Galatians 5 22 through 23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control Against such things there is no law By way of review and repetition I These are the fruit of the spirits not the fruit of the flesh We've heard about the fruit of the flesh already just prior to this passage a few weeks ago now, but Just look at the previous verses and you see the fruit of the flesh. This is the fruit of the spirit. That's the flesh That's what human nature can come up with those horribles in the previous verses This is what the spirit does So it's not human nature. It's not good education. You won't produce these things if you're well-educated. It's not due to good training by parents with their children that children start exhibiting these things. They don't. It's not refined culture. There is no ability whatsoever in mankind, anywhere, by anybody, to produce these fruits. You can't produce it in others either. You can't cajole them into it. You can't browbeat them. You can't encourage them into it. You can't lead them into it. This is the Spirit's work. He alone gets the glory for this. And whenever you see these fruits manifesting themselves in any sinner, You know that the Spirit must dwell in that person, because there's no way that those things could be manifesting in that person's life if the Spirit were not doing it. To put it another way, God is love. Scripture says that. Many people know that verse and misuse it, but God is love. God is joy. God is peace. God is patience and long-suffering, God is kind, God is good, and so on. God is. So for you and I to exhibit such fruit, God must be in us through His Spirit. You cannot separate the fruit of the Spirit from the fruit Himself. You cannot separate any of the fruit from the others either. You can't take love and separate it from joy and separate that from peace and somehow divorce them from each other. They come by the Spirit and all are present when the Spirit is present. The Holy Spirit doesn't sort of pack up his bags and leave with seven of the nine. He brings all nine every time. If you have love, you will have joy. If you have joy, you will have peace. If you have peace, you will have patience and so on. Love is patience. Love is kind, 1 Corinthians 13 says, and so on. So if you are excelling at any one of these fruits, you are excelling in all of them. If you're deficient in one, you're deficient in all. You're not doing well at patience, but not doing so well with self-control. No, you're either doing well at all of them, or you're not doing well at any of them. They go together. The fruit are closely related to each other, and it's hard then to distinguish them sometimes from each other. The differences can be subtle, and that's why I'm taking three of them today, kindness, goodness, and then I'm leapfrogging faithfulness to gentleness, because of the close similarity between these three. And I'll address the fruit of faithfulness either next week or the next week after, depending on when I do a Thanksgiving-themed sermon, and then self-control after that. When it comes to Greek or Hebrew words, just as a background thing here, translated into English from these other languages, there is a benefit in looking up these words in the lexicons to get the lexical definition in their original language. Sometimes that helps bring to light things that our English translation didn't bring to light. That might not be obvious on the other hand. There is a limit to what you can get out of a lexicon Sometimes you look up a word like gentleness in Greek and it says it means gentleness And so you're like, okay. Well, that's they got that, right? The lexicon didn't add a whole lot to that But what you often find is that Greek words have a semantic range as as do Hebrews as do Hebrew words, as do English words for that matter, and I suppose every language. Meaning that there's a number of possible ways to translate a word into English, and it's not always a matter of right and wrong. Sometimes the different possibilities are only slightly different, and slightly nuanced from each other. And sometimes the possible word choices in the given semantic range are just synonyms. So that's why you end up, for instance, with the NAS translating Galatians 5.22-23 as follows, that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, with the English Standard Version, ESV, being identical, but the KJV has the words differently, and some of them are in different, you know, like you have gentleness here, not there, in the order. So, for instance, the KJV is the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness. The gentleness comes there, not second to last as in the NAS. Goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. So, I spoke of the word long-suffering last week, the KJV's choice, and indicated that I think it's a better choice, because that word, long-suffering, really well conveys the sense of the original word, where there's this persevering thing that we're talking about. But then the next word after long-suffering, Christoses, is translated as gentleness in the KJV. while as its kindness in the NAS and ESV. And the difference between those words is subtle. Either one is possible. Then the NAS has gentleness as the second-to-the-last root, whereas the KGB has the second-to-the-last as meekness. And so my point here is not that, well, this translation's right and that one's wrong, or vice versa. It's just to say that these words are closely related and the differences between some of them are subtle and You know with that being said Let's look at these three fruit and just from here on out since I three from the NAS will be using those word choices The fruit of the Spirit is kindness So though the original words primary meaning is actually usefulness All the major translations translated as kindness or gentleness in accordance with the secondary meaning Of course, it's true that believers who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit are indeed useful, and it's true that believers are kind, and that their kindness is useful. But they're kind because God is kind. And when God performs the work of salvation in a sinner and makes them into a new creation after his own image, the image of