Fruits of God's Spirit

It's another beautiful day here in Southern California. A lot of people are traveling in different parts. And wherever we are, we are all gathering together on this holy convocation, a day that God wants us to give instruction. We always want to remember that it is something that should be done in a respectful way. God is a God that wants things to be done in order, not in confusion, with respect. And so this is the way we do it. Yes, we dress up, we have ties. Many of us, at least, are able to come with the best that they have available to honor God. And to search the Scriptures, as it mentions in God's Word, and as people develop in the Church, you begin to have this inquisitive nature about wanting to learn more about the wonderful truths. And I, for one, love to work on the Bible's riddles, the things that make you ask the question, well, how does this fit into this? Or why is this the certain way? I love to work on God's riddles. And God's Spirit works in us to search for the deep things of God. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 says in verse 9, But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. Now, it's talking about here that with God's Spirit, we're able to understand things that the wise and noble and powerful cannot do. That is something that is given to those as it goes on to say. Paul speaking here to the Corinthians verse 10. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things. Yes, the deep things of God. Now, it's not talking about a person. It's talking about the Spirit in us that wants to search, that examines things. So when you receive God's Spirit, it helps us to understand deeper things about God's Word, about how to live our lives properly. And then he goes on to say verse 11, For what man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of man which is in him? Do you know mathematics, biology, accounting? A monkey doesn't know those things because the monkey's Spirit is not designed for that. But man's Spirit understands the human elements to it. The human knowledge. And then he says, Even so, no one knows the things of God except, and he means you're through the Spirit of God. That's what gives you the understanding. It doesn't come from our natural abilities. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, which is many times the wise and powerful, but the Spirit, and it should say, which is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches us, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, and it should be in us, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. We're able to put together things in the Bible.

He goes on to say, But the natural man, the person that is not converted, that does not have God's Spirit, does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can they know them, because they are spiritually discerned. You have to have God's Spirit to understand them. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. The world is not going to judge us by God's spiritual standards.

And so this is something that you search the scriptures, and I'd like to pose the following question. It's sort of a riddle. It's a question of how can we understand this? Perhaps many of you have thought about this question before. What makes the fruits of God's Spirit different from the human or natural good fruits? What makes it different? People can say, well, this person's a nice person, and he's good, and he's kind and generous. And then somebody says, well, maybe some of the people in the church, they're not as kind and generous and nice. So, see, they compare, and then they say, well, what makes the fruits of God's Spirit different from the human or natural good fruits?

So, is being good reserved only for true Christians? I don't think so.

People generally treat you well if you treat them well. Christ even said so. Some people are naturally good and kind, but you have to go beyond that. That's not what the Bible is talking about, the fruits of God's Spirit, as we shall see. Notice in Luke chapter 6 verse 32, Luke chapter 6 verse 32. And by the way, this idea that people sometimes look at what the church is, and that they're made of imperfect people, and all of a sudden they get turned off. They're expecting perfection now. They're expecting people just full of these fruits of God's Spirit, and everybody has them. And they don't see that, and they say, well, this is not for me then. And so we don't want to make that mistake. Notice in Luke chapter 6 verse 32, Christ said, But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? Doing people favors and expecting to receive favors.

