“After conversion we need bruising so that reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks. Even reeds need bruising, by reason of the remainder of pride in our nature, and to let us see that we live by mercy.”
It is very helpful for us to bear in mind that we are reeds, not oaks. Or, in a far less poetic fashion, we are bananas, not coconuts. We are fragile, easily damaged and bruised, in a spiritual sense. Sometimes we bruise ourselves by own sin. But the negative effects of sin serve a good purpose: to remind us that we are dependent upon the mercy of God. We live by the mercy of God. Sin causes misery and suffering. But God uses even our self-inflicted bruises to keep us humble and to show us mercy.
Sometimes, we are bruised by the sins of others. My sin is detrimental to those around me, and their sin is detrimental to me. There is no such thing as a sin that doesn’t hurt me or others, either directly or indirectly. But again, these pains that we suffer are for our good. A sovereign God orchestrates them so that they serve the greater purpose of making us like Christ.
This spiritual bruising is real. This is not mere poetry. The damage which sin brings is not an imaginary damage. And Paul, in speaking to the Galatians, charges believers with the responsibility to help one another in those situations where a brother is caught in a transgression that is not only damaging him but others as well. Look with me once again at .
1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load. 6 One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. ( ESV)
I hope, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to present this text to you in a manner that will make sense and be helpful in understanding it correctly. First, I want to remind you of all the players that are involved in this situation we’ve been reading about. In addition to Paul, there are four other definite groups of people:
1. Saved Jews - These are those Jews living throughout the region of Galatia who have heard the gospel of grace preached by Paul, believed it, and continue to do so. They have been taught by the Judaizers to trust more in their Jewish heritage than in Christ.The Cast of The Letter to the Galatians
2. Saved Gentiles - These are the indigenous, formerly idolatrous pagans who have experienced the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit within them in spite of being Gentiles. The Judaizers have led them to question their salvation and believe in the necessity of circumcision (i.e. becoming Jewish).
Together these two groups make up what Paul refers to as “the household of faith”()
3. Deceived “Believers” - These are both Jews and Gentiles who have “fallen from grace”. They have embraced the false “gospel” of works-based salvation. Some have never been true believers. Others are genuinely saved but need to be restored from this lie, thus proving the genuineness of their faith. Paul’s reaction to these “brethren” is shock: “I am astonished”()
4. Deceiving Judaizers - False teachers with a gospel that cannot save. Their faith is in in Christ PLUS their Jewish heritage, rather than in Christ exclusively. They are the enemies of grace and the gospel. Paul's reaction to them is, "Let them be accursed."
5. Paul - An apostle of Jesus Christ, a preacher and defender of the true gospel of grace. Paul’s hope for the churches: grace ()
This is the background for what Paul says here in these ten verses, and we will not righty understand these verses apart from the context of the entire book. Often, this passage is taught as a collection of general exhortations not directly connected to the rest of Paul’s epistle. I believe they are directly connected.
The entire purpose of the letter to the Galatians is summed up in chapter 6, verse 1: Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Paul has written this letter for that very reason. These are his beloved brethren, people who first heard the gospel from his lips. Now they must be defended from the demonic doctrines of that sect he refers to elsewhere as “the circumcision party”. Here, in his closing remarks, he appeals to “you who are spiritual”. They are the ones who truly understand the gospel: salvation by the grace apart from any human works whatsoever.
These are the ones who are spiritual, who must persevere in the work of restoring their brethren who have fallen for the lie, who have fallen from grace, who have been bewitched by the liars. And in the process of working for the restoration of their brethren, they need to be very careful to do several things:
Now I want you to notice what appears to be a contradiction here. In verse 2 we read, Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. “The law of Christ” is commonly understood to refer to - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. This was a new command because he was giving it to a new group of people: His own disciples; Christians. Bearing one another’s burdens is one way in which believers keep the law of Christ and love each other. That’s in verse 2.
Now read verse 5 - For each will have to bear his own load. Verse 2 says we must bear one another’s burdens. Here, three verses later, Paul says we’re responsible for bearing our own burdens. Once again, we have proof that the Bible is riddled with contradictions and we are foolish to even try to understand or believe what it says. So that’s the end of this sermon, and this concludes the existence of Grace Fellowship.
Bear one another’s burdens - Paul has just said the spiritually strong must restore the spiritually weak. But he uses the words bear one another’s burdens. This is a reciprocal command. Those who are restored may soon need to restore the restorers! If those who are spiritual are not careful to watch their own hearts, they may be needing a spiritual restoration themselves. That is the nature of the Christian life, and that is the nature of our relationships to one another.
So what does he mean by that phrase, “For each will have to bear his own load”? It sounds like we’re not responsible to bear one another’s burdens, but only our own burdens. I’m responsible for me, and you’re responsible for you. But we’re not responsible for each other, even though that is exactly what Paul just said in verse 2: Bear one another’s burdens.
Let’s look at it again:
2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load. 6 One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.
I believe what Paul is getting at is this: If I am in a position to help a struggling brother, there will be the temptation to think I am something, to think I am a spiritual oak instead of a spiritual reed that lives by the mercy of God. Therefore, in the process of helping my fallen brother, I should not only watch out for the temptation to enter into the same deception he has fallen into, but there is something else I must do: I must test my own work so that I don’t fall into the sin of pride. What work is Paul speaking of?
I believe he is speaking of the work of teaching for the sake of restoration. In verse 6, Paul speaks of those who are taught the word. Those who are taught the word are those who are being restored from bad doctrine, from false teaching, from the affects of the Judaizers. So those who are spiritual are to be about the work of instructing their fallen brethren in sound doctrine to restore them to the biblical gospel.
In my teaching of others, I must constantly examine my own motives for doing so. Our hearts can deceive us even when we’re in the midst of doing precisely what God would have us do: love the brethren by bearing one another’s burdens and restoring the fallen. In other words, success in ministering to others can lead to pride. It can lead me to believe I am something. It can lead to self-deception.
Suppose I am able to help one brother. Then another. And then another. I begin to experience a measure of success so I start a “Spiritual Recovery Ministry”. Then people begin to consult me. They invite me to speak at seminars. I write a book explaining how I have helped multitudes of Christians overcome their works-based false salvation. If anything even remotely like that were to happen, the temptation would be to think I am something, I helped these people, I am spiritual, I am able to restore the fallen.
Or, if I was able to help even one person understand the error of his way, even then, I just might be tempted to boast because of what I did for my neighbor. “Look at what I did for him!” In other words, there’s more than one way to fall from grace.
In 1992, Dr. Gary Chapman published a book entitled, “The Five Love Languages”. It has been translated into 36 languages and as of last November had sold well over seven million copies. If you do the math, that’s roughly one and a quarter million copies per love language. He should have written The 25 Love Languages. According to any reasonable person’s estimation, Dr. Chapman has been outrageously successful. I suspect he is rather well-off financially. But along with success comes temptation, especially when you receive letters daily from women thanking you for saving their marriage, while giving very little, if any, credit to God for that marital salvation.
Let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.
The reason for boasting will be within himself alone. He won’t be boasting because of the deliverance of his neighbor, his brother who has been set free from the deception of false teachers. The person who is truly humble, truly spiritual, who truly keeps a close watch over his own heart and mind and motives, when he sees some degree of success in his work of teaching those who have gone astray in their thinking, . . . he KNOWS within himself that it was God who gave the success and not himself. His reason for boasting is the Spirit of God within him. He does not boast in his ability to help his neighbor by putting another notch in his ministry belt.
When our work for the Lord is done in the power of the Spirit of God, and not in the power of the flesh, our reason for boasting is not us, but the Spirit of God. I remember one occasion probably 20 years ago when I was preaching at our former church in Columbia SC. I made a simple statement from the pulpit regarding the topic of eternal security. Some of you may have heard me say this before: “A person cannot possess eternal life for six weeks. If you only had eternal life for six weeks, then obviously whatever you had wasn’t eternal life.
Now that is not a profound statement. But when I said that, I saw someone in the congregation look up from his Bible, look straight at me with a “The light bulb just came on!” look on his face, and it was bright, about a thousand watts. It was clear to me that that simple statement clarified the issue of eternal security for him, and I’ve never forgotten it. I was grateful to see that what I had said made a big difference in that man’s thinking. I thank the Lord for that, and I believe this is what Paul is speaking of here.
Then Paul continues by saying in verse 5, “For each will have to bear his own load. 6 One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.
“Let each one test his own work” and “each will have to bear his own load”. Or, in other words, the load that each one bears is the work each one must test. Or to say it yet another way, we must be responsible for what we teach and how we teach it. That is the work of the ministry: teaching in order to equip the saints to equip the saints. The one who is taught is to share what he learns with the one who taught him. Even the teaching of sound doctrine is to be reciprocal. Today I’m the teacher and you’re the disciples. Next week, Sam will be the teacher and if I were going to be here, he would be sharing the good things he has learned with me.
But that is the work of the local church. And it is such serious work that Paul says in verse 9, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
This passage is a call to the faithful to the good work of teaching sound doctrine for the sake of the spiritual health and well-being of the saints of God. When we do that, we are doing good! We repudiate false doctrine, we equip the saints, we protect one another from the wolves, we deliver each other from lies and from liars, we reveal deception and we restore the sinner. We are to work tirelessly in this way against the perseverance of false teachers everywhere. This is a call to Christians to be the Church, the Body of Christ, and to resist every enemy of our souls, whether that enemy be the Judaizers with their non-gospel, or our own untrustworthy, unreliable, easily bruised hearts.
