mean, he just has got that tilt exactly, I don’t think he practiced it, I’m going to walk just like him. Take these steps, tilt my head like, just like his dad. Well, we are to be just our heavenly Father.

So, the fruit of the Spirit, these are the things that manifest themselves. They are well familiar. This is the danger of these things, that we become hearers of the word and not doers. Not enough to be able to quote it, it must be my life. The fruit of the Spirit is love. We alluded to love in our study together earlier today when we talked about the husband’s responsibility to love his wife. This is that self-sacrificing love, that giving love. Christ loved me and gave Himself up for me, Paul said back in chapter 2:20 of Galatians, “I’ve been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” The life which I now live, I live in the flesh, which I now live in the flesh, which means in this physical body, I live by faith in the Son of God. You see, it’s a life of faith. The Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me. That self-sacrificing, giving characteristic that becomes so dominate. How all men will know we are disciples of Christ, because we have this self-sacrificing love for one another. Jesus told His disciples on His last night with them. It’s the very nature of God. God is love, John wrote in his first epistle and the 4th chapter, those who don’t love, don’t know God. Again, that’s a stinging rebuke. You have to consider there is a distinct possibility that many who claim to be believers, but don’t manifest the love that the scripture talks about as the characteristic of the child of God, really have been self-deluded and self-deceived. I fear that many struggle with the Christian life, because they are trying to live what God demands of His children, bur they are not His child. So, they are trying to conform themselves to the will of God, with their best efforts, and it just isn’t possible. This love is a fruit of the Spirit. It’s not a result of being around people who are exceptionally loveable. That’s demonstrated in the work of Christ. It is an act of our will, it’s an ability that we have beyond ourselves. Paul set this forth as the supreme characteristic in I Corinthians 13, love dominates. It’s the perfect bond of unity. Colossians 3:14, says that “love is the perfect bond of unity.” What binds us together as the people of God. A supernatural, Spirit produced love that enables us to function in contrast. Look at the works of the flesh back in chapter 5:20, things like, “strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, disputes, dissentions, factions, envy,” all things that are contrary to love ought not to be found in our homes, as believers. Are not to be found in our churches as believers. Because genuine love enables us to function in a way that manifests the character of God Himself.

Paul prayed for the Philippians, in Philippians 1:9, that their love might abound still more and more. In real knowledge and all discernment.” We’re not talking about being gullible. We’re talking about genuine love that acts for the good of another person, not a person who is trying to be sentimental, and avoid all conflict, all difficulty, all unpleasant situations in the name of love. We’re talking about a biblical love, produced by the Spirit that is founded in biblical knowledge and biblical discernment. But then that kind of love can overlook a lot of flaws. People who would drive you crazy otherwise, you find yourself able to love. We look at that in our own family relationships with our children. We all think our children are special, and our grandchildren are special, special and you know, their faults just don’t drive us crazy. We just love them. We always want to do what is best for them. Well, that’s the way it is to be in God’s family. Our dealings with one another, how do they put up with one another? Doesn’t that drive them crazy? They love them. Its love produced by the Spirit of God.

Joy, we talked about joy. One of our recent studies, the happiness, the blessedness of the one who belongs to God, He intends His people to have happiness, to have joy. You know, things haven’t changed; in Paul’s day, joy was associated with happiness. Again, someone drew attention, I’ve sometimes drawn a distinction, but we’re not just talking about the superficial characteristics, the lightness, but joy and happiness. There is a genuine joy and a happiness, we all experience it in a variety of ways. But in Paul’s time as well as ours, it was usually associated with pleasant circumstances, things are going well in our family, going well at our jobs, going well in our social environment. It’s just a pleasant time, a happy time, a joyous time. The joy that Paul speaks about, that genuine happiness that Paul speaks about, is not related to the circumstances. Paul exhorted the Philippians in Philippians 4:4, “rejoice in the Lord, always, I say again rejoice.” We’re reminded Paul wrote this as a prisoner in Rome. A man who had spent the last five years of his life as a prisoner. He writes to the Philippians and says, “rejoice always, again I say rejoice.” This joy is often seen in the context of tribulation.