For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But then Christ raised it to another level. But love your enemies. Do good and lend. Hoping for nothing in return. You're not going to get advantage because you've done so. And you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful just as your Father also is merciful. So these are higher standards. If we just say, well, we have nice neighbors and they are decent people. Okay, well, they usually have had nice families. People have been nice and they've learned to be nice to others. But that's a human attribute. That's a human quality. It's not divinely brought. It's not produced by that divine source that is God. So I'd like to go over three reasons between the difference to show the difference between the fruits of God's Spirit and the quote, natural fruits of others. If we gather together 200 of the nicest people here in Orange County and then you compare them to maybe the Corinthian church during Paul's day, who do you think would have won? As far as being nice and good and honest and upstanding, probably the ones in Orange County. So I'm convinced God plays those two epistles about the Corinthians just to show you these people were not perfect. And in Paul's day, people are not perfect in our day. And so here are three reasons, as I see in the scriptures, the difference between the fruits of God's Spirit and the natural fruits in others. Number one, these fruits of God's Spirit come from God and are divinely motivated. It's not motivated by self or human volition, as we were discussing in the sermon at something that had to do with one's will. Notice in Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22. Galatians 5 verse 22, it describes the nine fruits of God's Spirit. It says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. I'd like to stop here, pause, because what did Paul mean when he said, against such, there is no law? Some actually say, well, you see, you don't have to keep God's laws. You just have to have love and joy and peace and gentleness, and that's all. That is not what is meant here. And a good translation of this verse, the amplified Bible, has it this way. Against such things, there is no law that can bring a charge, that can accuse, that the law actually says, no, this is the wrong act or the wrong result. There's none, none of God's laws go against these fruits. As a matter of fact, keeping God's laws properly produce these fruits. That's the difference.

God's laws are spiritual. Let's look in Romans chapter 7 verse 14. This is an important principle, very deep indeed. Romans 7 verse 14, the apostle Paul said, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. He still was fighting his human nature. He wasn't perfect, but he didn't blame God's laws because God's law is produced by God. It is a spiritual force, just like the laws of gravity are a physical force. Gravity governs everything here on earth. You throw a ball up, that ball is going to come down because of that pull that gravity exerts upon it. Now, in a certain way, you can't break the laws of gravity. For instance, a person jumps off a building that's 10 stories high and somebody says, well, he got killed. He broke the law of gravity. No, the law of gravity kept working, right? It's just that the person defied the law of gravity. The law of gravity exerted its penalty, but you can't do away with the laws of gravity, just as you can't do away with the spiritual laws of God. Cecil B. DeMille, in that movie, The Ten Commandments, was very impacted when he did it, and he said, you can't really break the Ten Commandments, but the Ten Commandments will break you. See, you defy them, they will exact their penalty. You will have a consequence if you break it. And so, the spiritual laws of God are what God established, just like he established the laws of gravity for the good of man. And every time we fly in an airplane, I'm glad the laws of gravity work well, and that that plane can go with the laws of gravity, respecting them, and it flies just well. And so, the spiritual laws govern us, regardless of whether we accept them, we believe in them, they will exact their blessing or penalty, according to how we apply it. And so, God's laws do not go against the spirits. They produce God's fruits, the spiritual fruits, if properly applied. I know the law can be improperly applied, too, as the Pharisees did. They didn't have the right attitude or motivation, and that's what we're talking about here. The right motivation comes not from us, comes from God. He's the one that places the spirit in us to give us the right motivation to do things. So, that's different from a human church, a church based on different laws that are not the biblical laws.

We have a church based on biblical truths and laws. In Galatians chapter 2, Paul explains something very profound as well. Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, he says, I have been crucified with Christ. So, Christ died, and in baptism is when we accept Christ's death for us. And we go through this symbolic death of the old man. He says, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Now, he says that through God's Spirit, Christ lives in us, but we still have that human nature we struggle with. And he says, in the life which I now live in the flesh, as a human, I live by faith in the Son of God, that he is moving and guiding, and I'm being led by God's Spirit, who loved me and gave himself for me. So, Paul yielded to God. He allowed God's Spirit to guide him, to motivate him. So, that's the first difference. You have to have God's Spirit, and it produces the right motivation. Now, the problem is that we can many times become confused and mistaken by taking the world's, quote, good actions as if they are the same, but they are not properly or divinely motivated. So, remember there in Isaiah 64, it says that our righteousness is like dirty rags to God. And so, if it's not something motivated and originated by God, it's not correct. We have to be led by God's Spirit. We have to let God work through us. He produces the fruits. He gives us the right motivation. Notice in Romans chapter 5 and verse 5, Paul says, Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us. Again, it should be which, because after all, Holy Spirit is a force. It is God's Spirit in us, but it's not a person. So, God's love is poured into us through that Holy Spirit.

