All right, well, thank you for joining us online. Things are a little bit different. We're trying a different setup with our cameras today. And of course, we've been having some issues with technology the last couple of weeks, but I think we've gotten things ironed out and looking forward to continuing with our look at the fruit of the Spirit. So if you take your Bibles and turn with me to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. We're going to be looking at verses 16 through 25 and then we're going to be focusing this evening sort of as a jumping off point before we actually get into the actual fruits of the Spirit. There's one other thing I wanted to discuss regarding the nature of the fruit of the Spirit. And so we'll talk about that this evening, and the next week we'll actually begin looking at these different aspects of the singular fruit of the Spirit. So Galatians 5, verse 16. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. These are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now, the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of angers, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But, The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. So we talked about last week, we talked about the source of the fruit. These are the fruits of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit. And so there's a reality there that we understand these are not things that we are naturally inclined to. These are not things that we produce through our own efforts, but rather it is produced through dependence on God's grace given through the Spirit of God. And then we talked about the nature of this particular fruit. We talked about how it is a complete product. It is the fruit singular of the Spirit. And so none of these aspects or these facets of the fruit of the Spirit are optional. They are all incumbent upon those who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are freed by His work within them. And then we saw that it is, of course, a product of grace. And we spent some time looking in John 15, looking at that reality of how we, as those who abide in Christ, that's where we gain the ability to keep and to have and to produce these different types of fruit. So I wanted to drill in or lean in a little bit further to the idea of understanding the fruit of the Spirit in relationship to Jesus Christ, which is where we come to the final point or nature of the fruit of the Spirit that I want us to talk about. It is a product of Christ likeness. As we turn to examine the different facets of the fruit of the Spirit, we have to again realize that in one sense these things are familiar to us. Many people have memorized this list. The way that I've memorized it, it's almost become sort of a cadence. You know, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, patience, goodness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. This is a passage that we're familiar with. It's a passage that is easy to remember. It's a passage where this list can just easily come to our memories. But I fear that our familiarity with these different facets of the fruit of the Spirit have caused us to conceive of them in a manner that is unbiblical. For instance, the first facet or the first attribute is the fruit of the Spirit is love. What does it mean then to have love as a fruit of the Spirit? Now let's step back and think how are we to understand that? Well, do we understand it in our modern cultural concept of love? I mean, after all, our society talks about, well, love is love, right? And we have this idea that, well, if that is the way in which we are thinking about these things, we are going to be wrong. If we define these traits according to our society's popular conception of them, we'll actually end up defining them in a way that is the exact opposite of what God is actually saying. So for instance, they cannot be held, the way that we understand these things, we cannot love someone in a fleshly way. The two are mutually exclusive. So for instance, the love that comes from the fruit of the Spirit, it never has its expression in sexual immorality. So oftentimes you will hear people say different things like, well, I'm so in love with this person, even though they're not your spouse. That is not a fruit of the Spirit, that is not the type of love that God is speaking of here. And so that's an easy sort of low-hanging, as the expression goes, the low-hanging fruit. That's an easy way to look at that, but I think we need to press that deeper into our own conception. So what does it mean? Is patience What I generally think of as patience. Is it what I think of in my modern sensibility? So, like, does patience refer to the fact that if I'm on the road and somebody cuts me off, I'm going to say, okay, that's okay. Is that what patience is? Or is patience, you know, sitting there and tapping your fingers and waiting while the person gets out 20 different coupons in the checkout line? Like, is that what he's talking about when he's talking about patience? Or joy, or peace, or kindness? Faithfulness. I mean, how do we understand these things? And so as we come to these different attributes of the fruit of the Spirit, we'll examine them individually, but we'll also seek to understand first what it was Paul meant. and how the believers in Galatia would have understood those things. So this is sort of an opportunity for us to delve in a little bit to what we call the theory of interpretation or hermeneutics. How do we go about understanding what God has written? And the answer is we understand it first and foremost in its context. Context within the passage, how it works