Turn over to I Thessalonians 1, there are a variety of passages, but we’ll select this one. Paul is writing shortly after he visited Thessalonica and was privileged to lead many of them to faith in Jesus Christ. He wrote a letter to the Thessalonians. He says in verse, after talking about how God had chosen them, verse 5 he says, “our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” Verse 6, “You became imitators of us and of the Lord.” Note this, “having received the word in much tribulation.” The difficult times and times of persecution, they received the word in much tribulation and note, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, “so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.” That seeming paradox, you received the word of the Lord in much tribulation, but you also had joy, not produced by the circumstances, because the circumstances were unpleasant. But the Spirit of God coming into a life, produces the character of God, and does something supernatural that is not dependent on the transient and changing circumstances. Paul could write to the Corinthians in II Corinthians 13:9 and say, “we rejoice when we ourselves are weak, but you are strong.” There is a joy there. You see what happens? When we have true biblical love, we are focused on another person, not ourselves. Paul could rejoice when his spiritual children at Corinth were doing so well, even when he was not. You see these overlap, our love and our joy, and the build, and they are found together. That’s why we have the fruit of the Spirit, singular, not the fruits of the Spirit. There are the gifts of the Spirit, plural, and not everyone has all the gifts. We have different gifts. You might have this gift, I have this gift, someone else has this gift. When you talk about the fruit of the Spirit, they come as a package and you have the Spirit produced love, you have the Spirit produced joy. That little chorus, ‘Jesus and others in you, what a wonderful way to spell joy’, expresses that same thing. An emphasis on, we don’t put ourselves first, we put ourselves last. Find our joy in our God, and what He is doing, His work in others. That brings true joy to our own hearts.

The third fruit of the Spirit is peace. That’s the tranquility that the Holy Spirit brings to a life. We have a relationship of peace with God, so we are privileged to have the peace of God in our hearts and minds. “We have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ,” Romans 5: 1. So, “the peace of God,” Philippians 4:7, “stands guard at our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” A lot can come into our lives that is unsettling. The events of the world, difficulties and trials in our family, personal afflictions and difficulties in our lives. But you know, there’s something that cannot be explained. That’s why Philippians 4 says it’s” the peace of God which goes beyond understanding, stands guard at our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” This peace is to be carried over into our relationships with one another. Paul wrote to the Romans in Romans 14:19, so then “let us pursue the things which make for peace, and the building up of one another.” You see, we have peace with God, we have the peace of God in our hearts, and we are focused on doing those things which promote peace, and the building up of God’s people. It’s not a peace at any cost, anymore than it was a love without discernment. But there is to be genuine peace. Look at James 4, James addresses the subject very directly. James 4:1, “what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?” Why do we have divisions and conflicts and strife and battles? James had to deal with this among the believers he’s writing to. What’s the problem? The problem is your own selfish pleasures. “You lust and don’t have, so you commit murder, you’re envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask wrongly, because you ask selfishly so you don’t get.” See what he’s driving home, the point is, the problem is within you. When you become self-centered and self-focused, you have conflict and so you don’t have peace. We’re talking about the fruit of the Spirit. What happens when I’m no longer walking by the Spirit, submitting to the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit? My attention gets turned to self, the flesh begins to assert itself and we have problems among believers. Let the flesh lift its ugly head, manifest its ugly presence, and know what you have? You have the problems the flesh produces, discord, disharmony. It happens in our homes. It happens in our marriage relationship. It happens in our churches. You don’t submit to the Spirit, there will be trouble. You won’t have peace. Jesus told His disciples, as He prepared them for His coming death, “in the world you have tribulation, be of good cheer, I’ve overcome the world.” He says, “I leave you My peace, not as the world gives do I give unto you,” John 14: 27 I leave you, My peace. But it’s not a peace like the world gives. You know, even the people of the world have relative peace when things are going well, and circumstances are good. The believer has a peace from Christ that is unique.

