The Offspring of Our Union

The gospel bears the fruit of truth. The gospel bears the fruit of light and life and hope. So then without the gospel, there is not light but darkness. Without the gospel, there is not truth but only speculation. Without the gospel, there is not life. There is only futility and everything that people yearn for where they may think they want Jesus for this or they may think they want Christ for that. What they ultimately need is that which rides upon the winds of the gospel. It is the fruit of light and life and hope. On our last broadcast, we learned that God used the illustration of marriage to describe the nature of our union with Christ.

Today, we're going to see that there is offspring to that union. During his ministry, Jesus often encountered people who followed him for their own gain. But when they discovered that he had certain expectations of them, like wholehearted surrender, forsaking family and possessions and being persecuted for righteousness' sake, they bailed out. In this message, Stephen will cause us to evaluate our own expectation of Christ and then evaluate how well we're living up to his expectations of us.

Let's get started. I thought it was funny and encouraging, especially to you women, that Pastor Jonathan Edwards dealt with this issue of human nature as it relates to marriage. I was reading, in fact, just a few days ago about this man who was presiding over the Great Awakening in this country. And he was at one point in time at about 150, 175 years ago, presiding over a massive prayer meeting with just men, 800 men. And they were praying and a woman sent in a message. She wanted the men to pray for her husband.

In the note, she described a man who had become very unloving, filled with pride and had become extremely difficult to live with. Edwards, I read, took that note and read it in private and then thinking that perhaps the man described was present, made a rather bold request. He got up and actually publicly in that prayer meeting read the note to the 800 men that asked the men if who had been described in the letter was present, that perhaps the whole assembly could pray for him.

Was he there? And 300 plus men raised their hand. So be encouraged. D. Martin Lloyd Jones provoked my thinking when he wrote about the way we pander to the selfishness of the human nature and the unbeliever as we attempt to win them to the bridegroom.

We say to them things like, would you like to feel better about yourself? Come to Jesus. Would you like to have all your needs met? Come to Jesus. Are you unhappy? Come to Christ.

He'll make you happy. The trouble with that approach is numerous. Among other things, those motives not only distort the gospel and misrepresent the Christian life and set that person up for a great confusing time when they discover that their life has grown more difficult since coming to Christ and they've lost all their friends.

And now they're in the process of making new ones. But it also creates the atmosphere theologically distorting the truth of the gospel where the unbeliever is the center of the incentive and motive of being married to Christ. Why did you marry him?

Why did he marry you? Well, there are a number of reasons, but the one Paul emphasizes in Romans chapter seven surprised me. Would you look at verse four? Therefore, my brethren, he writes, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ that you might be joined to another to him who was raised from the dead. That here it is the purpose clause that we might bear fruit for God. I would have expected Paul to write something like that we might be forgiven or that we might know the liberty of our union with Christ the bridegroom or that we might inherit eternal life and all those things are absolutely true. Yet the purpose statement that Paul delivers here in this text has this rather surprising motive in order that we might bear fruit for God. Paul is writing within the context of an illustration of marriage between Christ and his bride, the church. And now Paul includes in this verse a reference to our offspring, the offspring of our union with Christ. We are to bear fruit for God.

So he he sort of moves a little bit in his image from that of a bride that of a living tree bearing fruit. Fruit is the expression of life. Fruit is the proof of life. Fruit is also the evidence of what kind of a life there is within us. What kinds of fruit are there? Let me give them to you very quickly.

Just four or five. Number one there is the fruit of speech. In Hebrews 13 15 the writer says through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name.

One of the fruits that is to be born in the bride of Christ is this fruit of praise. These lips that speak thanksgiving. Sons have you noticed talk like their fathers? Daughters like their mothers? Even the nuances and the accents. Husbands and wives that have lived a long time together have adopted the same vocabulary and the same expressions.