his Son, and he gives you the Holy Spirit to dwell in you, then you will be kind. Psalm 145 17 says the Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his deeds and in Luke 6 45 which is the passage that we considered last week with respect to long-suffering and Also, we dealt with that when talking about love and you see the close interrelationship between these things Jesus says, But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For he himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Kindness is closely related to goodness and love. And it manifests itself as a benevolence toward other people, even your enemies. God causes the sun to shine, like it is right now, and the rain to fall on the crops of His enemies. That is His kindness. And it's on display every single day. There's millions of people walking around the planet today. They're walking around on God's real estate. They're breathing God's air. They're using God's possessions, squandering and wasting them, generally speaking. And they're breaking his law every day. They're defying him. They're blaspheming his fair name. They're doing things that if we saw them, all that they did and said and thought in a single day, and we were given, for some strange reason, the prerogative to sit on the throne for a minute and decide the great matters of justice or mercy, we'd have wiped them out a long time ago. But God doesn't strike them down. He lets them live into their 80s and 90s like this, oftentimes showering them with kindness every single day of their miserable lives. And the wicked show no appreciation for this. They are not grateful. Jesus says they're evil and ungrateful. Everything they get that's good, they assume it. Of course I got that good. Why wouldn't I? And everything that's less than what they had hoped for, they grumble about it and complain about what they don't have. And yet in spite of this, God doesn't strike them down most of the time in the balance. Eventually, yes, but he's so long-suffering and so patient. And as his long-suffering is being manifested, so is his kindness. He's continuing to give them sunshine, continues to give them rain. and food and clothing and shelter and good health and employment and income and marriage and children and grandchildren. This is God's kindness. It's his benevolent and generous disposition to sinners, regardless of their demerit. It is the kindness of God that has brought you to salvation, you who are saved this moment. Romans 2.4 says, or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience, bringing in last week's verse that we talked about, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance. Likewise in Titus 3, 4-7 it says, So you notice the work of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, and the kindness of God being mentioned. Christ, of course, being the Son of God, was a picture of kindness in the Gospels. He's constantly showing kindness to multitudes of miserable, suffering people. Matthew 14, 14, it says that when he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, and he felt compassion for them, and he healed their sick. In Matthew 15, 32-32, large crowds came to him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others. And they laid them down at his feet, and he healed them. And the crowd marveled as they saw the mute man speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel. And Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I feel compassion. for the people, because they've remained with me now three days, and they have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way." That's kindness, the kindness of Jesus Christ. Christ's sufferings and death on the cross is the apex of His kindness to sinners, burying our sins in His body on the tree, suffering the wrath of God that we deserve. paying the debt we owe, giving us His righteousness through faith. That is infinite kindness. And what awaits us in eternity, but kindness after kindness after kindness. Ephesians 2, 4-7, the God being rich in mercy because of His great love of which He loved us. even when we were dead in transgressions made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus once you are in heaven you will never experience unkindness from anyone ever again ever No word, no action. Every moment of eternity, you will be the recipient of the infinite kindness of God and the kindness of all His people through whom that kindness continually flows. And then the believer. The believer is kind. Since God is kind and God is dwelling in us by His Spirit, it follows that if we have His Spirit dwelling in us, we will be kind as well, though not perfectly. Remember the previous text. Flesh wages war against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, so that you do not do the things that you please, so that you are not as kind as you would like to be, and you find yourself breaking out into things of unkindness and then regretting it, and repenting of that. Ephesians 4.32, you're exhorted, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you. And in Colossians 3, 12, very similar, of course. So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. And these are not just commands and exhortations, but they're descriptions of what every true believer is, though not by way of perfection. We're a work in progress. Oh, is the fruit of kindness in you? Not are you perfect, not are you perfectly kind, that's not the question. Is the fruit of kindness in you? It must be, if you're a Christian. And if not, it argues that the Spirit is not dwelling in you, and that's what you need. How is goodness different from kindness? That's the next fruit. The difference is subtle, and there's a lot of overlap, as I indicated. After every day that God created, he saw what he had created and said it was good. And at the end of the sixth day, he said it was very good. Scan this world. Look at the beauty of the earth. Notice the design. Notice the harmony. Notice how well-suited things are, given that it's also under a curse. But creation reveals the goodness of God. In comforting his concerned brothers, Joseph said to them in Genesis 50, 20-21, As for you, you meant evil against me, selling him into slavery. But God meant it for good, in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. So therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. So this whole ordeal of Joseph's life being betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused by Potiphar's wife, thrown into prison, languishing there, and then exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh, the dream, the famine that was coming, the preparations, the provision of all the grain to last through the days of famine. What was that all about? What was the purpose of all of that? On the one hand, Joseph is a picture of Christ, seated at the right hand, and doing good and saving. And at the same time, it is a demonstration of God's goodness. This whole thing demonstrates his goodness. God meant it for good, meaning that evil things that came against Joseph were intended for a beneficial and profitable purpose. And that's God's goodness. When Moses asked the Lord, show me your glory, God showed him his goodness. He responded this way, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. So it seemed that God's glory is greatly manifested in his goodness. and his goodness is manifested in his sovereign prerogative to dispense mercy to whomever he wishes. Whenever that doctrine of election is discussed, it's very much hated by most. The detractors focus on the supposed lack of goodness in God, if such a thing could be true. How could it be that God would show mercy on some and not others? That's not a good God. He's not showing mercy to all. God doesn't seem to think that that's any impeachment of his own goodness. He showed Moses his glory. He showed him his goodness. And then he said, I will have mercy on him I have mercy. With an apparent no contradiction involved. God does not have to show goodness to everyone. Even though it does but not saving goodness for him to be good Just it doesn't have to be universal When God brought the Israelites into the land of Canaan he said that it was a good land flowing with milk and honey a Land productive and endowed with God's blessing that was God's goodness to them Nehemiah when he was distressed over the report of the condition of Jerusalem and how terrible things were there and He was distressed, the king of Persia noticed his sad countenance and asked about it. Nehemiah prayed for favor with trembling, prayed for favor with the king, and he found courage to speak his mind about his desire to go to Jerusalem and be released from his present duties, to go back there to rebuild the city. And in the context of that conversation, Nehemiah said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the river, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress, which is by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house to which I will go. And the king granted them to me, he says, because the good hand of my God was on me." So the goodness of God was his favor in granting Nehemiah's desire to rebuild Jerusalem. Christ, of course, likewise, was full of goodness, the epitome of goodness. Peter, when speaking to Cornelius and his household, summed up the life and ministry of Christ this way. You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. God's elect are the recipients of his goodness. Psalm 23 6, we're well familiar with this. David closes this cherished psalm with this we promise. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Goodness follows you. But not only are we the recipients of good things from God, good gifts, but goodness itself, the Spirit who is goodness and who bears the fruit of goodness in us. Peter says in 2 Peter 1 verse 4 that we become partakers of the divine nature. It doesn't mean that we become little gods, it means that we partake of this holy nature of God and through the Spirit, bearing this fruit in us. That's how we are partakers of the divine nature. And so we become good. And of course we're not good by nature. We in our circles, you know, Reformed circles, we harp on that a lot. I harp on it a lot. No one's good. All have turned aside. Together they have become useless. There is none who does good, not even one. Romans 3.12. Paul said in Romans 7.18, For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. The rich young ruler came to Jesus saying, Teacher, what good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life? Christ replied, Why are you asking me about what is good? There is only one who is good. He wasn't denying, of course, that he himself was good. He was simply showing the rich young ruler that he was ignorant of his own depravity and the depravity of men in general. He's throwing the word good around indiscriminately where it's meaningless. If you see true goodness, and it's not counterfeit goodness, coming out as a fruit in the life of a sinner, then you can know for sure this is a man, this is a woman, in whom the Spirit must have come in and taken up residence. Because there's no way there would be any goodness there otherwise. The change that the Holy Spirit makes in us is so effectual that we are called good over and over again, and described as those who do good, in spite of what Romans 3, 10-12 says. Think of Matthew 12, 32-35. Believers are referred to good trees. That's what they're called, who bear good fruit. Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad. For the tree is known by its fruit. He's talking to Pharisees here. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? You're not capable of it. For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man, wait, what? Good man? Who's that? There's no such thing, don't you know? Well, if the tree is made good, then there is a good man. He brings out of his good treasure what is good, and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. In Matthew 13a, believers are referred to as good soil, the parts that are good soil. The seed fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some 60 and some 30. In Matthew 13, 47 through 48, we are called good fish. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea and gathering fish of every kind. And when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach and they sat down and gathered the good fish. into containers, but the bad they threw away, signifying the difference between believers and unbelievers, good and bad. On Judgment Day, the difference between believers and unbelievers is a contrast between those who did good and those who did evil, not in the way the world usually means that, you know, like by works of the law apart from Christ, but rather those who did good are those who have been made good by salvation, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and therefore then they walk in goodness and do good. So Jesus says in John 5, 28-29, do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth, those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life and those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. Romans 2 5-10 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds, to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality, eternal life. But those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the but obey unrighteousness, wrath, and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." So there's those who do good and those who do evil. Matthew 25, 21, one of the parables, the master says, to the steward, the servant, well done, good and faithful slave. You are faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master, good and faithful slave. And so we are frequently then exhorted to walk by the Spirit and do what is good. Micah 6a, he has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, that word, and to walk humbly with your God. Romans 12.21, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 15.2, each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, for his edification. Luke 6.32-35, back to this passage again. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you. For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. for he himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men." Again, is this fruit in you? Is the fruit of goodness in you? As we're not accustomed to talking this way as reformed folk, no one's good. We're always fighting back against this idea of universal goodness and the pride and arrogance of man that thinks they're good people. Yeah, I'm a good person. But we must confess with Scripture here that actually Christians, true Christians, not the fake ones, true ones, are good. They've been made so. It's not because they did it by works, but because it's done by the work of Christ and through the Holy Spirit in them. Gentleness. The Greek word for that can be translated meekness or mildness or humility. So it's sort of like a mild humility, humble mildness. And when we think of that as an attribute or characteristic of God himself, the passage that came to my mind was God appearing to Elijah in the cave in 1 Kings 19, where God said to Elijah, go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord. Elijah has fled 40 days, 40 nights from Jezebel, and he's in a cave, and the Lord appears to him. Behold, the Lord was passing by, and a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a sound of a gentle blowing, or in the KJV, a still, small voice, there's this idea of a gentleness there. Not in the fireworks, not in the big boom, the things that so often get our attention, but in this quiet mildness, gentleness. John Gill, commenting on that passage, said, not rough, but gentle, more like whispering than roaring. something soft, easy, and musical. And all this may be considered, he says, as showing the difference between the two dispensations of law and gospel. The law is a voice of terrible words, and was given amidst a tempest of wind, thunder, and lightning, attended with an earthquake. But the gospel is a gentle voice of love, grace, and mercy. of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation by Christ, and may also point at the order and manner of the Lord's dealings with the souls of men, who usually by the law breaks the rocky hearts of men in pieces, shakes their consciences and fills their minds with the sense of fiery wrath and indignation they deserve, and then speaks comfortably to them, speaks peace and pardon through the ministration of the gospel by His Spirit, Blessed are the people that hear this still, small, gentle voice, the joyful sound. Fruit of gentleness is an attribute that's most clearly exhibited to us in Christ. He is the exact representation of God's nature. Prophesying of the Christ, Isaiah 40 11 says, like a shepherd, he will tend his flock in his arm. He will gather the lambs and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead the nursing youth. And then Isaiah 42, 1 through 3, behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit on him. Notice that connection. He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry out or raise his voice, nor make his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimming, burning wick he will not extinguish. He will faithfully bring forth justice. Thus gentleness, the gentleness in which he deals with his flock, he gathers them It carries them. He gently leads the nursing ewes, not breaking the breeze through, not snuffing out the burning wick. In Zechariah 9.9, which was quoted and fulfilled when he entered Jerusalem for the last time on a donkey, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation, humble or gentle and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He didn't come in with chariots and cavalry and trumpets glowing and soldiers with spears or angels coming with Flaming swords to come wipe everybody out he came as a gentle King riding on a donkey Matthew 11 28 to 20 to 30 those Precious words come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart. You will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And yet Christ sounded anything but mild and gentle when speaking to the Pharisees, the religious leaders. Brute of vipers, blind guides, sons of hell, and so on. Again, he does not have to be gentle with everyone to be rightly called gentle. Think of your own salvation. Was it not true that God dealt with you very gently? Some people testify that God drug them into the kingdom by the hair, kicking and screaming. But most people describe a gentle wooing process, being drawn with cords of loving kindness. We might say that the Lord dealt roughly with Paul in his