Back in Galatians 5, love, joy, peace, patience. One commentator noted, this word would indicate long tempered in contrast to short tempered. It’s the ability to put up with other people, even when that is not an easy thing to do. Putting up with other people. For me, it’s those people who have to drive in the lefthand lane. Didn’t they know the Lord ordained, drive right, pass left? They drive left, they live left, they turn right from left. Oh Lord, I can’t take it, minor things. We’re talking about patience, putting up with people. Now, we talk about patience, we have to be talking about things that get to us, right? I mean, I don’t need patience in a pleasant circumstance, I need patience in an unpleasant circumstance. I don’t need patience when everything is going well, and people around me are just, we’re just meshing together. I need patience when people are grating on me, right? That’s what long tempered in contrast to short tempered. This word is used of God in Christ, in their dealing with sinners. They’ve shown patience and long suffering. Paul said that “God demonstrated His perfect patience in dealing with him.” We can understand something of God’s mercy because, in Paul, God was demonstrating His perfect patience in I Timothy 1:16. His perfect patience. Now if my God, who has caused me to be born into His family and partake of His nature, is a God of perfect patience, what ought you to see in me? Patience! When will this characteristic of God be seen in me? When you get on my nerves, when things don’t go my way, when my plans have been frustrated. This is the quality that keeps us from becoming frustrated, losing our temper, becoming exasperated, retaliating against people for the wrongs they’ve done to us. Paul told the Colossians that “he prayed for them to be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience.” Those two words, steadfastness and patience, are like our two English words, steadfastness and patience, and they really have similar ideas. He’s praying that they would be strengthened with all power, according to God’s glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness, that’s keeping on under pressure and patience. Not being short tempered. Paul exhorted the Thessalonians in I Thessalonians 5:14, be patient, get this, with everyone. I’ve shared with you, when our kids were younger, we were traveling east on vacation, and someone in front of me, I know they were doing something so stupid because I became impatient, when I got the opportunity, I floored it, went around them, took off down the road. Of course, your wife is sitting in the seat, not a good time to say anything, your kids are in the back seat. Better not say anything. Then Greg pipes up, you lost it back there, didn’t you Dad? Going to put him in the trunk. Patience, be patient with everyone. It’s one of the characteristics of walking in a manner worthy, we talked in Ephesians 4:2, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you’ve been called.” That necessitates this quality of life.

Therefore, do not be surprised if you find some people in this church, exasperating. Do not be surprised even if this preacher gets on your nerves on occasion. Lord, You’re just trying my patience. Lord, You’re using these people to build patience in my life. I mean, if everyone in this congregation did things just the way you like, how would you learn patience? How would this beautiful character of your heavenly Father ever be produced and manifest in your life? So, we can appreciate, God brings us together, these are not natural qualities, these are supernatural qualities. One commentator said this, patience is the quality of putting up with others, even when you are severely tried. I will remember this when Monday morning comes, and I am behind a left laner. Lord, I will be patient. 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, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.”

Next fruit of the Spirit mentioned here is kindness. That’s a term frequently used of God and denotes how graciously, kindly He acts toward sinners. It’s not being sentimental, softy as we would say, because Romans 11:12 says, “behold then, the kindness and severity of God.” It’s not a conflict. The kindness and severity of God. But He has delt with us in kindness. Ephesians 4:32, “be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has forgiven you. You get the flavor of the word. Be kind to one another. Tender-hearted, forgiving, that’s the quality we’re talking about. Both patience and kindness in I Corinthians 13:4 is part of genuine love. So, you see these mixed together, I can’t have love, genuine love if I don’t have patience, if I don’t have kindness. So, I say, I can’t just parcel these out and say, well I have the fruit of the Spirit, well I have at least four or five of these. No, they are inseparably intertwined. Love is patient, love is kind. So, if I’m not kind, I’m not patient, I’m not loving. They are intertwined together, God’s kindness.

God’s goodness, the next fruit mentioned, a word that denotes generosity, benevolence, going beyond what is required. We think of a deed done out of the goodness of someone’s heart, expressing this idea, but here we’re talking, what the Spirit produces. It’s a quality that the Spirit produces. A generosity that ought to characterize the people of God. They go beyond what would be expected. That’s good testimony, isn’t it? Those people, they you know, I wouldn’t have expected that, but they did it. One writer says, it’s the opposite, it’s the antithesis to envy, where there’s a selfishness to that quality, but with this quality, goodness, there’s a generosity to it.