Now, this Holy Spirit is not some mystical experience that you go through. There are people that just have to be in this enraptured state. They think, this is what the Holy Spirit does. No, no, it's not. It's very down to earth, very practical. Did you ever see Jesus Christ having a Pentecostal experience? I've never seen it. He was always under self-control. He was always controlling his own person in the right way, expressing love, expressing joy, but not in an overly emotional way. Notice in James, James is such a good epistle to cover the practical side of God's Spirit. In James chapter 1 verse 21, it says, therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness or humility the implanted word, which is able to save your soul. So we have to have that yielding Spirit for God to give us his Holy Spirit. We have to yield to him. He now is in charge, not us. We have yielded our will. Thy will be done, not ours. That's what he's talking about here. He says, but be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Deceiving yourself, just because a person hears the truth, doesn't mean they are applying it. So again, it has to be practical, for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. The mirror didn't change him. He just saw how he should be, but then he forgets it. Back to my old carnal nature. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty. Notice the three attributes explaining here about God's law. It is perfect. It's not a suggestion. And it is based on liberty, not slavery. Liberty is giving us space to obey God. And continues in it, so you have to persevere, you have to last and not give in or give up.

He says, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This one will be blessed in what he does. God is going to bless him. He's going to be pleased with that person's life, because they are letting God's Spirit work in them through his laws to produce those fruits of God's Spirit. I thought it was interesting. I was reading about here where it says that it is not a forgetful hearer and continues in it. One historian talked about the greatness of the Roman Empire and how it just lasted virtually for like a thousand years. If you want to go back to the times of the Republic, 500 BC, all the way to almost 580, that what made the Roman Empire so powerful is that they never gave up. You could defeat them, and they had the patience to go back and back until they finally conquered that area. Well, in a sense, see, they were perseverers. They were doers, and you could lick them one, two, three times, but they just would never give up. So, in a sense, that's one of the attributes that in a spiritual way we need, that perseverance not to give up on things. So, we see that the first reason, the difference, is the origin of our actions. Not from human-devised religion, not based on being a good actor, pretending, or just be humanly motivated. No, the source is God. It is divinely motivated to produce those fruits. Anybody can do so. That's what's great.

Anybody can produce God's fruits if you have the Holy Spirit, and you allow God to motivate you in the proper way. Secondly, these fruits are divinely oriented by God's truths. So, they have to be rightly motivated, and they have to be rightly directed. God's truths are the channel. They funnel God's Spirit through those truths. God does not work outside of His truths. Notice in 1 Peter 1, 1 Peter 1, verse 22, a very important verse. It has a lot of meaning.

Let's see if I've got the right one here.

It's 1 Peter 1. I don't see it here.

See if I can find it here. I might have gotten the wrong scripture. Oh yeah, I was in chapter 2. Verse 22, it says, since you have purified your souls in obeying what? How do you purify your souls in obeying the truth? Now, when the adjective or the pronoun here, the truth, the definite pronoun, it means the Bible. It's not just any truth. It is the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren. Love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. So it's a process here. You begin conversion in this way, but it has to do with obeying the truth.

So, God's fruits are channeled. They are funneled through God's truths. Notice 2 John. You can call the epistle of 2 John. It's a very short one. But notice how many times he equates truth with love in God's commandments. So you see, the fruits of God's Spirit, the love and joy in all of this, is brought forth by walking according to the commandments of God. Notice 2 John, verse 1. It says, To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also those who have known the truth, because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. See, a lot of people want to talk about love, but they don't want to talk about truth. They don't want to funnel it. They want to define what love is. All of these religious leaders in different groups, see, they want to define what love is. They don't want to talk about truth, because that's based on God's laws. Continuing on in verse 4, He says, I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth as we received commandment from the Father. And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. So then He goes on to elaborate on that. But again, the principle is that God's Spirit is channeled and is funneled through the truth. And so we have a good example then of how this applies. Notice, taking the example of Christmas, you know, unfortunately, we're renting this place and there are all kinds of things related to Christmas. And we really feel bad about that. We haven't been able to find a place differently. We'd love to go someplace that way, but it is not up to us. We can't demand that they remove everything. And so it is that way.