Exposure equals influence. You spend time with your bridegroom and you develop his vocabulary. You develop his language. The nuances of your perspective come out of your lips and you discover that your lips speak praise. There is secondly the fruit of surrender. In John 12 24 Jesus Christ says truly I say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone but if it dies it bears much fruit. Like a woman I was told about recently in fact just a few days ago in an email from a gentleman in our church is so proud of this testimony he wanted me to know about it. A young lady that was convicted of her lack of bearing fruit for God. She didn't really feel like she was contributing to his name and began to pray and ask the Lord for some kind of opening and opportunity and she just started looking around at work and discovered there was a little coffee clutch of five elderly women that talked together and she introduced herself to them went over and began talking to them and found out they knew the Lord too but didn't have any involvement. They worked long hours they would work evenings and weekends just to keep from going home where it was lonely and so God impressed upon her to invite those five women to her home for dinner. She did begin a Bible study with those women. She did that too. And then sensing that God would want them to do something together for Christ she just called after thinking about it for a while and praying the mission in Raleigh and explain what she wanted to do.

Is there anything we could do. These six ladies and at first somewhat skeptical of this opportunity and offering they finally said well you know you seem sincere why don't you come on out here and so all six of them went out they developed their own skit and their own Bible study and they delivered it and prepared it and then presented it to these homeless women and their children. That's the beginning of a ministry. If you'd asked her a year ago where would you like God to bury you and where you would bear fruit. Well it probably wouldn't be there but surrendering to the will of God as he plants us wherever he will we bear much fruit. I think the reason the fruit of many believers is little instead of much is because our surrender has conditions. We will determine where we will be buried. We will determine what fruit we will bear.

We determine what kind and how much and we never fully accept with surrender the fact that God has chosen to do this to put us here for this reason around these people. And so because of that lack of full surrender we bear little fruit instead of much fruit. Well the fruit of the bride is the fruit of surrender. Third the fruit of the bride is the fruit of spiritual maturity. The writer in Hebrews in Chapter 12 verse 10 said he disciplines us for our good so that we may share his holiness that is he reproves he challenges he changes he prods he convicts for our good that we may share the character of our bridegroom which is holiness. All discipline then all correction instruction for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful yet to those who have been trained by it afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness the fruit of right living. The correction of God to the believer who will listen to the believer who will not superimpose upon the authority of this word his own feelings and his own thoughts and even when the word says don't we say we will to that one who will listen and follow there will be spiritual growth and maturity. One of my old professors was fond of saying many Christians are growing old in the Lord but they're not growing up in the Lord.

That's one evidence. There are others. There is the fruit of sacrificial giving. Paul wrote these astonishing words to me every time I read them to the Philippian believers in Chapter 4 verse 15. You yourselves also know Philippians that at the first preaching of the gospel after I left Macedonia that is when he began his ministry as a missionary.

Listen to this. No church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone. Can you imagine that the apostle Paul would go to communities of believers would you help support me and everybody said no except the Philippians.

But he goes on to say this to them. Even in Thessaloniki you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek money itself but I seek for the carbon I seek for the fruit which increases to your account. In other words what Paul is saying is that for those of you who have financially assisted me in this missionary labor what I have done over here and bringing about conversion to faith in Christ that fruit is something you're partaking of. In other words you get in on the reward even though you never came over but you gave.

Isn't that a wonderful thought. A person today will invest in the stock market try to pick a stock and hope that shares will increase in value and then you can take that additional value and put it in your account. Well we as the people of God invest in people people. And he says here that those who become a partner in the ministry of reaching people get in on the reward as well. And I can tell you as you know it well that some of the greatest thrills we've ever had as a congregation is when we've been able to give money away.

Right. Part of the evidence of being the bride of Christ is we want to get involved with people and invest in the ministry. Following on that same line there's a fifth fruit that I want to give you and this is the fruit of saving truth. Paul wrote to the Colossians we give thanks to God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven of which you previously heard in the word of truth the gospel which has come to you just as in all the world also it is that is the gospel the truth it is constantly bearing fruit.

We are part of it are we not. We are part of the fruit of the gospel having heard and believed but the gospel bears the fruit of truth the gospel bears the fruit of light and life and hope. So then without the gospel there is not light but darkness without the gospel there is not truth but only speculation without the gospel there is not life but only despair without the gospel there is not hope there is only futility and everything that people yearn for where they may think they want Jesus for this or they may think they want Christ for that. What they ultimately need is that which rides upon the winds of the gospel.