Faithfulness, Romans 3:3 speaks about God’s faithfulness, using this word. There are forms of this word, faithful, used in a variety of ways. One Greek commentator said, it describes a man on who’s faithful service we can rely on, who’s loyalty we may depend, who’s word we can unreservedly accept. Describes the person in whom there is an unswerving inflexible fidelity of Jesus Christ, the utter dependability of God. Paul, in I Corinthians 4 said of himself as an apostle and other apostles, “they were stewards of the mysteries of God,” and the first requirement of a steward, is that a man be found trustworthy, a form of this word faithful, dependable. Paul told Timothy to “commit the teaching he had received to faithful men who will teach others also.” This is a quality produced by the Spirit in a life. Something wrong, a person claims to be a follower of Christ, but you can’t depend on them. Their loyalty is in question. Not if the Spirit is at work in a life, those people are found faithful. You can trust them. They can be depended upon. They are reliable. There’s a change that comes about in a life when a person becomes a child of Jesus Christ. Now, they have become dependable, faithful, trustworthy, loyal.

Gentleness, this is not an easy word to define. Sometimes, you know, you go from one language to another, it’s hard to find a particular word that gets right to that word, and this is one of those words. One Greek lexicon, which would be like a Greek dictionary, says of this word, gentleness, humility, courtesy, considerateness, meekness. You get a flavor of the word. Then one writer said, it’s important for the Christian to see that the self- assertiveness that is so much a part of our life, should not be valued highly. It is much better that each of us curtail the desire to be preeminent and exercise a proper meekness or gentleness. And so, it is. These qualities that the world admires, the self-assertive person, the person who has learned to look out for number one, who can get on and brag about themselves and what they have done. We say wow you have to respect the person like that. Those things begin to corrupt our thinking, because that’s where the flesh is. But for us, as the children of God, we’re to be characterized by a gentleness, it’s the opposite of arrogance, self-assertiveness. It doesn’t mean to be weak or timid, the milk toast kind of approach. Because it’s used of Moses, said “he was the most meek or gentle man on the earth” in Numbers 12:3. But he was the ruler, the leader of a nation of millions. Christ identified Himself as gentle and also humble in Spirit, Matthew 11:29. Jesus Christ was not weak, was not timid, was not a milk toast person, but He was gentle. A genuine humility, meekness about Him. Someone defined it as strength under control. It’s joined with patience in several passages. You know, they do go together, I can be patient, and if I have the proper gentle, humble spirit. You know, men are famous, and I’ve already done my confession, in driving, why? I’m convinced I’m a better driver than that jerk in front of me. That’s where I get frustrated with them. Where did they learn to drive? They never did, meaning what? I could teach them a thing or two. So, I’m impatient, why? Because I’m not meek, now I’ve got more problems than I thought I had. I thought my problem was, only I lacked patience, now I not only lack patience, I lack gentleness or meekness. You know why that begins to affect? That affects my peace, because I may only be going twenty-two miles an hour behind the left lanner, but inside I’m going seventy and then I’m not very happy about it. So, now my joy is affected. You think I love that person in front of me that’s holding me up? Forget it. So, you see how these things, one bleeds to another, bleeds to another, bleeds to another? Any wonder our lives, even as God’s people become such a mess? Then my wife has to say something about my driving, “settle down dear,” oh boy, and the last thing to say, because I can’t run over the guy in front of me, but I can sure tell her what I think. Now, what? You think I want to go to bible study tonight in this condition? So, now I got a reason not to go to bible study, now things are unraveling all over. The fruit of the Spirit, gentleness, now you knew we’d get to the next one.