This is what deliverance ministry is supposed to look like. Our fellow believers are delivered from the power of lies through the preaching and teaching of the truth of the word of God. When we do this, when we persevere in this good work, we have a promise: “In due season we will reap, if we do not give up. The one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
When we teach God’s word in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are doing the very work God has called us to do. We know better than to try to work in the power of the flesh, or to sow to the flesh. And Paul meant that quite literally. That is literally what the Judaizers were doing: attempting to convince those who had been saved by grace that they must be saved by flesh. But those who sow to the flesh, who put their confidence in the flesh, who trust in the works of the flesh, will gather a harvest of corruption and death.
Our work is a spiritual work. It is difficult. It requires perseverance because of the perpetual propagation of all that is false and deceptive in this world. The lies never stop. But the work is empowered by the Spirit of God. Therefore we must press on. And even though we may become weary in the work, we cannot surrender the proclamation of God’s word. And God has promised a harvest, a blessing for our labors, when the time is right.
Beloved, this is a difficult passage. But I pray the Lord will use this feeble attempt to explain it for our collective good. May He give us understanding of what He has said according to His mercy, and may He grant us the will to do what He has commanded by His grace.
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A couple of days ago I received a book entitled The Bruised Reed. It was first published in England in 1630 by Richard Sibbes, one of our early Puritan forefathers. It is an exposition of -
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. ( KJV)
I am only a few pages into this book and already I am impressed. This verse in Isaiah speaks of how the Messiah will conduct Himself when He comes, and it is an accurate description of how the Lord Jesus lived among us: A bruised reed shall he not break.
Reeds are similar to the cattails we see growing along the banks of a lake or a pond. They are fragile and easily bent. A bruised or damaged reed would be particularly fragile. Isaiah tells us that Christians are like reeds. Fragile, easily bent, and very easily broken when damaged or, as Isaiah says, bruised. In his book, Richard Sibbes says it is God Himself who sometimes bends and bruises us:
“After conversion we need bruising so that reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks. Even reeds need bruising, by reason of the remainder of pride in our nature, and to let us see that we live by mercy.”
This is very relevant to our text for today. I want to read from that text again in order to emphasize part of what Paul is saying to the Galatians and to us. Listen to what he is saying here:
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. . . . 1 You who are spiritual . . . Keep watch on yourself. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. ( ESV)
Paul says that same thing Richard Sibbes was saying. Sibbes said we are reeds that need to be bruised in order to keep us mindful of the fact that we are reeds and not oaks. Paul is more blunt: “If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Even on our best days, we are not spiritual oaks. We are not made of iron. We are not invincible or impervious to the power of sin. Rather, we are spiritual reeds. Fragile, easily bruised, easily broken, easily susceptible to the snares of the devil and the temptations of the world and the flesh, as well as to “the remainder of pride in our nature”.
But here is Paul’s point: Since that is true, that we are reeds and not oaks, that we don’t always walk in the Spirit as we ought, then it should be obvious that we need each other. Since we tend to be spiritual weaklings and not spiritual superheroes, that is reason enough to be part of a body of believers that will help us when we stumble and fall and encourage us to get back up and press on. If the Lord Jesus does not break us when we are bruised, neither should we break each other.
The first step in correctly understanding this passage is to ignore the artificial chapter division. The last two verses of chapter 5 (as well as the last 10 or 15 verses) are directly connected to chapter 6. Chapter 6 continues Paul’s line of thought, comparing and contrasting those who are spiritual with those who are fleshly or unregenerate. Those who walk by the Spirit, and are led by the Spirit, and who exhibit the fruits of the indwelling Holy Spirit, are the same people as those he speaks of in chapter 6 when he says, “You who are spiritual.”
Paul has discussed the nature of the gospel for over four chapters and here he explains how fellow believers are to live together. He has just explained what Spirit-filled, Christian behavior looks like: Loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. Those who exhibit this behavior are those "who are spiritual". They are not conceited, they don’t provoke envy among the brethren. The “spiritual” person is humble and does not think he is something. He realizes he is nothing apart from the grace of God and His Spirit.
In other words, the spiritual person realizes he is a reed and not an oak. “You who are spiritual” is not an allusion to a super-Christian, some sort of spiritually superior believer who stands head and shoulders above ordinary Christians, those more “normal” or “common” or even “unspiritual” disciples of the Lord.
There are times when, as believers, we live rather well because we are walking in the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit are evident in us. That is what characterizes those who are spiritual.“ And then there are those times when we don’t do so well, when we stray from the path of walking in the Spirit. As Paul says here, we sometimes get caught, we get stuck in a trespass, in a sinful behavior or attitude that is not spiritual but fleshly. Richard Sibbes would say those are the times when we are bruised by our own sin and we suffer the effects of being self-willed. And often, those around us suffer as well.
That is when we need those who are spiritual to help us, to restore us to fellowship with God and with themselves. Paul alludes to the fact that we’re all vulnerable to this kind of bruising:
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
A spirit of gentleness is always in order when we are restoring a fellow reed from the effects of his bruises. Sometimes you will need me to restore you, sometimes I’ll need you to restore me. This time it’s my turn to help you, next time it will be your turn to help me. We both will eventually need deliverance from the snares of the evil one, or to bring each other to our senses and out of our self-deceptions. We bear up one another, and bear with one another by carrying each other’s burdens and restoring one another from sin.
It is never appropriate or wise for us to approach a fellow believer who is caught in any transgression as though we were somehow inherently spiritually superior. As though what has happened to you could never happen to me. That is part of what Paul was thinking of in chapter 5 when he said in verse 26, Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. The particular people he was probably thinking of among the Galatians were the Jewish believers in their midst. Surely, they were occasionally tempted to think that because salvation is of the Jews, they would be first in line, at the head of the class, when it came to being deeply spiritual.
I believe this is what Jesus was speaking of in when he told His disciples, “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” ( ESV). The Jews perceived themselves to be first in line spiritually. They perceived the Gentiles to be last in line spiritually. But Jesus was saying the day would soon come when Jewish Christians would realize that being Jewish does not automatically place one at the head of the class for salvation. Yes, God did choose the nation of Israel from all the nations of the earth. Yes, He did choose them to be His peculiar people. But He didn’t choose them because they were Jewish. The false idea that being Jewish is an inherently superior spiritual condition that brings with it the automatic favor and blessing of God, plagues many Jews to this day. Religious, self-righteous pride is a sin which God particularly hates.
An attitude of superiority can plague any group of people. Both Republicans and Democrats think they are each superior to the other. Creationists vs atheists, Evangelicals vs Roman Catholics, Nittany Lions vs Ohio Buckeyes, Southerners vs Northerners, Baptists vs Presbyterians, whites vs blacks, Americans vs the world; ANY group of people can indulge an attitude of superiority over others.
And obviously, some things are superior to other things. Democracy is superior to Nazi-ism. A Subaru is superior to a Ford Pinto. A Mac is superior to a PC. Obviously. Many things really are better than or superior to many other things.
But in the spiritual realm, no one is inherently superior to anyone else. That includes those who share the same denominational label, who fellowship with one another week after week under the same roof, who agree on nearly every doctrinal issue, who share the same communion bread and cup, who sit together at a fellowship meal each week. None of us is inherently spiritually superior to those around us. We are all spiritual reeds, easily bruised, easily broken, and not spiritual oaks.
From time to time, sin is an affliction with which we all suffer to some degree. But here, Paul uses the word “caught”. It is also translated “overtaken”. He is not speaking of the occasional slip into sin of which we quickly repent. He is speaking of someone who needs to be restored. Someone who, according to the literal translation of that word, is broken and needs to be repaired. When that happens, those who are not suffering, who are healthy in a spiritual sense, are to come alongside and strengthen their brethren. We’re to do that for one another.
But how are we to do so? What kind of attitude should we have when we are restoring a fallen brother who is caught in sin? With a spirit of gentleness. If we bother at all, that is not often our attitude. At least, that’s not how we feel like doing it. OK, that’s not how I feel like doing it. More often than not, I’d rather just slap somebody who is acting stupid than approach them with gentleness.
Recently, within the last week, I heard of two pastors who had been publicly verbally attacked by members of their own congregations. In one case, a letter of complaint against the pastor was sent to the entire congregation, and in the other case someone stood up in a congregational meeting and accused their own pastor of being manipulative and controlling, and they didn’t like it at all. They were not happy, and they did not approach their pastors in a spirit of gentleness. It was more like a verbal baseball bat.
Regardless of whether either of these pastors deserved to be confronted, that was not the way to do it. If your pastor or anyone else in the congregation is caught in any transgression, may I respectfully request that you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. In fact, isn’t gentleness one of the fruits of the Spirit? Restore him in a spirit of gentleness for the sake of the one being corrected (because he is already bruised) as well as for your own sake. Never in a spirit of self-righteous conceit or pride.
That is the word Paul used in - Conceit. He gives the definition in - Someone who thinks he is something when he is nothing. He thinks he is a spiritual oak when in reality he is a spiritual reed. Therefore, keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. To approach a brother in his transgression with an air of religious superiority sets you up for a fall as well. You are, as we used to say, “cruisin’ for a bruisin’” yourself.