Now, regarding Christmas, should we keep it or not? If the motivation and following the truth is involved, then our love is toward God and how He wants to be adored and worshiped. It's not up to us. We really don't have much to say in the matter. It's what God's Word says. And does God want us to follow things that are not in His Word, that are condemned by His Word? Those are the questions we should ask. Did you know that one of God's laws that He established in the Old Testament directly condemns the Christmas and its pagan origins? Maybe you hadn't seen the Scripture. Luke Leviticus chapter 18, in verse 2. Leviticus chapter 18 verse 2. This is part of God's law. He didn't say it as a suggestion.

He says, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. This is what He does. He introduces Himself as the Almighty God. He says, verse 3, According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwell, you shall not do. And according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do, nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall observe my judgments and keep my ordinances to walk in them. I am the Lord your God. So He says, look, what the Egyptians do with their religion? You're not to do it. So if you're honoring the god Horus, which is supposed to be born on December 25th, He says, you're not supposed to be adding that to the religion. Notice in Leviticus 20, verse 22 and 23, God speaking here says, You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my judgments, and perform them that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out, that God finally expels them. And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you. For they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them. So He says, you're not to follow these nations and their practices and ideas. He knew that was going to be a big temptation. You know what, Karen, could you get a book that I have in the front? I want to read from this book because no, the big book. Is there a book out there in my briefcase? Yeah, it's that.

This is a book that's called A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs. I like it because it deals with the sources. It's not talking about what they said. It actually has what it says. And just to show you how difficult it was for Christians to not observe the pagan feasts. This is a church writer back in around 200 AD. That's about 170 years after Jesus Christ died and was resurrected. Tertullian was part of the Catholic Church and he wrote about it, but then he finally left the Catholic Church so he was considered a heretic. But the church says, well, while he was in the church, things were okay. And so they recorded some of these things. Tertullian was already a compromised Christian. He was already keeping Sunday, but he was rejecting the pagan practices that some Christians were already getting involved in. And so that's what I'd like to read to you a little bit. This is, again, around the year 200 after Christ. And he says, However, the majority of Christians have by this time convinced themselves in their minds that it is pardonable or permissible when they do what they what the pagans do at any time. He goes on to say here, the Saturnalia, which was the festival to the god Saturn, which took place right to the 24th of December. And then they had bromalia, which was the birth of the sun. Saturn was the one that was supposed to be born at that time. So the Saturnalia, New Year, midwinter festivals and matronalia are frequented by us. Presents come and go. There are New Year's gifts. Games join their noise. Banquets join their din or the noise. The pagans are more faithful in their own sect, he says, than us because they're doing what they should. We're copying them, he says. He says, for they would fear lest they would appear to the Christians in this way. Yet we are not apprehensive or reluctant that we might appear to be pagans. And so even in Tertullian's day, yes, there were Christians that were celebrating with the pagans. And then later on, of course, the whole Catholic Church went along and used them for their own days. But this has always been a struggle. And basically, we are in the minority of resisting this. And it doesn't take much to start becoming lax and allowing these things. God says, don't do the things in Egypt. Don't do the things in Canaan as when you go. What did Israelites do? They followed eventually what the pagans did. And so this has been a constant struggle. Notice in Deuteronomy chapter 12. Deuteronomy chapter 12.

Verse 29. It says, when the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you and that you do not inquire after their God saying, how did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way for every abomination to the Lord which he hates they have done to their gods.

They have burnt even their sons and daughters and the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it nor take away from it. That's what's difficult because human beings like to add or subtract according to their own reasonings. That's how we get into trouble. And so we go to the third reason why the fruits of God's Spirit are different from the world's fruits and their goodness, natural goodness, and that these fruits are divinely balanced.

You don't go to extremes. Now all of the fruits of God's Spirit can be damaging if taken to extremes. You can overly love somebody. Somebody that is doing the wrong thing and you're just allowing it. That's why the Bible talks about don't spoil your children. You will live to regret it.

We see that spoiled generation today. They don't respect hardly anything. Why? Because they have not been instructed in the right way. So love can become negative. It can become spoiling somebody, being overly indulgent. We have an example of that in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. In verse 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 5, here's a clear violation of God's law. One person was breaking the seventh commandment about not committing adultery. He was. In verse 1 it says, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that a man has his father's wife.

Now the term here probably means stepmother. So the father married again and all of a sudden he got involved in a romantic and sexual relationship with this stepmother. And what did the Corinthian church do about it? Verse 2, And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. So they were just tolerating it. Well, after all, he's pretty new in the church. Well, it's not my business. Just let him come. We know what's going on. It was already public, and the church had not taken any disciplinary measures.

And Paul is very upset because they were applying love in the wrong way. Verse 6, he says, your glorying is not good. Oh, they were glorying that, oh, look how loving and how merciful we are. And well, we'll just give them love, and maybe they'll quit doing this wrong thing. That's called appeasement. That's what happened in World War II when they appeased Hitler, where he just thought people are not doing anything. I can get away with anything. And he just kept gobbling up countries.

There's a very good movie out. It's called The Darkest Hour, if you haven't seen it. Just talking about how it was Churchill that put his foot down and said, no, we're not going to kowtow to this man anymore. And he had the guts to do it. Well, this is what Paul was saying. Where's that person that's going to stand up and step in the gap and deal with this situation? So then he says, your glorying is not good.

Do you not know that a little 11? 11 is a whole lump. If you start allowing this sin, pretty soon other sins will happen in the congregation. And then he goes on to say in verse 12, for what have I to do with judging those also who are outside or outside the church? Do you not judge those who are inside, but those who are outside God judges? He's going to deal with them. Therefore, put away from yourselves the evil person. And so that person was suspended, was removed, as they should have. And so the fruits of God's Spirit are divinely or godly balanced, so you don't go to extremes.

Let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 6. It says, Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you, through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

The Good News Bible has this translation, for the spirit that God has given us does not make us timid. Instead, his spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control. So a person is able to control his urges and is able to deal with things in a balanced way. I like to think of those three attributes as what we have a gyroscope, that you spin it and you can put it on the tip of a pen, and that gyroscope will move and it'll maintain its balance, even if I'm moving it whichever way, because it's causing its own centrifugal force to keep it balanced. No matter what circumstance, it's straight. There are these gyroscopes on the wings of the plane to keep it. When they do automatic pilot, they have four of them, and it's able to keep the plane level through storms. Well, this is the way God's Spirit works. It keeps us level. It keeps us balanced. We don't go to the extremes. They're overly zealous and become like dictators, but we don't become like the publicans either, where everything's so lax and liberal and acceptable. That's not the way God's Spirit really produces good fruit.

So we need the spiritual balance that comes from tending and maturing the fruits of God's Spirit. So let's go to this last scripture in Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5, getting out a little earlier so we can get upstairs and get going, let the ladies heat up things in time. Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12 through 14, talking about that godly balance. It says, For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles, or the word of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Another translation here, the contemporary English version says, solid food. Oh, no, this is the Message Bible. The Message Bible says, solid food is for the mature who have some practice in telling right from wrong. It's going to take time to mature, to know what's right from wrong, as you apply in a better way God's word. So God's fruits of the Spirit are something that also go from immaturity, just like tender and green fruit, and it takes time to develop in your life, get the balance, make sure they're being funneled through God's laws. Don't go outside of them. And also that they are rightly motivated, that it is God working through the person that is producing those wonderful fruits of God's Spirit. So in this season that we're in the middle of, remember, we have so much to be thankful about, and there is a big difference between the human qualities of goodness and God's fruits of the Holy Spirit.