It is the fruit of light and life and truth and hope. A few weeks ago Marcia and I were on our way back from the coast some friends of ours loaned us their beach house. We traveled back together. It was dusk and of course it had been raining.

It was saturated. The ground was and the interstate was and I had slowed down this speed limit along there was 70 miles an hour and I had slowed down to about 69. No actually between 60 and 65 and talking to my wife and I remembered the steering wheel just jerking a little bit. I must have hit some water and I pulled it back and that began this hydroplaning as our van like it was on ice turned completely around on that interstate and we went off the road backwards at about 60 miles an hour and crashed into the guardrail and just took one post out after another as we crashed our way down until finally it grabbed us and we stopped and we sat there facing traffic. We were just off the lane and we turned around to see if our daughter was okay and she was pulling off her headphones saying, what happened? So we knew she was alright.

No trauma there. Van was torn up. It would be totaled. We had some time where we were going to spend with Marcia's mother and knew we needed some kind of vehicle. So I went to the dealer. I couldn't believe there was so much excitement about this kind of van that the value had increased so dramatically over four years and it was quite a sticker shock to me and I knew I couldn't get a new van and I spent a day or so looking up vehicles and I found finally one that was within our price range and low mileage, a van much like ours and it was in Connecticut.

So I didn't know quite what to do but decided we'd do it. Did the deal over the phone with the fellow, did the VIN search number on the internet to make sure that the maintenance record was clean and clear and arranged the price and negotiated that after a while and finally got that down to where we wanted and Wayne Witt, gentleman in our church, an elder and Drew Baird, whom he is mentoring, loved to fly. They have a little plane and they flew me to Cheshire, Connecticut and I packed my Bible and a few papers and expected to get the van. The salesman met us at the little community airport. We checked it out, looked it all over and my plan was to go back to the dealer, sign the papers, get on the road and drive back as far as Virginia where my parents lived and make it there by about 10 o'clock that night.

It was all working wonderfully. I got the van all settled up and signed the papers, got in it, started driving, drove about 30 minutes south, pulled off an exit and up to a McDonald's, got a little food and some really strong coffee they're famous for and got back into the van and it wouldn't start. I have been royally ripped off. I've got a lemon. I called the dealer. That's what I wanted to do right there. I called the dealer and I said, what did you sell me?

Be honest. And he said, Stephen, you know as well as I do. We did the search. That guy bought this van from us, traded it back in 23,000 miles. It had a light bulb and a lock change. That's it.

It's clean. I said, what do I do? He said, well, you are under warranty, so you have free roadside assistance. I was filled with joy then.

I began to evidence the fruit of lips of praise at that moment. I said, okay, call the wrecker. A couple hours later, he came and got me and told me five minutes away to another dealer. This story is going to take a long time. Put your Bibles away.

We're going to get back to Colossians chapter one, verse 10 in a minute. It'll all come together in a second, in about five minutes. So I'm at this little dealer with a big garage and a wonderful mechanic named Richard.

Been there 27 years. All the while now, especially after that accident, I'm asking one question. Why?

Right? Now the van's broken down. I've got a Bible, a few bucks and a credit card and that's about it. In fact, I hadn't even called Marcia. The cell phone was down to its last button and was afraid I'd lose all power. I didn't have anything to juice it back up. And the salesman said, look, we're closing, but I tell you what, I'll look for spark and gas.

And he did. And there was spark and there was gas. And he said, I don't know why it won't start. It wouldn't not just started, it just made a really funny noise. And I'm not a mechanic, but I know a funny noise when I hear it. It wasn't like a dead battery noise.

It just kind of goes on like that. It wasn't a bad starter. It was a noise that sounded like a thousand people laughing at me for buying a van in Connecticut. That's what it sounded like. So he said, I got to come back tomorrow morning.

I'll look at it then. I said, well, is there a hotel around? He said, yeah, there's a Fairfield Inn down the street.

I said, that's great. So they took me down there a couple of blocks. I booked a room, $85.