All of this is in the context of our Christian duty to bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ ( ESV). We must be aware of each other’s needs in order to help each other. Being completely oblivious to the sufferings of your brethren, especially when that suffering is because of sin, is not what Paul meant when he said bear one another’s burdens. When we are caught in sin, we need to be rescued and restored. Our own sin has broken us and we need someone to fix us and get us out of our fallen, burdensome condition.
Christian, in The Pilgrim’s Progress, had weight upon his back of which he could not rid himself. It was the burden of his own sin and guilt. To bear one another’s burdens is to point one another to the cross and the forgiveness that is to be had there. Evangelist pointed Christian to the narrow gate which marked the narrow way to the cross and the Celestial City. Evangelist did not say to Christian, “Let me help you with that burden of sin on your back. Give it to me.“
We cannot take each other’s sin upon ourselves, but we can help one another toward the cross. I can encourage you to repent. I can point out how you may have deceived yourself, how you may have justified your sinful attitude in your own mind. I can counsel you and help you snap out of your self-deception. And I must do so gently, fully aware that I am vulnerable to the same sins as you are.
Beloved, that is our Christian duty. This is not optional behavior for super-Christians. Because there is no such thing as a super-Christian. “You who are spiritual” refers to those who aren’t bruised this week, but who may be bruised next week. They are not currently in a condition from which they need to be restored, but they are in a position to gently and compassionately restore others and help them out from under their burden of sin. That is where we would all like to be all the time.
Is this a good thing? Or is this meddling? Is this restoration of a fallen brother a positive thing or a negative thing? Of course it is a good and positive thing. Is it a fun thing? Is it pleasant? Is our coming alongside a brother or sister who is caught in sin something we look forward to doing with eager anticipation of all the joy we’ll experience?
Not usually. At least not initially. Confrontation, even when it is done lovingly and with kindness and gentleness, and with all the fruits of the Spirit which those who are spiritual exhibit, . . . Confrontation is still a tough thing to do. But it shouldn’t be as tough as it almost always is. Let me read to you again the quote from Richard Sibbes:
“After conversion we need bruising so that reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks. Even reeds need bruising, by reason of the remainder of pride in our nature, and to let us see that we live by mercy.”
As Christians, God allows us to be bruised by sin, and sometimes He Himself bruises us through circumstances designed to humble us and keep us mindful that we are not the spiritual hotshots we might otherwise think we are. Even as Christians, even as the chosen and redeemed people of God to whom God has granted life entirely by grace, we are still occasionally prone to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. This is another idea that Sibbes brings out in his book:
Had David not sinned and experienced such despair, had Peter not betrayed the Lord and wept over his guilt, and had Paul not been given his affliction, we would not be able to so easily relate to them. But it is true that we’re all, without exception, weak, fragile, and often sinful creatures who live only by the mercy of God.
So if you sin and I call you on it, or if I sin and you call me on it, our first reaction should not be, “Who do you think you are?” We all know who we are! We’re all reeds that get bruised, sooner or later. And we ought to be able to grasp this concept that we’re responsible to God to gently, like Christ, bear one another’s burdens. We’re responsible to God to wash one another’s feet when we get dirty from living in a sinful world. We’re responsible to God to love one another enough to help one another avoid sin or repent of it if we’ve already sinned. Not only do we have permission to do this, not only ought we to do this out of love foe one another, but we have a command from God to live this way with one another, as brothers and sisters in God’s family.
And let me suggest this: If we were to live this way consistently, as Paul instructs us here in these verses, we would be a rare church indeed. VERY few church congregations conduct themselves in a way that even remotely resembles this: With a love for one another, and with a humility toward one another, that results in trust in one another when confrontation over sin has to happen. We must learn to trust each other to look out for one another.
This is difficult because it is not how we naturally conduct ourselves. Our typical reaction is fleshly conduct. This which we’ve read of today is supernatural, Spirit-filled conduct. This is godly behavior. This is how truly godly people live. People who live by the Spirit and walk in the Spirit help each another when sin. This is how entire congregations are supposed to conduct themselves.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. 1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. ( ESV)
]]>My goal for today is to take you behind the veil, so to speak, and give you a look at Mormonism from the inside. If you remember when we talked about the Jehovah Witnesses I mentioned how their theology was deceptive, that their teachings stay close to scripture. They will interpret scripture slightly differently, and also translate it differently as needed so that it is not easy for the casual observer to catch. To help you visualize how Mormon and JW doctrine compares to Christian doctrine; allow me to use a Star Trek metaphor. A note to anyone that might be listening I am simply tailoring my sermon in a way my audience will understand, my apologies.
*Food for thought; isn’t it interesting when we read the scriptures Jesus’ illustrations come from farming, fishing, carpentry and the like and ours tend to be from TV and Movies.
Now suppose Christian Doctrine is represented by the human race. Remember this is just a metaphor so don’t geek out on me and take my meaning too far. Jehovah Witness doctrine would be like the Vulcans, to any outside observer there really isn’t much of a difference, just some pointy ears and think eye brows. And Mormon doctrine would be like the Borg, though technically ‘Humanoid’ in that they have a head, arms, and legs the similarities end there. In other words on a very superficial level they have an appearance of Christianity but when you examine what they believe, though just as unbiblical as JW doctrine, it strays much further away.
Note that I am talking about their doctrine, not what kind of people Mormons are compared to us or how conservative or liberal they are to us or how ‘good’ they treat their families. I am talking about what do they believe and why do they believe it. I mention ‘Why’ because maybe more so with Mormons then with anyone else we need to be able to recognize the presuppositions they are working with and how they differ from our own. Because of the nature of their deception much of what you hear from the outside looking in sounds Christian but all the while they have a completely different meaning.
So what do I mean about these presuppositions; for example we have a conversation and mention predestination. Between us family here we have an understanding that we are not talking about a fatalistic world view where nothing we do matters. God already choose who he is going to save and those he didn’t choose can’t be saved so let’s go home and take a nap; because we are just evil Calvinists. This is what we can experience with people coming from a different context and applying a different meaning to that same word. And this is where the danger of Mormonism lies. They use our presuppositions against us by using the language of the bible all the while creating a completely different context and therefore meaning of those words. For this reason before discussing some specific beliefs I want to cover some History as with Charles Taze Russell to give you an idea where their doctrine is coming from.
This is not only good practice when examining false teaching but we should also ask ourselves the same question: Why do we believe what we believe? The scope of answering that question for one religion is broad enough let alone two so this afternoon we are going to cover only a small piece of the pie. So today we will look at Joseph Smith and the Apostle Paul, specifically their testimony of their own ‘conversion’ and of the character and nature of God.
What idea comes to mind when we talk about a testimony, a trial or court case, [Some may say Conversion testimony] and that is how we want to examine these men. Avoid emotional arguments and like any good judge examine the character and motives of the witness to help determine the credibility of their testimony. The next section I will pull from one of the Mormon Holy Books so to speak called ‘Pearl of Great Price’. When I say ‘Holy Books’ I mean that this along with the ‘Book of Mormon’ and ‘Doctrine and Covenants’ are said to be as divinely inspired as we consider the Bible. I am pulling the text straight from the LDS.org site so these words are the current official version they have.
The Pearl of Great Price contains a number of smaller writings, this one called ‘Joseph Smith – History’ which is a section from another set of writing that he wrote. In the interest of time I will trim it down but you can read the full text on the link at the bottom.
5 Some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester [~1810], there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. It commenced with the Methodists, but soon became general among all the sects in that region of country. Indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying, “Lo, here!” and others, “Lo, there!” Some were contending for the Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist.
6 For, notwithstanding the great love which the converts to these different faiths expressed at the time of their conversion, and the great zeal manifested by the respective clergy, who were active in getting up and promoting this extraordinary scene of religious feeling, in order to have everybody converted, as they were pleased to call it, let them join what sect they pleased; yet when the converts began to file off, some to one party and some to another, it was seen that the seemingly good feelings of both the priests and the converts were more pretended than real; for a scene of great confusion and bad feeling ensued—priest contending against priest, and convert against convert; so that all their good feelings one for another, if they ever had any, were entirely lost in a strife of words and a contest about opinions.
To give you some context he is referring to the charismatic Camp/Revival Meeting movement that began around this time. Note that his testimony begins at this point as a young man and not a Christian witnesses the hypocrisy and confusion and strife of this movement. Remember back to C.T. Russell and the Civil War.
8 During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong.
9 My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and incessant. The Presbyterians were most decided against the Baptists and Methodists, and used all the powers of both reason and sophistry to prove their errors, or, at least, to make the people think they were in error. On the other hand, the Baptists and Methodists in their turn were equally zealous in endeavoring to establish their own tenets and disprove all others.
10 In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?
We can understand the confusion of not quite wanting to be labeled Methodists or Presbyterians or Baptists. But unlike him we do not ask this question because they fight amongst themselves therefore how do I know who is right. Take note of first the utter lack of examining what they are fighting over; assuming he accurately represents the events of that day. Then second the complete ignorance of any churches/denominations outside of his American/New York context, as a young man this would be understandable but remember this supposed to be divine truth spoken by a prophet of God.
13 At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.
17 [He went into the woods to pray and had a vision] When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!
18 My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.
19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”
So here is where we run into the first obvious issue, if we are to believe Joseph Smith’s testimony, God and Jesus both appeared to him in a vision, an act wholly unsupported by scripture. *Note he states not having in his heart the idea all sects were wrong, yet this is not the case in verse 10. Then in an almost humorous line we find out all of Christianity is wrong … period. Even though all he has testified of up to this point is some strife in a new movement in north east of America, we now can just ignore everything else because it is all wrong too. An answer that worked out great for him personally so that was some good luck.
Without dragging that out, let me now turn to Paul and his testimony. I won’t spend the same amount of time analyzing it as this is something we are familiar with, but think of his words now in contrast to Joseph Smith’s testimony. []
1“Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.”
2 And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. And he said:
3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. 4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, 5 as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.
6 “As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. 7 And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 8 And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ 9 Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. 10 And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’ 11 And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus.
12 “And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13 came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him. 14 And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; 15 for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’
17 “When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19 And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. 20 And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’ 21 And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
You see that both men claim to receive visions from God. Both men are persecuted for the testimony they received when they proclaim it. There are two key differences that I want to point out; did you guys catch them or others I didn’t? [Give time for feedback]
One clear difference is motive, if you remember I mentioned any good judge would listen to Joseph Smith and immediately question his testimony because he was looking for a problem with the churches and found it. When you look at Paul his desire was to persecute the Christians in God’s name. That does not present us with a clear motive to have a vision where he is blinded forced to realize he has been a blasphemer and a murder at heart.
Second is the lack of witnesses. If you notice everything about JS testimony is internal and private. One of the first things a judge would ask is, ‘Did anyone else see this …’ or ‘This doesn’t line up with all of the other eye witness testimony we have’.
Let’s ignore the issues we see in Joseph Smith’s testimony for the moment, the key is to remember everything will be now built off of this presupposition, that all of the other ‘sects’ are wrong. If that is true that means everything that he will teach will cannot be the same as Christian teaching, even if it sounds the same. And this is what happens, he continues to have visions where this teaching begins to grow, he dictates/translates divinely inspired new doctrine that was ‘Lost’ thousands of years ago.
When you go straight for the foundation of these doctrines you can keep yourself from getting lost in the arguments over the endless minor issues. You can also equip yourself with the context that is needed to understand a language that may be completely different from your own. Armed with this knowledge lets tackle some of their beliefs about who God is. Also in the Pearl of Great Price we find a section called ‘The Articles of Faith’ similar to any belief statement you might find on a church website. The first article states, once again quoting from the LDS.org website:
1 We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
Though this is not specific enough to know exactly what Joseph Smith means by this article, we can now clearly see we cannot assume our Christian presuppositions onto this text. Combined with the vision we read earlier God the Father and Jesus Christ are separate beings, we know our Trinitarian view of God is rejected even in this statement.
In the Pearl of Great Price there is ‘The Book of Abraham’ where there is a retelling of the Genesis account, obviously the one book wasn’t enough. Let me read it to you, once again straight from the LDS.org website:
1 And then the Lord said: Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth.
2 And the earth, after it was formed, was empty and desolate, because they had not formed anything but the earth; and darkness reigned upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of the Gods was brooding upon the face of the waters.
3 And they (the Gods) said: Let there be light; and there was light.
4 And they (the Gods) comprehended the light, for it was bright; and they divided the light, or caused it to be divided, from the darkness.
5 And the Gods called the light Day, and the darkness they called Night. And it came to pass that from the evening until morning they called night; and from the morning until the evening they called day; and this was the first, or the beginning, of that which they called day and night.
In case you didn’t catch it the text here reads a little different then genesis. He is not translating Hebrew text here where he could try to make an argument that the word for God is plural. This is his own divine translation of Egyptian Hieroglyphs which we now know is nothing close to the actual translation done by those that know the language. There is a clear implication that there are many Gods, at the very least more than one.
Here is a section from the ‘Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith’ also available online though not on the LDS website:
Section Six 1843-44, p.345
God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible,--I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form--like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another.
You can start to see how their doctrine is already far from our own; God to Joseph Smith is just an exalted man, once just like us.
Section Six 1843-44, p.346
Here, then, is eternal life--to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power.
And not only did God change from man to God but we also can apparently do the same taking baby steps. There is much more to read on just God, let alone all of their other Prophets whose teachings should also be considered scripture.
The point of all this is that we need to learn, like the Bereans, to study the scriptures to see if these things are so. The Church today has a terrible track record with discerning truth from error; even those we know are true Christians. Need I mention Joel Osteen, Todd Bently, The Shack, Holy Laughter, fill in the blank. With the technology and wide spread information we have available today there is no excuse for a Christian coming out and claiming Mormonism is just another form of Christianity.
Pray
One last thing: As far as the election goes, we know God is Sovereign and controls all things, so it doesn’t matter if you vote. Just go home and take a nap. (Readers note: That is sarcasm.)
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In recent months, we’ve talked about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives as believers. The importance of His presence and His work in us cannot be overestimated. It is by the power of the Spirit that we have been regenerated. It is the Spirit who has quickened us and granted us life from our spiritual deadness. It is the Spirit of God who initially brought conviction of sin, and who brought the weight of our guilt to bear heavily upon our naturally insensitive hearts. It is the Holy Spirit who granted us the grace to repent of our sins and trust in Christ to save us.
Now, as believers, it is the Holy Spirit who stands in opposition to the sinful tendencies of our flesh: For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other (Galatians 5:17 ESV). It is the Holy Spirit who produces the fruit of godly behavior in us, and against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:23 ESV). When we walk according to the leading of the Holy Spirit, God has “no bone to pick with us”, so to speak. When our behavior is in keeping with the Spirit’s work within us, we are living in opposition to the flesh, but in complete agreement with the will of God.
So it is of utmost importance that we learn to walk with the Spirit of God, to live in obedience to the Spirit because there are no scriptural commands against love, joy, peace, or any other work of the Spirit of God within us. Turn for a moment to Ephesians 5. Notice how Paul makes this same argument in that letter to those believers as he makes here to the Galatians:
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Paul says in Galatians 5:21 - those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
6 Let no one deceive you (like the Judaizers were doing among the Galatians) with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),
Isn’t the fruit of light the same thing as the fruit of the Spirit? It is the Spirit who has illumined our hearts and minds to understand the Gospel.
10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Like those things against which there is no law. Like the fruits of the Spirit. Those are certainly pleasing to God.
11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,"Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:1-21 ESV)
The indwelling and filling of the Holy Spirit produces godly behavior. The Spirit produces imitators of God. He moves us to walk in love as Christ did. Paul referred to the Ephesian believers as saints. Christians are holy and the Holy Spirit provokes us to conduct ourselves in a manner that is good and right and true. We will be wise and understand what the will of the Lord is. Being filled with the Spirit will make us sing together to the Lord with our hearts. The filling of the Holy Spirit produces grateful hearts and submissive spirits in us. This is all part of the work of the Spirit in the life of every Christian. May the Lord grant us more and more and more of His Spirit so that we might be a people who glorify Him in all that we do.
But we also need to practice self-discipline (SELF-discipline) to make ourselves godly in His sight. Paul told Timothy, “Discipline YOURSELF for the purpose of godliness.” We must train ourselves in those “means of grace” which assist us in becoming more mature in our faith. We talked about these last week: Prayer, Scripture reading and meditation and memorization, genuine worship (both public and private), fellowship (or “holy conversations”) with other believers, and communion. And there is one other discipline that I didn’t mention last week: the discipline of fasting.
Fasting is a topic that could easily be a sermon all by itself. Books have been written about fasting and it has been analyzed to death. How much, how long, when, where, etc., etc. People always want to know the details and the technicalities of fasting. But the main point of fasting is the practical exercise of self-control. I will not allow my desire for food to control me. Rather, I will control all my natural desires, including my appetite for food. Yes, we can’t live without food. But nearly everyone can live one day without food. So in order to discipline myself for the purpose of godliness, not only will I occasionally abstain from food for a day, but I will also spend that time in prayer. That seems to be the primary purpose of fasting: in order to create time for prayer.
Prior to the 20th century, it took a long time to prepare a meal and eat it. Much of daily life was spent in the preparation of meals, and it is still that way in much of the world. Today, we can pop something that resembles food into the microwave AND completely consume it in 10 minutes or less. So fasting and praying today isn’t what it used to be. But that seems to have been the primary purpose of fasting in the first century: to exercise self-control for the sake of prayer. I will discipline myself not to eat, while simultaneously disciplining my self to pray. If it is medically possible, spend a day praying during what would have been your meal times. That is a spiritual discipline that trains us in godliness.
Now let’s see if we can get through some final thoughts on Galatians 5.
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24 ESV)
There is a tendency among people of the Reformed persuasion to think they are incapable of doing anything without the grace of God and so they are therefore not responsible to do anything unless they are somehow specifically prompted by God. If that kind of thinking is taken to its logical conclusion, it leads directly to what is referred to as Hyper-Calvinism. It has caused some to actually abandon evangelism. Many within the Arminian camp accuse “Five Point Calvinists” of being Hyper-Calvinists because they believe all five of the Doctrines of Grace. If you don’t want to be accused of being a “Hyper-Calvinist”, then just claim to be a “Four Pointer” and you’ll be OK.
Hyper-Calvinism became a serious problem many years ago, and threatens to be a problem again. A man by the name of William Carey, considered by many to be the father of modern missions, was told by some Calvinistic Baptists in the 1800s there was no need for him to travel to India and preach the gospel. "Young man, sit down; when God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid and mine." That is Hyper-Calvinism. Carey went anyway, and we’re very glad he did.
God is sovereign. We understand that. Probably better than many within Evangelicalism. But we also need to understand that while God is sovereign, we are also personally responsible to God for how we live our lives as believers. On that great Day when we stand before God, we cannot say, “The Devil made me do it, God didn’t prevent me from doing it, so I’m not responsible.”
Neither God nor Satan are responsible for how we live our lives. We are. Otherwise, why does Paul spend SOOO much time exhorting believers concerning their own conduct? To walk according to the Spirit? To hate what is evil and cling to what is good? Why did Jesus command the disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel if God, in His sovereignty, will “convert the heathen” without any help from us?
The apostles were personally responsible to take the gospel to the world, and we are personally responsible to live godly lives for the glory of God. All men are responsible to God for how they live this life, whether as the children of God or as the enemies of God. And all will have to give an account to God.
I read this brief comment a couple of days ago concerning 2 Timothy 3:16 -
“The Bible is associated with the very life of God. Paul writes that, ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness’ (2 Timothy 3:16). The Scriptures are sufficient to tell believers what they should believe (“doctrine”), what they should not believe (“reproof”), how they should not behave (“correction”), and how they should behave (“instruction in righteousness”).”1
That is what all of Scripture is for: to teach us what and what not to believe, how and how not to behave as Christians. We are responsible to take heed to what the Scriptures say because we’re responsible for what they teach.
Paul concludes Galatians 5 by saying that believers (those who belong to Christ Jesus), have already crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. That is what we do when we trust Christ: we kill our previous passions and desires that were driven by our unregenerate natures. It is impossible to belong to Christ and not do this. As we said last week, the result of genuine repentance from sin is the putting to death of that previous lifestyle that was leading us to eternal death.
Repentance is a requirement for salvation. But repentance is rarely addressed in Evangelicalism today. A gospel without repentance, with the crucifixion of the flesh with its sinful passions and desires, is not the gospel. There can be no salvation without a turning from, and a repudiation of our own sin. You cannot live that way any longer. That is what Paul has been saying now for an entire chapter.
But there are those who would say, “I thought you believed in salvation by faith alone? Repentance is work, and not faith. All you need to do to be saved is believe!” And I would say, “Believe what?” Yes, we do believe salvation is by faith alone. But we believe that part of saving faith is repentance. We believe a person must repent of sin and trust in the work of Christ. That is the faith that saves. And that is what Paul is speaking of when he talks here in verse 24 about our crucifixion of our own flesh with its passions and desires. We are responsible, we are to put to death the deeds of the flesh when we trust Christ.
Now look at verses 25 & 26 -
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:25-26 ESV)
If we live by the Spirit - Or, we could say, “Since we have been born again by the Spirit . . .” How is it that we have this new life in Christ? By the Spirit. In speaking to the Corinthians, Paul said it was God . . . who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6 ESV).
In speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:5&6 ESV)
We have been born again by the Spirit of God. We live by means of the Spirit. And since that is true, then let us also walk by the Spirit. Some might say this sounds redundant: “We live by the Spirit, so we should live by the Spirit.” The sense of it is, “Since we have been given life by the Holy Spirit, we must now manifest a lifestyle that is in keeping with that same Holy Spirit. A life marked by love, joy, peace, gentleness, self-control, and all the fruits of the indwelling Holy Spirit.”
We should live THAT way. We should NOT live this way: conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. These are NOT fruits of the Spirit.
It is not clear exactly what Paul has in mind here, or why the Galatians might have had this particular set of sinful behaviors to deal with. But since he is speaking to an entire group of churches in the region of Galatia, and not to any particular church, it seems reasonable that this may have been a problem that was common to all the churches. Apparently they all were faced with the temptation to be conceited, provocative, and envious.
The Greek word here translated “conceited” could be literally interpreted “empty of glory” or as the KJV puts it, “desirous of vain glory”. Vainglorious. Glorying in one’s self without cause. Pride. And those who are proud often provoke envy in others. It seems this is a diabolical package. The one sin leads to the next, then to the next: Pride provokes envy.
A conceited attitude amongst some in the Galatian churches which was provoking envy in others, may have been pride associated with being Jewish. The Judaizers made such a big deal about the necessity of circumcision for salvation that it is certainly possible for the Jewish believers to have actually taken pride in their circumcision, promoting themselves as spiritually superior, looking down upon the Gentile believers. Gentile Christians weren’t as spiritual as Jewish Christians.
We see that kind of thinking today in Evangelicalism. “Messianic Jews” are often considered to automatically have a deeper understanding of all things spiritual than the rest of us simply because they are Jewish.
We sometimes see something similar in pentecostal and charismatic circles. Those who exhibit an ability to speak in tongues often promote themselves as spiritually superior to those who don’t have the same gift. They believe those who cannot speak in tongues are not on the same spiritual plane with them. (And in some cases they are probably right.)
We see this package of conceit, provocation, and envy in the Word of Faith churches. Those who REALLY have faith are wealthy. Those who are REALLY spiritual can command things into existence like God does. The reason you aren’t wealthy, and you don’t have this power, is because you don’t have faith like WE do.
We see it among some Calvinists who say they believe the Doctrines of Grace, but they aren’t very gracious. They display very little patience towards those who don’t share their own deep, enlightened, theological perspective.
What reason does a Christian have to be conceited? Proud? If salvation is by the grace of God alone, what is there to be proud of? Why would a Christian feel spiritually superior to someone else? Isn’t it absurd that someone could actually become proud of their “deep spirituality”? Only if humility has nothing to do with it! But the human heart is not immune to such perverted pride as this.
As Christians, we have one thing in which can legitimately boast: the cross of Jesus Christ.
14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14 ESV)
What do we have in which to be proud except in the Person and work of Jesus? The very thing the Jews despised is the very thing is which we can greatly boast: The wisdom and power and love and mercy of God as it is displayed in the cross of the Lord Jesus. Not the cross itself, but the work that was accomplished there by Christ:
• His life was sacrificed,
• His blood was shed,
• our sins were borne,
• our punishment was suffered,
• our debt was paid,
• our condemnation was removed,
• God’s wrath against us was appeased,
• And His justice was satisfied.
• The Lamb was slain,
• death was defeated,
• eternal life was secured for all God’s people,
• redemption was accomplished,
• God was satisfied,
• God was glorified,
• Christ was exalted,
• and by the grace of God we were made alive by the Spirit,
• We became the children of God,
• adopted into the family of God,
• the Son of God became our brother,
• And God became our Father.
Now tell me, what is there in all of that that we can take any credit for or be proud of? What did we do to secure our salvation? This is not [our] own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV). What is there for us to boast in besides the cross? A conceited Christian is a deceived Christian.
We have nothing in which to boast except the cross. That is why Paul exclaims,
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" 35 "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"
Who has made any contribution at all to his own salvation?
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36 ESV)
We will never have anything in which to boast except in God. Amen.
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1. http://herescope.blogspot.com/2012/03/deliteralizing-bible-from-plato-to.html
]]>Here’s another good answer: “My greatest spiritual need is for the Lord Jesus to intercede for me forever.” Suppose He were to stop doing so. If in all of eternity He were to ever fail to be my intermediary to God, I would lose all hope of eternal life. If Jesus Christ were to ever stop doing what He does, and if He ever stopped being who He is, and if the Father ever stopped accepting Christ’s work on my behalf, that would create a spiritual crisis in my life from which I could not recover. I will lose my salvation if God ever stops being who He is. My greatest need as a Christian is for God to forever continue to be God.
Those are answers I didn’t think of when I was first asked the question. My answer was quite different back then from how I would answer it now. What would your answer be? What is your greatest spiritual need? To consistently trust God and believe His word? Is your greatest need His constant saving and sustaining grace? Is it wisdom to live well for God? We have so many needs, it’s hard to know which one is the most important. Maybe that’s our greatest need: to figure out what our greatest need is.
Back then, I had a much more man-centered view of the Christian life. It was hard for me to think with a God-centered perspective. So my answer to the question was, “My biggest spiritual need as a believer is self-discipline”. In other words, I needed the power and ability to consistently live a godly, holy life. I needed the Holy Spirit to produce self-control in me .
That is the topic of our study today. This is the last item in Paul’s list of fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5. And, it may be that this particular topic could also be the most personally convicting of them all. God expects us to live disciplined lives. But He also provokes it from within us by His Spirit.
Before I address this with you, I want to be sure you understand my intent in speaking to you about it. First, let me say I realize it would be much more comfortable for you to hear a message like this if you were sitting in a congregation of a thousand people. You could blend into the crowd and pretend I’m talking to other people but not you. That’s not possible here. I’m talking to you.
Secondly, I’m talking to you about this because it is in the Bible. I did not pick this topic out of an encyclopedia of possible topics that could be discussed because I was looking for something to provoke guilt and tears. Self-control is the next one in the list, the next one in the passage we’re studying. I systematically preach whatever the Bible talks about. We’ve been looking at the fruits of the Spirit for months now and here we are, talking about self-control.
Thirdly, you need to know that while this topic could be extremely difficult for us to consider because it directly applies to every single one of us in a negative sense, and there may be a temptation for you to think I’m intentionally trying to make everyone feel guilty about something, . . . you need to understand it is not my intention merely to point out faults and sins for the sake of making everyone depressed and discouraged, so that you go out of here today feeling like an utter failure as a Christian because you didn’t have your devotions on Wednesday morning.
Beloved, what was the motivation of the apostle Paul when he wrote these things to the Galatian churches? Why does he write this list of behaviors which true Christians are expected to adhere to? Because he’s a legalist? Because he likes to make rules and issue commands for believers to follow? Because the Christian life is about laws and rules, doing this and avoiding that? We’re talking about the book of Galatians!
Or do you think it is possible that he wrote these things to those believers and to us out of love? Love for his Savior, and love for the people of God? These things were written for our encouragement.
Look with me for a moment at Galatians 5 and let’s read this text one more time. I want you to see something you may not have paid much attention to before.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 ESV)
There are things we do as believers that are contrary to the law of God. Things done according to the flesh. They are called sin. But these behaviors obviously do not fall into that category. Against such things there is no law. God has no law against displaying the fruit of the Spirit. It seems Paul should not have to say that, but I’m glad he did. It just emphasizes the point: HERE is how you live for God. THIS is behavior pleasing to God.
So let me ask a question that should not need to be asked. But I’ll follow in the footsteps of Paul and ask the obvious: Do you want to live a life that is pleasing to God? As a Christian, do you want to live a life that is in conformity to God’s will for your life? Do you want to live a life that is free from sin and guilt, one that will lead Jesus to say to you on that great day when you see Him face to face, “Well done, good and faithful slave!” Is that what you want?
Let me ask it in the negative: Is it possible to be a Christian and consistently NOT want to live for God? The answer is no. So if we are believers, we WILL want to live for the sake of being pleasing to Christ. Therefore we must live this way. We must walk according to the Spirit. We must be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle . . . and self-controlled. Self-controlled. In my opinion, this is the hardest one of all. Mostly because it has that little word “self” in it. I am to control myself.
This is why one of my favorite verses is Philippians 2:13 - For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. That is how I want to live - for His good pleasure! Is that your desire? Do you really want to live for God? I assume you do. I assume that is one of the reasons why you are here and Grace Fellowship is your church home.
But thankfully, God has not commanded us to live for His good pleasure and to be self-controlled by ourselves, in our own strength alone. He works in us to promote the very behavior He requires of us. Is that not encouraging? Is it not a comfort that God lives in us and continues to work in us even though we do not live perfectly for Him? In fact, that is WHY He lives in us.
When I was a kid, my Dad and Mom expected me to make an “A” in History without really lending much help to insure that I made an “A”. When I didn’t make “A’s” they were quite disappointed. But it was seldom that either of them sat down with me and helped me study Math or English or History. It’s one thing for your parents to expect you to bring home a stellar report card with an “A” in History through your own hard work and effort. It’s another thing entirely for Dad and Mom to take you to Gettysburg or to the National Air and Space Museum or to a Shakespearean play and explain what all these things mean.
God requires us to be self-controlled. We are responsible before God to discipline ourselves, to restrain ourselves from sin. AND He gives us His Spirit to ensure it. That is a wonderful comfort to those of weak will and poor discipline. People like us. God is indeed very gracious to us to give us His Spirit.
But what kinds of things do we need to control? The context of Galatians 5 tells us we must control the natural desires of the flesh. While we have been born again, we have not been given new bodies. Yet. Jesus said to His sleepy disciples, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.“ Notice Galatians 5:24 -
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Notice it says, “Those who belong to Christ . . . have crucified the flesh.” This is what happens when we repent of our sin and trust Christ. We put those old sinful desires which we lived in as unbelievers to death. This crucifixion of our old way of living goes hand in hand with walking in the Spirit, exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit, behaving as one who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. But what seems to be particularly different about a new Christian is self-control, self-restraint, self-discipline.
Self-control is something we see in the life of Jesus constantly. When Judas came to the Garden of Gethsemane with soldiers to arrest Jesus and Peter wants to fight and defend Him, Jesus said to Peter, Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:53 ESV). But He didn’t.
In Isaiah 53 we’re reminded that as Jesus was being tried by His enemies, He did not defend Himself against their false charges. He opened not His mouth. When Jesus was hanging on the cross and the Jews were mocking Him and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matthew 27:42-43 ESV). He DIDN’T come down from the cross but stayed there and endured the humiliation and the derision of those who did not know what they were doing or to Whom they were doing it.
Jesus is our perfect example of all of the fruits of the Spirit, but self-control may be the one most easily recognized because it is the most outwardly obvious.
If we exercised this God-given power of self-control regularly and consistently, to what degree would it affect our lives? What kinds of things would change? If you’re looking for relevance in a sermon, some kind of practical information or advice regarding the Christian life, here it is. The spiritual fruit of self-control delivers us and protects us from such practical maladies as:
Drug addiction, alcoholism, gluttony, pornography, smoking, or any other kind of addiction. Self-control protects us from allowing our natural appetites to run amok. The desires of the flesh are not bad in themselves as long as they are kept in check. “All things in moderation.“
It’s not wrong to take an aspirin for a headache. It is wrong to eat Vicodin like candy every day. It’s not wrong to have a glass of wine with your dinner. It is wrong to down a case of Buds every two days. It’s not wrong to eat a couple of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Maybe even three or four. Or five. Maybe. But it is wrong to down an entire dozen at a time habitually.
Self-control not only protects us from addictive sinful behaviors, it also protects us from all other kinds of sin: Adultery, stealing, gossip, murder, lying, disobedience to parents, neglecting one’s spouse, laziness, etc. Self-control protects us from -
sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. (Galatians 5:19-21 ESV)
All of these are the more obvious sins we must guard against by controlling our behavior with the help of the Spirit of God. As Christians, we can still commit such sins if we allow it. But as Christians we must also keep ourselves in check. Not to do so is sinful, self-destructive, and as believers when we indulge the flesh we bring disgrace upon the name of the Lord. It is through self-control that we fight every kind of temptation.
All of that is on the negative side of self-control. Self-control keeps us from sin. But what about the positive side? In other words, if I were more self-controlled, or self-disciplined, what else might change in my life for the good?
Once I heard a man perform a dramatic presentation of the entire book of Acts from memory. He recited the entire biblical history of the early church as it is written in the book of Acts. I read along and he didn’t miss a word. I was astounded. And a bit ashamed. If I were more self-controlled, maybe I’d at least READ my Bible more, even if I didn’t memorize it all.
Why don’t we read the Scriptures more? One thing I can recite from memory is my list of excuses for why I do not do the things I should. But the primary reason I don’t read my Bible or memorize Scripture is lack of self-discipline. I just don’t do it. It’s not that I can’t. I just don’t. And that is what it takes to be self-disciplined: force. The mental power necessary to make myself do what I ought, to control my own will, rather than perpetually doing only what I feel like doing.
We are constantly driven by our feelings rather than by our will to do what we should. It seems that if we truly had free will, we could just will to live disciplined lives and never sin. But that is clearly not the case. There is no magic bullet that cures a lackadaisical, undisciplined, procrastinating, lazy spirit. Learning self-discipline takes self-discipline. And the Holy Spirit.
What kind of Army would we have if Boot Camp was optional? How many guys would voluntarily sign up for it? Who would deliberately seek out that kind of misery and abuse? Not many. There are those few who join the military, usually the Marines, for the purpose of learning to be disciplined. And we admire them for it. That’s precisely why some men and women join the Marines.
Who plays the piano like Kathy without discipline? Who can program like Rob without discipline? Who learns how to be a great cook without constant trial and error and determination? Who is a good soldier without training? Who gets their Masters degree, or writes a novel, or learns a foreign language or goes to the World Series without discipline? Who does anything worth doing, without self-control, self-restraint, self-discipline? No one.
But as Christians, we are to discipline ourselves for the specific purpose of godliness. Godliness is the mark of a life lived well for God. It may be that our greatest spiritual need as Christians is self-discipline. In the New American Standard Bible we read this:
. . . [H]ave nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. (1 Timothy 4:6-7 NASB)
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness. (1 Timothy 4:6 ESV)
Paul told Timothy to train himself, to discipline himself to be godly. Is that possible? I can make myself godly? Yes. By the enabling grace of God, yes, I can train myself to be less worldly, less carnally minded, less sinful, less like myself . . . and more like God.
How? What kinds of exercises can I perform in order to promote more personal holiness and godliness? What kind of training program, what kinds of spiritual workouts do I need in order to become more like Christ? The Puritans called them the "means of grace”. There are certain things believers can do that will promote greater spiritual maturity and understanding if they are done consistently and conscientiously and prayerfully. These are things you already know about, but it takes self-discipline to benefit from them.
Prayer is one of the things we easily neglect and we consequently neglect our own souls. The Lord Jesus is referred to as our Wonderful Counselor. One of the ways in which He counsels us is through prayer. We not only communicate with God through prayer, but we commune with God, we fellowship with Him by means of prayer. That is counseling which money cannot buy. While we may speak to God in prayer, He also speaks to us, to our hearts and minds.
Also, God has given us His written word. Scripture reading is food for the soul. And not just reading it, but studying it, memorizing it, meditating upon it. Beloved, this is the Word of God! More precious than gold, than much fine gold! How could we as Christians not benefit spiritually from reading what God has written to us? It is by means of the word of God that we were saved! And now we are to read it in order to renew our minds so that we think rightly about everything.
Another gift God has given us as Christians for the sake of our spiritual lives is worship. When I say worship, I do not mean attending a church service to sing certain songs with our eyes closed and our hands raised in the air. Multitudes of people attend church services who have never, ever truly worshipped God. It is not the ritual of a worship service that I’m speaking of, or the feelings generated by a particular musical style.
Worship is meditation upon who God is, what He has said, and what He has done, which leads to high and loving thoughts of Him. That is what makes for the true worship of God. It requires thought, it involves some degree of prayer, it involves meditation upon His word which creates the worship of our God. How often does that happen in our busy, distracted, entertained lives?
A fourth gift God has given us which we can use for the training of ourselves in godliness is fellowship. Proverbs 27:17 says, Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. We need the fellowship of godly men and women, mature brothers and sisters, to help us and train us and instruct us in righteousness. Once again, just because we sit together around the table today and enjoy each other’s company, that does not necessarily translate into what the Bible calls fellowship. Regular spiritual interaction with other believers, “holy conversations” for the purpose of encouragement and building one another up is fellowship. Anything else is merely a social gathering.
Another “means of grace” is communion. When we gather corporately to celebrate the death of the Lord Jesus through the elements of the communion bread and wine, that helps us keep the foundation of our salvation in focus. We should make it a point to regularly participate in communion and the self-examination it requires of us so that we do not partake of it in an unworthy manner. Communion helps keep us in check and on track spiritually.
We must discipline ourselves in these matters: Worship, prayer, Bible reading and study, meditation, fellowship, and communion. The discipline comes in laying aside other things in order to address these things for the sake of our own growth and spiritual maturity. We do not want to be spiritual babies, immature, unstable, insecure because our faith is weak and frail. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control, and one of the fruits of self-control is spiritual maturity and godliness.
Is that what you want? Do you want to be a mature believer, a self-disciplined Christian who understands the Scriptures, who has a deep walk with the Lord, who lives a practically holy life, who can give an answer to those who ask for a reason for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15 ESV)?
In my basement there is a treadmill. In the bedroom, I have a good pair of running shoes. I’ve watched many episodes of The Biggest Loser and I admire those people who begin the show seriously overweight and extremely unhealthy, but they end the show strong and healthy and able to run a marathon. That is impressive. That is admirable.
I haven’t been on that treadmill in many months. I could give you a number of reasons why that is so: It hasn’t been convenient. I’ve been busy with other things. It hurts. I don’t like getting all hot and sweaty and out of breath. I don’t have time.
But the real reason is because I just haven’t disciplined myself to do it. And that’s also the reason why other things don’t get done either. Because I simply haven’t done them.
Self-control is a wonderful, wonderful gift from God to us by means of His Spirit. And whatever you struggle with, whether it’s cigarettes or a serious lack of time spent in prayer or your Bible, whatever your issue is, it can be addressed by means of this gift of self-control. We must train ourselves for the purpose of godliness. We can actually grow in godliness, in spiritual maturity. We can learn how to persevere in holiness.
Let’s repent of our undisciplined ways. Let’s pray together, today, for God to grant us more grace, or a greater portion of His Spirit, so that we might begin to enjoy all the pleasures that come from the spiritual fruit of self-control.
]]>3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (1 Corinthians 15:1-8 ESV)
The entire Christian faith, the forgiveness of our sins, and all of our hope of eternal life, all hinge upon the resurrection of Christ. Because He was raised from the dead, we who believe in Him have a genuine hope of the forgiveness of all our sins and a certain assurance that we too will live, even if we die.
We also understand that the accomplishment of God’s work of redemption on the cross for His people was opposed from the Beginning even until the very moment when the Lord Jesus came out of the tomb. The enemy of our souls was also the enemy of Jesus Christ. But thankfully, Satan did not understand what he was doing. I want us to look at the role of Satan in the death of Jesus Christ. This may seem to be an unlikely approach to an Easter morning service, but I believe you will see some remarkable things as we consider how the Devil himself played a role in the story of our redemption. Look with me please at Luke 22.
1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. 2 And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people. 3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. 4 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. 5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. 6 So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd. (Luke 22:1-6 ESV)
This is the first domino which sets in motion all the rest of the events which led to Jesus’ death. The chief priests wanted to kill Jesus but didn’t know how to do it so as to avoid the displeasure of the people. It was then that we read of Satan’s entering into Judas. Not a demon, but Satan himself.
The Passover had not yet taken place, so with the instigation of Satan, Judas goes and confers with the Jews and lets them know he is willing to betray Jesus into their hands. Verse 5 tells us, “And they were glad.“ Little did the Jews know that they were conspiring against the Son of God with a man possessed of the Devil. And I doubt they would have cared had they known. They were plotting to murder the Lord Jesus. Unwittingly they were cooperating with Satan to get it done. Judas going to them was the first satanically inspired domino to fall. Now, please look at John 13.
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him (John 13:1-2 ESV)
Jesus is, of course, at the last supper, the Passover meal. His disciples, all twelve of them, are celebrating the meal that commemorated the deliverance of the Jews, the redemption of God’s people from Egypt. They celebrated all the symbolism that pointed directly to what Jesus was about to endure. And Satan was at that meal also. The devil already put it into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus, having actually entered his heart and mind Judas for this purpose. Satan was at the last supper. But . . .
3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" 7 Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." 8 Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." 9 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" 10 Jesus said to him, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you." 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean." (John 13:3-11 ESV)
Jesus is not unaware of what is taking place. All things had been given into His hands. The Father had given over everything into the hand of Christ. He was in control of this situation, including Judas. Including Satan.
12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled,'He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.' (John 13:12-18 ESV)
The betrayer is about to do his demonically-inspired work. Right on cue. Exactly according to Scripture. Everything is very much under control.
21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, "Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. 23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus, 24 so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25 So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, "Lord, who is it?" 26 Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him (i.e. Satan?), "What you are going to do, do quickly." (John 13:21-27 ESV)
Jesus knew the Father had given all things into His hands. Jesus is actually directing this event, this Passover meal. He reveals His betrayer, and He speaks to him and sends him out to do his evil work. Jesus was not ignorant of what was happening or who He was dealing with. He knew who was to betray Him. “I know whom I have chosen.” And now the second domino falls: Satan enters into Judas. And John tells us in verse 30, And it was night.
The entire purpose of Satan is to see Jesus dead. He hates Him passionately. He seeks to destroy all that God does. He has always been at enmity with God. He was opposed to God prior to the creation of the world when he dwelt in Heaven. It was Satan who led the angelic rebellion against God. He has sought to destroy the works of God ever since the beginning. He sought to destroy the works of God by provoking the deaths of Adam and Eve, the only two creatures God made in His own image. And on every occasion, in all of his devilish plotting and scheming, he has regularly and consistently failed. And he can’t grasp that fact.
God created a glorious world, created glorious human beings (Adam and Eve), placed them in the unspoiled Garden of Eden, told them to enjoy their work, gave them dominion over the earth and told them to populate it. Life was good. It couldn’t get any better than that. But it could most certainly get worse. “Do not eat from this tree. If you do, you will die.“ And shortly thereafter, along comes the Father of Lies, the Adversary, the enemy of our souls.
What were Satan’s intentions in tempting and deceiving Eve? To destroy the good works of God. To bring dis-grace upon the name of God. To rebel against all that God is and everything that God does. Satan hates God. His original rebellion didn’t turn out so well, so now he show up in the Garden of Eden and goes against the greatest of all God’s creatures: Adam and Eve.
When God told Adam, “Don’t eat from this tree or you’ll die,” Satan was aware of that. Maybe he was nearby, maybe he overheard the conversation, we don’t know how he knew. But when he approaches Eve, it is that one tree and that one command which he presents to her. It is his desire to lead her into rebellion against God also! Which will result in the death of God’s people. He hates God so He attacks His people. Not a good day in Paradise.
Eve takes the bait, then hands it to Adam who willingly and knowingly joins the rebellion, and suddenly they now know both good AND evil. They are doomed. Satan is victorious! Adam and Eve are kicked out of the Garden, away from the Tree of Life, and now everything is cursed. The woman is cursed with pain in childbearing, the man is cursed with ground that grow more weeds than food. Score: Satan-1, God-0.
Except Satan is cursed also. And in his cursedness, he gets a glimpse of his own future destruction. And he seems to have had no idea that his own deception of the woman was part of a much larger plan of God to bring immeasurable glory to Himself. Satan has unwittingly cooperated in creating the scenario in which God will put all of His holy attributes on display in a way that was previously not possible. Score: God-1, Satan-0. AND he gets cursed by God in the process.
Another occasion: God says to Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is a righteous and upright man who fears God and shuns evil!” And Satan, gritting his teeth against the truth of God’s words begins to lie, . . . I mean, he begins to speak . . . which are actually the same thing . . . and he longs to discredit Job’s worship of God by any means. So God grants Satan PERMISSION to afflict Job and Satan eagerly does so. He cannot wait to prove God wrong. He also cannot grasp the fact that it is futile win strive against God.
After taking everything from Job but his wife . . . flocks, herds, sheep, goats, camels, and even his ten children, . . . all in an instant,. . . and then after he afflicts Job from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet with running, weeping sores, . . . All that Satan accomplishes in all of his vindictive, venomous hatred, is to prove that God is worthy of worship always, regardless of how miserable our circumstances may be. God’s people find Him to be worthy of worship, not because of the stuff He gives us, not because of the blessings He bestows upon us, but just because of who He is. It was not Satan’s game plan to prove that..
Then we come to the Last Supper, the celebration of the Passover with Jesus and His disciples. Guess who is in attendance at this last intimate meal between Jesus and His friends? It seems wherever God is doing a work, Satan is there plotting against it. He already tried a direct attack upon the Lord Jesus by tempting Him in the wilderness. But that didn’t work. So now he puts it into the heart of Judas to sell Jesus to the Pharisees and their cohorts. But to make sure the job is done right, he personally enters into Judas to move him to commit this most heinous crime of all. Because that’s just how much Satan hates God. He despises God, so he provokes the murder of God’s Son.