Self-control, I don’t even have to say anything about that one, do I? What does it mean? It’s the last one on the list and some say, this may sum up everything here. Self-control, but not the self, self-control as the world thinks of it. Because this is the fruit of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. I can live with my life under control, because I live in submissiveness to the Spirit. So, there go all my excuses out the window. I can’t help it. What do you mean, I can’t help it? You mean, you’re not being filled with the Spirit? No, this is a different issue. No, it’s not, because the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. We have people profess to be believers, who are living their lives out of control. You have to back up and say, am I really a child of God? The fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Self-control, the ability to exercise self-discipline. To exercise self-restraint, I do not have to practice the things that are contrary to the will of God. I have been set free from that bondage. Anytime I ever do practice any of those things that are contrary to the character of God, I did it by willful choice. I did it because I wanted to. I did it for the pleasure and satisfaction of the moment. Self-control, we exercise the discipline according to Ephesians 5:10, to “do those things which are pleasing to the Lord.” Something of the sense of this word, used in I Corinthians 9:25, Paul says, “everyone who competes in the games, exercises self-control in all things.” In that context, he proceeds to develop it. Paul says, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection.” That’s the word here. So, you see an athlete, he exercises self-control, disciplines himself in the training of his body in preparing, doing what is necessary to succeed in that particular event. Well, Paul applies it spiritually. We are to exercise self-discipline and self-control. You know the word that Paul uses there in I Corinthians 9, “I discipline my body,” the word means to hit under the eyes, so they turn black and blue. I beat my body black and blue and bring it into subjection. Well, Paul, boy he was just made of something different than most of us. No, maybe he lived under the Spirit’s authority, control a little more than most of us. But it’s not a matter, he’s made out of something, he was a man of like passions. If you live under the control of the Spirit, I can’t do it, I can’t do it. We talked about marriage this morning, I can’t do it, can’t live with them, can’t go on another day, can’t do it. I can’t do this, I can’t do that, wait a minute, in one sense you’re right, you can’t, the other sense, you’re wrong, if you’re a child of God, you can’t do it in your own strength. God never demanded us to, but when the Spirit is at work in our lives, then I can. I can exercise my will to submit to the Spirit. By His grace, He produces in me these qualities, one of which is the ability to discipline myself and do what He would have me do.

Now, those who belong to Christ Jesus, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. That’s the freedom. That’s why now I can live apart from the control and domination of the flesh. Don’t try to sit down with a person who has never been set free in Christ and tell them they should produce love. They should have joy, they should have peace, they should have patience and so on. It’s not possible, it’s not possible. I say it can happen in your life, only by the power of God. When you die with Christ, you’re crucified to the flesh. The flesh is crucified to you. If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit. What we talked about earlier. We’ve come into new life in Christ by the Spirit, now we conduct our lives by the Spirit. The life we have in Christ, is a result of the Spirit’s work in us, through faith in Christ. Now, we walk, conduct ourselves, word here, little different from the normal word for walk, we talked about in Ephesians, it means to keep in step, to be lined up. We’re put in proper order by the Spirit and so we keep our lives in proper order, arrangement, by the Spirit. Let’s not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another, and on into chapter six, if you see someone stumbling in one of these areas, then with the proper attitude, you help restore them. You realize, you’re not better. James says, we all stumble, and no one perfectly keeps his tongue. That doesn’t excuse it, but it does mean we’re going to have to learn and grow together. But it’s all possible, it’s all provided for. You go through these fruits of the Spirit, and think wow, if we were manifesting these all the time, what a beautiful relationship we’d have, in our homes, in our church. What a transformed contrast there would be with the world. Because you realize, the unregenerate live under the control of the flesh and so do the work of the flesh. We ought not to be frustrated, driven to distraction by them. We all too, formerly lived in the lust of the flesh, we saw in Ephesians 2. We ought to look at that and not become so, you know, self-righteous. We ought to look at that and not be an excuse for us, another reason for us to say thank you God for transforming grace. I would be like that, that could be me, but for You. Then I can offer to them, the same grace that I have experienced in Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord, for the greatness of our salvation. Lord, truths that we go over again, and again, and again. Lord, we so easily let them slip from our grasp. We easily tolerate those things in our lives which have no place. Thank You for the greatness of Your work, the sufficiency of Your provision. Thank You for the Holy Spirit who dwells in the life of each and every believer. Lord, may we, by Your grace, submit to Him in every area of our lives, so the beauty of Your character might be seen in us, in the worst of situations. In the most difficult circumstances, so that You might be glorified as the God of great grace, and powerful salvation. May our church, this family of believers, may we in our homes, in our family relationships as husbands and wives, with children and so on, manifest the beauty of Your character, as a testimony of Your grace. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen