1099. The Fruit of the Spirit pt. 2

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today on The Daily Platform, we're continuing a study series entitled Walking in the Spirit, which is a study of Galatians Chapter 5. Through this study, we'll see how believers can have freedom in Christ as they walk with Him each day. Let's listen to today's message where Steve will continue his teaching about the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians Chapter 5. Let me ask you to take your Bibles this morning and please turn to the book of Galatians, Galatians Chapter 5. So this morning, we're going to look at the other specific manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit and the believer's relationship with God, with others, and with Himself. So let's look this morning at verse 22 and notice what Paul says. He says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

Against such, there is no law. The first specific manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit and the believer's relationship with God I'd like us to look at this morning is the quality of joy. What is joy?

Well, let me ask you a question. What do you enjoy? Or what is a delight to you? I'm often asked the question, what do you do for fun?

As if what I'm doing is not fun and something else is more fun. And I understand the nature of the question, so I would like to say there are things that I do like to do. I like to exercise. I like sports. I like watching soccer. I have a favorite soccer team that I pull for in the English Premier League, which is Manchester United. Perhaps you like them, perhaps you don't.

Maybe you're a Chelsea fan, which is a girl's name by the way, or maybe you're a fan of Loserpool or something like that. So I like sports. I enjoy it. I enjoy playing music. I enjoy music.

I enjoy playing instrumentally. I enjoy the time that I can have with my family. It's always a delight to be with them. However, I would like to say that my favorite time of the day is when I get up in the morning and make coffee and spend the first hour of the day in my time with God in the morning reading and meditating on the Word of God. And over the last 38 years of my Christian experience, I've found that that is the most delightful time of the day.

Now sometimes it goes downhill real quick after that. And I've learned that joy is a growing delight in the Lord and in His presence. And then Paul says that we find joy in serving others. He says in Philippians 1 25, in having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and your joy of faith, that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. Paul found the joy and the delight in helping other Christians grow in their faith. And I could say in my own personal life, my own experience, joy in the Word, joy and fellowship with God and His people, joy and watching others grow. And then also let me say it's choosing to rejoice in the hope that we have in the Gospel in light of hard and difficult circumstances.

James says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Rejoice in the Lord always, Paul says, and again I say rejoice. As we understand the Gospel in its fullness, as we come to understand that God's plan started in eternity past and it will culminate in eternity future, God is going to accomplish His purpose. If we know that God has called us to salvation because He chose us to salvation, if we know that He has justified us and then He will inevitably glorify us, then no matter what takes place in my life, God is going to fulfill His purpose and plan.

He's going to work all things for my good. And so therefore my joy is not based on circumstances, what's going on on the outside, but it is knowing internally in my heart that God is in control of all things. So what is joy? It is a growing delight in the Lord and in His presence and even in His providences in my life. So I ask you this morning, are you growing in your joy in the Lord?

Are you finding delight in who He is and in His presence? That's one of the manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit and the believer's relationship with God. And then notice the next one and that's the word peace. The word peace comes from the Hebrew word shalom.

And the word is the idea of wholeness or wellness. For example, in contrast to being sick. Sometimes people will ask you, how are you doing? And a typical answer would be fine.

And that's really the idea of shalom. I'm good. I'm fine.

Everything is well. And for the believer, the peace that God gives is first of all, a right standing before a righteous God. It is really not something necessarily I feel, but it is an objective peace. One that is right in my standing with the Lord. Therefore being justified by faith, Romans 5.1, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is knowing and understanding the gospel, the doctrine of justification that through Jesus's life and death and in Jesus Christ, I stand before God in Him. Therefore I stand before God righteous. And therefore God has given me eternal security. I do not live in fear that I am going to stand before God and be rejected because I cannot be rejected if I am in His son. It is a peace that I have with God, but it is also a subjective peace and emotional tranquility that God gives to His people. It is giving you calm in the midst of the storms of life. And Paul tells us in Philippians 4 in verse 6, be careful for nothing. Don't be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God.

What is he saying? He's saying cast your cares on me. I don't know how many times in my life I've experienced this overwhelming sense of burden or fear or anxiety and emotionally I just cannot myself handle it. And so I go and find a private place and just in prayer cry out to God and cast my cares upon Him.

Why? Because He cares for me. He is able to handle my burdens and I throw those weights on Him. What does Paul say is the result of that? Philippians 4 in verse 7, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding is beyond human comprehension shall guard your hearts, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. What are worries and burdens?

They are distractions away from the Lord. But when we cast our burdens upon Him, what does He give us? He gives us a peace in our heart. There's a counterpart verse to this in the Old Testament, Isaiah 26 3, it says thou will keep Him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. The word perfect peace, the two words perfect and peace are the exact same words in the Hebrew. It says thou will keep Him in shalom shalom. Well why does the Lord say the same word twice? Obviously He's not stuttering. It's a point of emphasis.

It's the Hebrew way of putting something in bold font. Thou will keep Him in shalom shalom if you want to have real genuine peace of heart and mind and soul. It's better than any kind of drug you could ever take. That your heart and mind when it stayed on the Lord, when your imagination is focused on the Lord, what does God give? He gives His people peace. And the fruit of the Spirit in a believer's relationship with God, what happens? There's an ever expanding growing love for God and His people. There's a joyful delight in spiritual realities. And there's a settled peace of heart in my relationship with God in circumstances. That is the fruit of the Spirit in the life of a believer in his walk with God. Notice if you will please this morning, the second triad of those manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit in the believer's relationship with others. So first of all with God and now the way I relate with other people, the people around me.

And boy do we have an opportunity to grow in this area in our life here at the university. What are those three areas? He says number one, long suffering. Number two, gentleness.

And number three, goodness. That is as we yield ourselves to the Spirit of God, number one, it is going to develop in our life long suffering. Now what does long suffering mean? Well it's an interesting word. The word for lust is the word epithymia.

The word for long suffering is macrothymia. And it's the idea of a desire that is being stretched out. It's the concept of having to put up with people.

How many of you have already met someone here at school that you find that they grind on you? You have to put up with them. Your emotions, your desires when you get with them are being stretched out.

They buy, whoever they are, however they do it, they irritate you. The word long suffering means to have a long temper and not a short fuse. It has been defined as a state of emotional calm in the face of provocation or misfortune. It defers anger when provoked.

It refuses to retaliate when mistreated. It rises above irritation when aggravated without complaint. That's one of the signs of the fact that you're a believer that you react and in that reaction, though you express the way that you feel, afterwards there is this sense of guilt that I have reacted in a wrong manner. That didn't mean that he shouldn't clean up his feet and there didn't mean that he could do a little bit better, but my reaction revealed the problem. Isn't it interesting that in the qualities of love in 1 Corinthians 13, the first distinguishable quality of love is that charity suffers long.

Is that not one of our greatest challenges of life to put up with people whom we struggle with? Even Peter wondered about this. He said, Lord, how often do I forgive? And he offered a suggestion. He said, seven times?

Wow, that's putting up with a lot. What did Jesus say? He said, no, you forgive 70 times seven. Question, is that figurative or is that literal?

Well, it really doesn't matter. If it's figurative, then 70 times seven is just a statement of perfection that our forgiveness should be like God who is a perfect forgiver. But if it's literal, 70 times seven, that's 490 by if you forgive somebody 490 times for the same thing after a while, it becomes a habit.

Just becomes a part of who you are. And as you are being stretched by people who are bothersome to you, God is really making you a spiritual person. Then notice the second word, the word gentleness. The word gentleness is a gracious, caring attitude towards those that are around you. It's the attitude of kindness in Ephesians 4 32 where it says, be ye kind one to another. It's the word that Jesus used of his yoke.

He said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. It means to be easy on people versus being hard on people. It's the difference between a good cup of coffee and a bad cup of coffee. How many of you have ever had bad coffee?

Truck stop coffee. You walk in, it smells bad. You drink it, it tastes bad. It goes down hard. It comes back up hard. It's just nasty coffee. But when you get a good cup of coffee, what's the distinguishable characteristic of it?