I thought, oh my, could this be the start of something wonderful? And I was standing in the lobby and it hit me. My brother, I have a younger brother who's a salesman, flies all over and he has all these frequent flyer points. And if I stay in a hotel related to the Marriott chain, I can get a room for free with his frequent flyer miles. So I called him on the phone. I said, Tim, I'm in the Fairfield Inn related to the Marriott.

Can you get me booked for free? He said, sure. He said, let me call you back in 10 minutes.

I'll get the Marriott people to do the number and the code and all that stuff. So he calls me back in 10 minutes and he says, Steven, we cannot find a Fairfield Inn where you are. I said, I'm here. I'm in the lobby.

What's wrong with your GPS? I'm standing right here. He said, all right, let me hang up.

I'll get back with you. So I waited 10 more minutes and he called me back. He said, the Marriott people cannot find the Fairfield Inn where you're saying you're in. By now, I had looked around and noticed that the lobby was a little chewed up, no air conditioning. And I'm thinking, this is not the Marriott's I know.

And I said, Tim, wait a second. I walked outside forgetting I was in the city of Fairfield. And I looked up and it said Fairfield Motor Inn.

85 bucks for that room. And I said, I don't know what to do. He said, look, there is a Fairfield Inn we found 10 minutes north of you.

If you can get there, I've booked a room for you can stay for free. I said, 10 minutes north. He said, yeah. I said, okay.

I asked the lady at the clerk. We knew each other very well by now. I said, would you please call a taxi for me? She said, I will. Got the taxi out.

He pulled up. I got in the back from the little briefcase and I said, Fairfield Inn in New Haven. And he said, well, that's about 20 miles north.

It's going to run to you about 35 bucks. I said, it's 10 minutes north. He said, no, it isn't. It's 20 miles. I said, no.

I've never been here before, but I know it's 10 minutes north. Man, I just, the blood pressure. I knew, okay. I was going to get taken again by this guy.

I just got my briefcase. I got out of the cab and I said to him, you go yank somebody else's chain. Shut the door. I walked into the hotel and I said to the lady, you get me an honest taxi.

I thought they were part of the conspiracy. He said, it's 20 miles north of here. And she said, he's right. I wondered if I'd told anybody I was a pastor in that lobby. Oh, no. I blew it. I didn't know what to do. $35 to get there.

As I stood there thinking, I thought, that's it. I'll call the dealer down the street. It's their fault. It's their Chevy. It's their problem. They can take me to New Haven.

They'll be glad to. I called and got a salesman and he said, look, he says, there's only three of us on the floor. He said, that's an hour round trip. And I'm just, I'm just not going to be able to do it. And I'd already said my one bad thing for the day. So I said, okay, don't worry about it. And I hung up. Stood there wondering what in the world, why Lord?

Okay. Why am I in Connecticut? Why am I in Fairfield, Connecticut, getting a van and I've been ripped off. It won't start.

And I'm in a town that's probably filled with liberal Democrats. Which is fine. Why? And as I stood there with very little power, in fact, the last call I'd had to my brother, it had beeped at me saying low battery and had cut off. And all I had was my briefcase and my Bible in it, which I was not in the mood to read.

And no money. And the phone rang. The lady said, Steven, it's for you.

So I went over there and it was the salesman. And he said, you know, I've been thinking about you. I feel really bad that you're stranded. I'll tell you what, I'll come and get you if you can wait till I get off of work.

And if you can help me a little bit with gas money, I'll take you to Fairfield Inn in New Haven. And I said thank you. So I stood and sat and walked and waited a couple hours. And he finally came. He was on his last nickel, too. Retired man. Didn't have a lot of worldly things. It was obvious.

Pulled up in an old car and moved some stuff around so I could sit in there. And a very kind, soft-spoken man. And he just began to tell me a story as we rode together to New Haven. He told me about the fact he was a P.O.W., former P.O.W. And he had cancer. He was divorced. And his older kids didn't have anything to do with him. And got cancer a couple years ago. And had kind of beat it, but not really. And had moved to Fairfield because that's where his high school sweetheart lived.