conversion, blinding him. But Paul wasn't really hurt by that, was he? Three days of blindness. this man that was a raging freak, bloodthirsty, violent, exalted, and rounding up Christians to imprison them and see them executed. If any man needs a rough treatment, it's him. It wasn't really so rough, was it? God drew him with cords of loving kindness, absolutely transformed him and melted him with his gentleness. And so if the Spirit comes to dwell in us, He will exhibit his fruit in us, and we will become gentle people. Christians are called gentle. Matthew 5, 5, blessed are the gentle, or meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Repeatedly exhorted to be gentle, just as Christ was gentle. Brethren, Galatians 6, 1, we'll be there in a few weeks, a month, I don't know when. Brethren, even if anyone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself so that you will not be tempted. Ephesians 4, 1-3, think of this in connection with unity. A lot of times we talk about unity, we bemoan the lack of unity, but notice the fruit of the Spirit in the passage. Not all of them are mentioned, but several are. Gentleness is. Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, which we also talked about. comes through the fruit of the Spirit. You know, you can't have unity with people who are heretics, you know, but we're talking about the kind of problems that occur with people who share a lot of the same beliefs and convictions when it comes to faith, and yet end up quarreling and divisive with one another. It's the fruit of the Spirit that is what is the key. Colossians 3, 12-14, so as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another, forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. James 3, 13-18, Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. Good behavior, gentleness. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, and demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed, whose fruit is righteousness, is sown in peace by those who make peace." A couple more. 2 Timothy 2, 24-26. The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome. This is Paul speaking to Timothy, a young pastor. But be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wrong. You see these words coming up again. With gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. 1 Peter 3, 3-4. Your adornment must not be merely external, speaking to women here, braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, putting on dresses, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit which is precious in the sight of God. That's what God finds beautiful. 1 Peter 3, 14-15. But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled. But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. Granted, no one is perfectly gentle but Christ, but is the fruit of gentleness. It's not fruit of the flesh. It doesn't come by human nature if we weren't born with it. Fruit of the Spirit is kindness. Fruit of the Spirit is goodness. Fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. And these manifest in us by the work of the Holy Spirit, not by try-harder efforts in the flesh. Try-harder will not work. Those who are under the law, as we talked about earlier in Galatians, who are in a covenant of works, do this and live. I've got to do these things because God is on my case, because God is an angry judge. I don't like him. I don't trust him. I have to do these things to get him off my back, so I'll get a break. So maybe he'll do some things for me. That's the slave mindset, and it leads to sin and sin and more sin. Being under the law leads to more sin, strangely enough. And it is the Spirit that brings out these wonderful things in our life. That's when we've set aside living under the law, we're receiving Christ through faith, His righteousness through faith. So the doctrines are connected to this, what we're talking about here. It's not just, oh, well, you can believe whatever you want to believe, and then the Spirit, it's just as long as the Spirit comes and dwells in you and brings out its fruit. No. Nor is it, we don't have to pay attention to the spirit and the fruitfulness and all that stuff, as long as we believe the right thing. No. It's both. And truly believing the right thing. Actually believing it. Actually putting aside and forsaking and turning your back on self-salvation and works in the flesh. Earning my way to heaven by doing works. and receiving the righteousness of Christ in humility, that I might be righteous in His sight and stand before Him because of what He's done, not because of what I've done. He's intimately connected then with this Spirit dwelling in you. Because then that's salvation. That's faith that is involved in salvation. And then the Spirit comes and dwells in us. And then we find ourselves to be actually doing the things that we knew we were supposed to be doing all along, but before we did them very begrudgingly and with no heart in them whatsoever, and we did the minimal that we had to do to get God off our back, now there's a joy in it, now there's a freedom in it, now it's sincere, and we rejoice in doing it. What a beautiful and glorious thing it is when God takes unkind, evil, and harsh people and makes them kind and good and gentle. God gets all the glory for it. It's His saving work. It's not of the flesh. Father, we rejoice in the work of salvation that you do, the new creation. We rejoice for ourselves if we have partaken of that. We know what is being described here. We remember what it was like before. We know what it's like now. We know the difference. We long for every person in this room, every person hearing this, wherever they are in the world, to know this freedom, to be delivered from bondage. the works of the law, trying to earn their own justification, and in the process becoming an increasingly disobedient and sinful person. We long for people to know freedom that comes by receiving righteousness from Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit and then walking in the Spirit and bearing the fruit of the Spirit by you, by what you do, not by because we've tried harder. We pray that you'd be glorified in this message and that we would take it with us and apply it in Jesus' name.