out with the language and the syntax, but also within its historical context. How would people in Galatia have understood the word love? And then more particularly, how would we understand that in relationship to all of Scripture? So what does all of the Bible say about love and how does that inform us of our understanding of that? So it's going to be a laborious task. We're going to take some time going through this, but it's necessary because, again, we are to be seeking freedom through Christ by the Spirit to have these things. So how can we evaluate if they're actually in action and in effect in our lives if we don't know what they are, if we don't know what he's saying? So that's going to be what we're going to do starting next week. But before we start that laborious task, drawing out the meaning of these different aspects, there's also another way that we can understand what these are. And that way is through Christ. I, this summer, I had the opportunity to get a pass to Topgolf for what they call the Summer Fun Pass. And I can go there and hit as many balls as I want to between certain hours on certain weekdays, all right? Having a lot of fun. I am not a golfer, all right? Never been a golfer. Never really know how to swing a golf club or anything like that. Now, I can go on the internet. And I can type in how to swing a golf club. And I can find a set of instructions that describe very carefully for me what it means to swing a golf club. And I can read all the technical, you know, things. It says put your left hand at a 45 degree angle and put your right hand at this other angle and stand back and make sure your shoulders or your feet are shoulder length apart. I mean, they can go through all these different things. And that's helpful to some extent. But you know how I really was able to learn how to swing a golf club? I had to watch somebody else do it. I had to see it in action. And in many ways, that is what we find when we understand that Christ provides for us a glimpse into what these look like. Jesus himself is an example of what it means to live indwelt by the Spirit, what it means to produce these fruits of the Spirit. And frankly, this shouldn't surprise us. Because what is the goal of the Christian life? What are we seeking to become as Christians? We're seeking to become like who? Like Christ. In fact, let's just look at some passages that bear this out. 2 Corinthians 3, 16-17. Notice what he says, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now notice, he says the Lord is the what? The Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is what? Freedom. Go back to Galatians 5, verse 1. For freedom. Christ has set us free. So the Holy Spirit becomes a pivotal part of us being free. Well, what does that freedom look like? The Lord is the Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, we behold the glory of the Lord. And what happens is when we see His glory, we are transformed into what? That same image. from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." Now, we spent a lot of time at the very beginning discussing the concepts and the ideas of freedom. For freedom, Christ has set you free. Stand firm, therefore. Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery, says in verse 1 of chapter 5. So we know that Paul particularly here is focusing on how we are free from the law, we're free from sin, we're free from its consequences. But that is not the end of our freedom. We are also free then to be something positively. We have been freed to pursue Christlikeness. We've been freed, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, to, as we see Christ, be transformed into the same image of Christ. So when Paul speaks of being free in Galatians chapter 5, it is freedom to become Christlike. Now notice how this happens. There's going to be a temptation to even approach these fruits of the Spirit sort of legalistically. To examine our lives and to say, well, I've got, you know, love, peace, faithfulness, and I'm pretty self-controlled. But those other ones I'm still struggling with. And that can become a source of discouragement for us. You know, why am I not as kind as I ought to be? Or why am I not as patient as I need to be. But notice how this transformation happens. It changes. We're changed from one degree of glory to another. It happens incrementally. It happens through degrees. And so this gives us immense hope. It's extremely encouraging. Because the goal is to be like Christ. Anybody here or anybody online want to say you've made that? No. But what we can be encouraged with is that as we freely pursue the knowledge of Christ as we see Him, and then are changed into that same image, we can look and see progress. And that progress becomes an evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, it becomes an evidence of God's grace at work in our lives, so that we look back and we see we are not what we used to be. So it continues by degrees. Peter talks about how we are to be conformed or to be like Christ. Notice what he says in 1 Peter 1, 14 through 16. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. So that's what Paul said at the very first half of this paragraph we're looking at. Don't do the works of the flesh. But as he who called you is holy, So you also be holy in all your conduct. Why? And this is it. This is the key. How are we to be holy? We're to be holy because God is holy. What is the standard? What is the goal? What is the image or the type of holiness that we're to have produced within us? It's the same type of image that God himself has. We are to behold through the work of Christ, we are able to behold through the work of Christ, the glory of God. In fact, we're able to see through the rest of verses 17 through 20 of this passage, 1 Peter 1, he talks about how we're saved by God's grace and how that transforms us. Which results then in this first facet of the fruit of the Spirit that Paul mentions in our text. Look at verse 22, he talks about how then we're to be loving towards each other in 1 Peter 1. So that reality all falls on the understanding that we are seeking to be holy as God is holy. We are seeking to be conformed into his image. We are seeking to be Christ-like. One other passage briefly that I want us to discuss is Ephesians chapter 4, 30 through 5-2. What's interesting is Ephesians chapter 4 and chapter 5, Paul begins to close out the book. He's beginning to close his thoughts on what he's saying. And as he does this, having dealt with some very significant doctrine, He now then talks about what his readers are supposed to do and notice he sort of broad brushes that with the idea of imitating Christ. He says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30, do not grieve, who? The Holy Spirit of God. That's important to note there again that connection with the Holy Spirit is pivotal to what it means to be Christ-like. The Spirit, what did He do? He sealed us for the day of redemption. And so what do we do? We let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Remember in Galatians chapter 5 verse 15, He talks about how the church there is biting and devouring one another. What's causing that? They're not being led by the Spirit and they're not putting away bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and malice and evil speaking. But instead, they're supposed to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ Jesus, in Christ forgave you. Now, how do we do that? How do we produce those different types of things within our lives? We see that in chapter 5, verse 1. Therefore, if we're supposed to be kind and tender-hearted and forgiving one another, therefore, to do that, we have to be imitators of who? imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love. As Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. So in all three of these passages, there is one clear reality to the Christian life. is that we are to be like Christ. We are to show the image and the character of God in our own lives through the influence of the Holy Spirit upon us. The Spirit gives us freedom. The Spirit is the one who guides us in holiness. The Spirit is the one who shows us and is given as that down payment of our redemption and shows us how we are to put away bitterness and wrath and live lovingly towards each other. So if we are controlled by the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit then will look like Jesus. We will find ourselves seeking to be like Him. If you're ever wondering, if you're seeking love, joy, peace, long-suffering, patience, goodness, meekness, tenderness, self-control, if you're ever wondering, if you're seeking those things correctly, see how Christ exhibits those things. and that is your goal. We are called to be loving as Christ is loving. We're called to be patient as Christ is patient. We're called to be kind as Christ is kind. We know only to consider how Jesus exemplified these attributes of the fruit of the Spirit and then see if that is how they look in us. Our gaze is to be set upon Christ as the standard of what we are seeking to be. Remember what the writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews chapter 12. He tells us that we are to set aside every weight, the sin which so easily besets us, and we're to run with patience the race that is set before us, looking to who? To Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. There's something that I think is important for us to recognize about Christ himself. When you think about Jesus's ministry, and I've dealt with this before in other contexts, so some of this may be review for some of you, but I thought it was important to go over it here again. When you think about all the things that Jesus did, His miracles, the healings that He did, the great teaching that He preached, turning five loaves and two fishes into enough food to feed thousands of people, walking on water, we often think of those things as being accomplished because He is God incarnate, because He is the Son of God, because He has divine power. We wouldn't be wrong to make that conclusion. That certainly is the case. Much of what Jesus accomplished in His earthly ministry was done because He is God. But it's more nuanced than that. Paul tells us in Philippians that Jesus came and put aside the glory that he had with the Father. He emptied himself with the word, there we find it in the Greek, kenosis. He emptied himself of those things and was made in the form of a what? A servant. Made in the likeness of man. And so we have to recognize that Jesus, while he didn't cease to become God, nevertheless, in many ways, he set aside that power and was found in the likeness of men. He became a real human being. And as a human being who did amazing things, You know what the Scripture bears out for us as the strength or the power source for that? It's not necessarily His divine nature. Scripture shows us that it actually comes because He was dependent and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Let's look at this as we look at the Spirit-filled Christ. It actually begins in the prophets. The prophets spoke of the Messiah ministering in the power of the Spirit of Yahweh. We see this in three main passages. Isaiah 11, verses 1-2. This is the passage that speaks of the shoot that will come from the stump of Jesse. A branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And then this is the first thing that describes him. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him. It's the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. Isaiah goes on in chapter 42, verse 1, speaking of the servant, the Messiah, who would come. Behold My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen, in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. Isaiah 61, 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound." Notice what Isaiah is saying here, particularly in this passage. He's saying that God sent the Spirit on Christ for a particular purpose. So that he would do his ministry, that he would bring good news to the poor, that he would bind up the brokenhearted, that he would perform redemption through the power of the Holy Spirit. So this is what the prophets prophesied of the Christ. He would be one who operated underneath the influence of the Holy Spirit. And we find that when Jesus comes on the scene, from the very get-go, we find it, that the Spirit is involved. How did Mary have Jesus? What does the Scripture tell us? We find out that He was conceived. By who? The Holy Spirit. Luke 1, verse 35. The angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God." And Matthew, when he's discussing Mary and Joseph traveling, he just makes this statement. The birth of Jesus took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. So from the very beginning, from Jesus' own conception, the Holy Spirit was involved in his ministry. But we know very little about Jesus' childhood. We know that when he was taken to the temple as a young boy, he stayed behind, talked with the leaders, they marveled at his teachings and his knowledge. He came and his parents said, what are you doing? He's like, must I not be about my father's business? Then they say, okay, come on, Jesus, we gotta go. He goes and he chooses to submit to them from that point on until we come to John the Baptist's ministry. John is preparing the way for the Messiah. saying, make straight the pathways. He's preaching repentance, baptizing people for the repentance of sins in the Jordan. Then, one day, around the time that Jesus was about 29 to 31, what does He do? He goes to John to be baptized. And in that moment, his ministry publicly begins after he's baptized. What happens in that baptism? The Spirit physically, visibly comes upon him in the form of a dove, and there's an audible declaration from the Father, Matthew 3, 16-17. When Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened to Him. And He, and I believe that He is referring to John the Baptist, John the Baptist saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to, and this is key, to what? To rest on Him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And then the gospel writers often speak about, then Jesus began, he began to preach, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus' own public ministry did not begin until the Spirit came upon him. And what we find is that Peter He points to the Spirit as the power through which Jesus conducted His miracles and His public ministry. Acts 10, verse 38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. So we see from the very beginning of Jesus' ministry, The Spirit is vital. But it goes even further than that. In Matthew 4, verse 1, we see Jesus being led into the desert, into the wilderness, to be tempted. Who led Him there? The Spirit. Matthew 4, verse 1, then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. We actually find in Hebrews a very peculiar statement about Christ's own offering of himself on the cross. We see that he offered himself as a sacrifice for the redemption of his people through the Spirit. Hebrews 9, verse 14. How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? This is remarkable. That Jesus, as He was hanging on the cross, was doing that through the power of the Holy Spirit. And in fact, we know He did not stay there. He rose from the dead. Where did that power come from? Well, guess where it came from? The Holy Spirit. Romans 8, verse 11. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Even Jesus' own words came through the influence and the power of the Holy Spirit. John chapter 3 verse 34. For he, this is Jesus speaking of himself, he whom God has sent utters the words of God. How does Christ utter the words of God? What is it that allows him to do that? He gives the Spirit without measure. And in John chapter 6, verses 61 through 63, Jesus makes this clear statement that he is the exclusive way to the Father. That if you're going to come into the kingdom, you have to eat of his flesh and drink of his blood. And the Jews grumble about this. And so Jesus knows this in himself, that they're grumbling. He said to them, do you take offense at this? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are what? Spirit, and that should be a capital S. They're Spirit and they're life. And so much was this identification with the Spirit of God an integral part of Jesus' ministry, that when we look at what we call the unpardonable sin, what do we call it? What is the unpardonable sin? It is blasphemy against who? The Holy Spirit. This I found as one of the strongest indications that Jesus' ministry was built entirely upon the power of the Holy Spirit, or in a large part on the power of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 12, 24-28. This is Jesus. He's casting out, doing amazing miracles. And so the Pharisees hear this and they say, it is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons. Now, that's important to note there. They make a blasphemous statement about Jesus' work. And they say He is doing it through the power of the devil himself. Now, notice what Jesus does here. Knowing their thoughts, He said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste. Every city or house divided against itself will stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom has come upon you. Then in verse 31 he lays out what was so terrible about what the Pharisees were saying. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people. But blasphemy against the Spirit will not. Whoever speaks a Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. The great sin, the great blasphemy of the Pharisees and the leaders in that day was that they were claiming that it was not the Spirit but the devil that produced Christ's works. They were calling the Spirit the devil. And that, which we're not gonna get into the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, but that was something that can only occur during Jesus's ministry, that was absolutely repulsive to Christ. And notice again where the emphasis is put on, how is he doing all these things? Through the power of the Spirit. So from Jesus's conception, even before that, to the prophecies about Him, to His death, His resurrection, the power that He spoke from, the power that He did miracles in, all of that was done upon Him being indwelt and completely controlled by the Spirit of God. Now, we spend a lot of time looking at that. What's the point of all that? Look with me again in Galatians chapter 5, verse 22. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. If I have the Spirit given to me, producing these things within me, And Jesus, who had no fleshly sin nature, had the Spirit given to Him in full measure, then don't you think that the Spirit's example or that Christ's example of love is going to reflect what our example should be or what we should be? That Christ's example of patience and kindness and all of these facets that if we want to have the fruit of the Spirit, we look to Jesus. That what Paul is describing here is Christlikeness. What is the fruit of the Spirit? It is to be like Jesus. The only man who's lived who was perfectly filled with the Spirit. And so it is now the Spirit within us producing fruit out of us as a means to conform us into the image of Christ. Look at what is said in Romans 8, 29 through 30. Romans 8 is the great passage about the Spirit of God, how He's given to help us when we don't know what to pray, how He changes us and conforms our lives. And notice what that's all driving to. For those whom He foreknew, He predestined Notice, we come to this passage and we look at it and think, I'm predestined to be saved. That's not what the passage says. What am I predestined to be? Conformed to the image of His Son. To be like Jesus. The same Spirit that was in Christ producing all these facets of the fruit of the Spirit in Him, that same Spirit resides in us. And so the goal of our lives before the Lord is to be like Christ, so much so that God predestined. Those whom He predestined, He called. Those whom He called, He justified. Those whom He justified, He also glorified. Now here's the question. What does it mean to be glorified? So often we would answer that, well, I'm going to live forever. I'm not going to have to deal with death anymore. I'm going to not deal with pain. I'm not going to deal with heartache. God's going to wipe away all my tears. I'm going to be in glory. Now what's the problem with that focus? I. I am going to be these things. But what does it mean to be glorified? It means that I'm like Christ. As John tells us in 1 John 3, 2, We're God's children now. And what we will be, that glorification, it's not yet appeared. Nobody here on earth is glorified. No matter how much you think of yourself, you're not glorified. But we know that when He, Christ, appears, what does it mean to be glorified? We shall be like Him. because our vision will be perfect. We'll see Him as He is. So while we, in the next several weeks, explore the instructions of what it is to have the fruit of the Spirit, when we break down what it means to love and to have joy and to have peace, we will also take the time to gaze at Jesus and to see how he provides the example of the fruit of the Spirit. So that our desire and what Paul is driving us to in Galatians chapter five is that we would desire to be like him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you For Your Word, we thank You for the Spirit that You've given us. Father, when we truly understand what it is the Spirit is seeking to produce within us, how can we neglect seeking Him? Father, we have reacted in our churches today in such a way that we seek to stay as far away as possible from those who abuse the truths about your Holy Spirit, but Father, never turn aside from the vital role that the Spirit plays in our Christlikeness. So that as we study this fruit of the Spirit, that Father, we would seek to have these things in action in our lives as they are in Christ. May that be our true goal, to be Christ-like in all that we are. We pray these things in Christ's precious name, pleading his blood, amen. Just a quick note, next week we're gonna be having VBS here, so we will not be having our regular midweek service, so just wanted to make note of that. So just make note of that also, this coming Sunday evening, we also will not be having our regular services, we'll be setting up for VBS as well. So a little bit of adjustments to the schedules this week, so just wanted to make you aware of that. Thank you so much for coming here in person. Thank you for joining us online. Have a great rest of your week.