It's smooth. That's the idea. It's the spirit of Joseph who was kind to his brothers who had terribly mistreated him. It's the spirit of Christ, the spirit of Stephen, and the spirit of Paul who prayed for the forgiveness of those who had either murdered, killed them, or mistreated them.

It's the idea of being gracious to people who are not gracious to you. A number of years ago we were down in Florida and we were traveling from one church to another church. It was our team. We traveled with fifth wheel trucks and trailers. We sort of looked like a circus coming down the road. And I pulled into a truck stop to get some diesel gas and I always looked for a big truck stop and I thought this might be a truck stop and it wasn't. It was a little, it was a smaller gasoline station and it was really hard to get my trailer in so I sort of pulled in but didn't pull into the bay because I wanted to be sure I could get in and get out.

It's complicated. This car pulls in behind me and is sort of sitting there waiting for me to make a decision and I jump out of my car to go see if my truck, to go see if I can get in this bay. I just had to sort of get the right angle and the guy honks his horn at me. Obviously that he wanted me to move. I couldn't really move.

I was sort of stuck. And then he swung around me and he came riding by me and he drove right next to me and he cursed me out. And I looked at him and I said, hey you want to get out of your car and come say that to my face?

And then I thought well if he did get out of his car what would I say? God bless you. Jesus loves you. And in my reaction I was reacting like the old Steve.

The old Steve would have laid him out joyfully. But obviously there was a lack of gentleness to those who were not gentle with me. This is a kindness that God displays to us as sinners. Titus chapter 2 verse 4, for we ourselves were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another but after that the kindness and love of God our Savior towards men appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us. The pivotal point between the wickedness of man and the grace of God is that kindness of the Lord, the way he treats us.

Let me ask you a question. Are you growing in kindness? Are you harsh, sharp, bitter, uncaring, unkind? When we walk in the Spirit we're long-suffering and we're gentle. Then notice number three, the word goodness. Goodness is giving with a generous spirit in practical ways that does good for people. This was the Spirit of Christ in his merciful miracles whether he fed the five thousand or he healed blind Bartimaeus or he raised Lazarus from the dead.

It is doing beyond what is expected but it is living my life so that I can have touches with people that make a difference. Doing things for others even though they can't pay you back is the concept of hospitality. The Bible tells us that pastors should be hospitable. I have, I have, well I should say I have long-suffering for pastors who are not hospitable but sometimes I don't. As a pastor I should open up my home. I should invite you to come in. Fact is the Bible says in Romans 12 13 we should be given to hospitality.

Literally that means to pursue, to chase, to hunt like you're going out to hunt an animal. That's the way I should be with hospitality. That's the way I should be in my attitude. I should open up my house, my bank account, my goods so that I could provide and help and serve and meet the needs of other people. Just being a good person. My wife is the queen of hospitality. She loves people. We have a little sign on our refrigerator in our house it says love people cook them tasty food.

My wife has cooked hundreds of meals where she has fed I think over a process of time hundreds and hundreds of people to show them care and love and hospitality to be a giver and not a taker and show goodness to other people. That's the fruit of the Spirit. And as we walk in the Spirit as we grow thank God he's patient with us. There's long suffering, there's gentleness, then there's goodness and then finally the specific manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit and the believers relationship with himself. And notice the three qualities faith or faithfulness meekness and temperance. Faithfulness is somebody who is reliable, dependable, trustworthy, loyal. The entire basis of our faith is the reality that God makes a promise and God keeps his promise. Fact is the basis of my ultimate security for salvation is not a subjective emotion but the fact that when God makes a statement and a promise he keeps it. Paul says something very interesting in 2 Corinthians 1 20 he says for all the promises of God in him are ye and in him amen unto the glory of God by us. What Paul was saying is when God makes a promise he keeps it and then he is saying that's the way I respond when I make a promise I keep it.

Where there's a growing faith in God's Word there's a growing faithfulness to God's Word. This is a person you can rely on they do what they are told. When they're given a responsibility you can trust them to fulfill it. This is a person who thinks and plans ahead versus doing something at the last moment and doing it halfway. This is a person who is burdened about improving situations and circumstances. They are creative with their responsibility.