And she was a widow and they were kind of dating. And he said, you know, I never told anybody else this. And I had not told him I was a pastor. He said I never told anybody else this. But because of the blood transfusions I've had, my doctor told me a few months ago, I've got AIDS. And I've got six months, he said, to live. And do you know what I plan to do?

I plan this winter to go to Florida and die in the sun. All of a sudden, I knew why. There are a hundred things that have happened in your life and mine where I've never known why.

But that one was very clear. And I began to share the gospel with this man as we rode along. And we sat outside that hotel in the parking lot once we arrived. And after a while, he knew enough. And I said, do you want this savior? And he said, I do. And he prayed to receive Jesus Christ, the son of God.

I gave him an assignment which I like to do when I lead anyone to Christ. I said, I want you to tell somebody. And you mentioned the sweetheart. You got to go home and you got to tell her. Call her up.

Tell her what you did. So he said, well, you know, if I do that, I don't want to miss it and I don't want to get it wrong. Would you write that prayer down that we prayed so I can tell her exactly what I prayed? So I said, I'll do that tonight in my hotel room.

I'll see you tomorrow. So I went in my hotel room and I wrote that prayer and I corrected all the theology and I got it just right. What he probably should have prayed, but maybe we didn't get it just right. And he was going to read it to sweetheart. The next day, I decided I wouldn't go look for him.

I spent 12 hours at that car dealer back in a little room. He came and found me. He said, you got that prayer? And I said, I do, Michael.

And I gave him the prayer. And I said, what are you doing for lunch? He said, nothing.

I said, well, I'm not doing anything either. Why don't we have lunch together? And a young believer that had picked me up at the hotel that morning and brought me to the dealership, we had lunch with him, a Hispanic young man on fire for Christ. And so we had lunch together. And he told me, he said, Stephen, I called my sweetheart and I told her what I did. And I read this prayer to her.

And she said to me, you know what? I've never prayed that prayer. I need to pray that prayer too. And he said, when we get together tomorrow, we're going to pray this prayer together.

So I knew it was so clear. I was either going to stay in Connecticut and plant a church or make it somehow back to Raleigh, North Carolina. I really wanted to come back. My family was here and you were here. They worked for 12 hours on that van.

Could not find anything wrong with it. The next morning I got up, I'd found a cracker barrel. I was kind of home.

I was going to go eat there. Found a Christian bookstore. Was going to go while away the hours.

Had nothing to study, nothing to read except my Bible. And I had begun reading that again. I wanted you to know that.

And I called the dealer that next morning before I left, tell them what I was going to do. And they said, oh, it's fixed. It's fixed. Yeah. What was wrong with it?

We don't know. We just know that we replaced the computer module and it started and it's running brand new now. You can go home. So I went over there and got it and started home. While I was writing, I had bought a little cable that hooked into the cigarette lighter. I had not yet reverted to smoking again, so I could use that and just teasing. And I got a phone call and it was Michael. And he said, hey, you know what?

I was wondering when I come to Florida this winter, could I stop in and see you? I said, you bet. Is there any greater thrill than being involved in the fruit of the gospel? What it has done in us and to us? Are we sharing it with people who have no hope? Is there the fruit of praise in our lips? Is there the fruit of surrender? For that moment in my life, I didn't want to be planted in Connecticut.

How about you where you are right now? Is there the fruit of giving? Is there the fruit of spiritual maturity and is there the fruit of sharing? This is why he married you.

This is why we married him. May it happen in great abundance for his glory. Thanks for joining us today here on Wisdom for the Heart. I trust that this time in Romans 7 has encouraged and challenged you. Today's lesson is called The Offspring of Our Union.

And it comes from Stephen's series, The Beauty of the Bride. Before we end our time for today, I want to remind you about our app. The Wisdom International app will work with your smartphone, your tablet or a smart TV.

It's free to install and use. And it's a great companion for your personal Bible study. Our phone number is 866-48-BIBLE and our office is open from 830 a.m. to 4 o'clock p.m. each weekday. Call us if you need help with any of our resources or if we can assist you in any way. That's 866-482-4253. Thanks for making the time to tune in today. We're glad you did. Join us next time for more wisdom for the heart.