They are a faithful person. They are a person who has a vision for their work. They don't just do the work and get by and go home but they want to advance the cause. They are people who are problem solvers. They just don't dump the problems on others so that the other person will have to do it but they are there to help with solving the issue. They are a person who finishes what they start. They are a person who supports leadership. They understand the necessity of leadership and they support it. They are a person who keeps their promises when they have a contract and they fulfill what they say they're going to do.

They are loyal, dependable people. And the Spirit of God is going to work in you this kind of faithfulness as God keeps His Word you keep your Word. Then notice the next word meekness. What does it mean to be meek? You've probably heard the statement meekness is not weakness. Why do people say that? Because it rhymes?

No. Because people who are meek can't appear to be weak. Why? Because it's manifested in the way people respond and react. Probably the best illustration is a horse whose will has been broken. A horse is a powerful steed.

It can easily buck someone off and stomp it to death. But a horse is valuable when its will is broken so it can take a bit in its mouth, reigns around its neck and you can take a little seven year old girl and put it on top and what will that horse do? That horse will do what it's told.

And that broken horse is a picture of strength under control. That's meekness. A meek person is one who's not reactionary and rebellious. It's a person who does not retaliate but they sweetly submit to the will of God. They accept God's control over their life and they accept the authority God's placed over their life and they're submissive. They submit even to painful and difficult circumstances of life and they don't get bitter and react against God. They even go through the daily frustrations of life. They live with it in humble submission to the sovereignty of God. They have a teachable spirit to those who are in authority over them as they touch their lives.

It is strength under control. Meekness is the distinguishable characteristic of a spiritual leader. What does Moses say? Moses said about himself he was meek. The meekest man on the earth. Jesus said I am meek and lowly of spirit. Paul said that I serve in the gentleness and the meekness of Christ. A real spiritual leader is not a reactionary person who is out to retaliate but they sweetly and humbly submit to the will of God and they seek to do what is right and to do what is right for other people. How do you respond to authority?

How do you react in difficult circumstances? It manifests whether or not you're in the spirit of the flesh. And then finally the word temperance. The word temperance means self-control.

Controlling those inward selfish impulses that I have. We see this in Joseph in Genesis 43 and verse 31. Joseph sees his brothers and he can't contain himself. He goes in his bedroom and he weeps but when he comes out to meet his brothers the Bible says that he watches his face and he goes out and he refrains himself. The word refrain means temperance. In 2 Peter chapter 1 it's the midway point between moral and spiritual progress in the life of the believer.

Between faith and the culmination of love. Add to your faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience. What is temperance?

It's saying no to what the flesh wants to say yes to. It includes different areas of self-control. Controlling my time.

You are under time constraints here to get things done. You learn to use your time wisely. That's being spiritual. Controlling your thoughts. Bringing your thoughts into obedience to Christ. Controlling your tongue. Thinking before you speak. Not reacting but controlling what comes out of your mouth. Responding correctly in troubles and learning to rejoice and not give in to my emotions.

Learning to control my treasures, my finances, my spending habits, my credit card. Bringing all things under the controlling constraint of the Holy Spirit of God. And these are the evident signs that a person is growing in Christ's likeness for these qualities represent Jesus Christ. And notice as we conclude in verse 23 he says against such there is no law. Literally with respect to these virtues there exists no law. There is no law that is against these virtues and there's no law that can create these virtues.

I've discovered something that law oriented people can over time if they're not careful become critical, impatient, severe, unforgiving, harsh, angry, hypocritical, and to be flat honest, unhappy people. But when a person walks in the Spirit there is a balance in their relationships with others, in their relationship with God, and in their relationship with themselves. That's why walking in the Spirit is the only way to live the Christian life and nothing else is going to work. May God help us to have the fruit of the Spirit in our life. Father thank you for your word, bless it now we pray, amen. You've been listening to a sermon from the study series in Galatians chapter 5 by Dr. Steve Pettit, President of Bob Jones University. For more information on Dr. Pettit's series visit our website thedailyplatform.com where you can get a copy of Steve's study booklet entitled Walking in the Spirit. A Kindle version is also available. Thanks for listening and join us again tomorrow as we study God's word together on The Daily Platform.