We would be foolish to think the enemy of our souls is anything less than just that: THE enemy of our souls, the one who prowls about as a lion seeking someone to devour, to consume, to destroy. Paul warns us to put on the panoply, the full armor of God so that we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11 ESV). He is powerful, he is wiley, he is formidable.
But it also appears that Satan suffers from one particular and very debilitating effect of his own sinfulness, in a similar way as fallen men do. He suffers from an inability to truly understand the futility of his war against God, and he is incapable of repentance from his animosity towards God. He cannot comprehend Romans 8:28 - that even his own malicious works against all that God does actually are used by God to serve God’s own good purposes. The most glaringly magnificent example of this would be the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus.
The murder of Christ which Satan instigated by means of his manipulation of Judas actually resulted in the greatest act of love and kindness and mercy and grace the world has ever seen. Not only did Satan not realize that the death of Jesus would be a sacrifice for sin which would appease the wrath of God against multitudes of believers and be the ground upon which God could and would forgive all their sin, . . . but it would also make possible the the occasion for Christ’s own absolute victory over sin and death. Satan’s works helped precipitate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
In other words, you can’t be resurrected from the dead unless you’re dead. It was the plan of God to show His power over death through the death of the Lord Jesus. And Satan, once again, unwittingly contributed to the stupendous glory of God by overseeing the slaughter of the Lamb of God who through His death took away the sin of the world! And not only that, but God also raised Him from the dead!
For 2000 years, Satan and many others have been trying to keep Jesus in the grave. The Jews bribed the Roman guards to lie and say Jesus’ didn’t rise from the dead, but His disciples came and stole the body while they were sleeping. Cults and false religions have been trying to convince us for 2000 years that:
There have been endless arguments to downplay the importance of the cross and to disprove the resurrection of Jesus. Satan himself somehow thought the cross would be the defeat of God’s plans. That the death of Jesus would be the death of all mankind. That the removal of Christ would be the removal of any and all hope of sinners to ever be made right in God’s sight. Satan actually thought he could crush Christ’s head through Roman crucifixion and the cooperation of wicked, murderous Jewish religious leaders.
How foolish! How foolish of Satan and of men, to think the Messiah could be contained and neutralized by death. That God, who spoke all things into existence with a word, could be confounded by the demonic machinations of His own creatures. How absurd to think the omnipotent Creator and sustainer of all life could be conquered and defeated by death! How entirely ludicrous that anyone, Satan or any other of the multitudinous enemies of God, could ever hope to even hinder, much less bring to a halt, the very least of any of God’s purposes. It is insane to even attempt to oppose the King of Glory in any way.
And it is the resurrection that stands as the irrefutable proof of the complete infallibility of all of God’s plans! If Satan and his entire hellish host of minions gathered together every man and woman who ever lived and gave them all his very own hate-filled power to kill and destroy, and they all joined forces to defeat God . . altogether they would be as nothing to our holy, almighty, righteous, triune God! As dust on the scales, God will wipe away all who oppose Him and in the last Day every enemy of His Christ will be placed under His feet, never to rise against Him or us again.
Beloved, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus does not only give us hope for eternal life, but it gives us hope for the final victory over sin, death, hell, Satan, the demons, and all who oppose God, who have never bowed the knee to Jesus Christ, who in effect, have joined with the murderous crowd that shouted, “Crucify Him!”. The resurrection of Jesus is proof of the coming final victory of our God and King over all His enemies.
He cannot be stopped. He cannot be thwarted. He cannot be overthrown. He cannot be avoided. Nor can He be bribed or dissuaded from His eternal purpose: to glorify Himself completely in the redemption of sinners and the destruction of all His foes. There will be no escape and there will be no peace for the wicked.
That is exactly what the resurrection of Jesus Christ anticipates. And irony of ironies, Satan was the one who moved Judas against Him, resulting in His death AND HIS RESURRECTION! Satan cannot win. One cannot raise from the dead without dying. This is the blindness and depravity of the Devil. He cannot see nor understand that all his efforts to oppose God are used of God to be part of the means through which God brings glory to Himself.
Listen to what Satan has to look forward to:
7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:7-10 ESV)
And FINALLY, that will be the end of that. Jesus wins the final victory, of which the resurrection is merely a preview! How great is our God! How wonderful is our Savior! How glorious is our future in Heaven with Him! How grateful ought we to be for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" 35 "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things.To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36 ESV)
]]>22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:22-26 ESV)
The particular Christian attribute we want to consider today is that of gentleness. Paul’s list of Spiritual fruits in the life of a believer is a description of genuine Christian behavior, as opposed to the behavior of those whose lives are governed by the desires of the flesh. Unbelievers are characterized by certain unspiritual, ungodly behaviors which we see in verses 19-21:
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21 ESV)
These two lists characterize, by behavior, the two kinds of people in the world. And there are only two: Those who will inherit the Kingdom of God and those who will not. There are those whose lives have been miraculously changed by the grace of God, and those who have not. The one can be recognized more or less by their Holy Spirit-motivated godly behavior. The other is recognized by their natural, carnal inclination towards all things ungodly. Those are the two camps in which everyone lives and dies.
It is right for us to expect Christians to act in a certain manner, to live according to a biblical code of conduct. Paul calls it “walking by the Spirit.“ The followers of Jesus Christ are expected even by those who do not know Christ, to act like Christ, to live in such a way as to be pleasing to Christ. Otherwise, the question could legitimately be asked, “Why do you call yourself a Christian? Why do we not see in you a lifestyle that is compatible with this faith you say you have in this Person you say you follow?”
And I feel compelled to say, that kind of question is not an exercise in judgmentalism. Often such questions are met with something like, “Who are you to judge me? Who are you to criticize me for the way I express my spiritual life? We’re all in different places in the journey, you know! Who do you think you are?”
I think I’m your brother, but I’m not so sure now. I think I’m a fellow believer in the LORD Jesus. And I’m telling you, based upon your own confession of faith, based what I don’t see in your life, and based upon the authority granted to believers in the Scriptures that we should love and exhort and rebuke and encourage and provoke one another to good works, . . . I’m telling you that you need to take another look at your life, “brother”, and step it up a notch or two! If you’re going to claim the Christian label, then act like one!”
Beloved, that is a legitimate response to someone who says they are a Christian but who looks and acts more like the people who aren’t going to inherit the Kingdom of God than those who are. We can and should be mindful of each others’ behavior and encourage one another to live godly lives according to how the Scriptures instruct us to live, to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit. It is true that no one has to live according to my expectations, according to how I or anyone else thinks you and I should live. But we are responsible as believers to live as followers of Jesus Christ. Turn with me for a moment to Philippians 2:1-8.
1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:1-8 ESV).
It is absolutely safe to say the Lord Jesus exhibited all the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And He did so perfectly, perpetually, without fail, even to death. This is how we are to live also. Concerned not only for ourselves, but for others, and particularly for our brethren. We are to be obedient to God even to death. Not proud, not self-promoting, not conceited, not contentious. We’re to be like Christ. It’s not a bad thing to ask ourselves in any given situation, “What would Jesus do?’
Our word for today is gentleness. The fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. There is a similar term we hear used quite often that is somewhat odd when you think about it. It is most often heard when a master of ceremonies addresses a crowd of people in order to get their attention and he begins with the phrase, “Ladies and gentlemen”. We have a good idea why he refers to the adult females in the crowd as ladies. But why did it become customary to refer to the men as “gentlemen”? In my mind, it seems more logical to say “Gentle-ladies and men”. Women naturally tend to be the gentler sex, if I understand gentleness correctly, and men not so much. So why the word “gentlemen”?
“Gentlemen” is complimentary. It is a word that ascribes a certain amount of respectability to men. The term “ladies” assumes a certain degree of honor as opposed to simply calling the adult females in the audience simply “women”. The word “gentlemen” originally referred to one’s heritage. It is related to the word “gentry”, a reference to those of more noble birth, not a commoner or a peasant.
On the one hand, the word “gentleman” is not appropriate to describe the Lord Jesus. He was born into an obscure family, in an obscure place, presumably the son of a carpenter and a peasant girl. There was nothing special about Him at all. No one would have confused Him with the respectable, classy, upper-crust, “gentry” of the day.
But on the other hand, the term “gentleman” is a perfect description of who Christ really is. Originally, the word “gentle” literally meant “well-born”, "high-born, noble, of good family" Who could be higher-born or more noble, or of a better family than the Son of God? He is quite literally the epitome of the perfect Gentleman.
In the more common use of the word (not including the phrase “Gentlemen’s Club”), true gentlemen are recognized by their exceptional behavior. According to J.R. Vernon, writing in the "Contemporary Review" of 1869, here is what a gentleman should look like:
The Gentleman is always truthful and sincere; will not agree for the sake of complaisance [i.e. compliance] or out of weakness; will not pass over that of which he disapproves. He has a clear soul, and a fearless, straightforward tongue. On the other hand he is not blunt and rude. His truth is courteous; his courtesy, truthful; never a humbug, yet, where he truthfully can, he prefers to say pleasant things.
That is a gentleman and the practical definition of the word “gentle”. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit, a characteristic of Christians, but not exclusively. Everyone is capable of being gentle with others. But Christians are gentle as a way of life, as an expression of the presence of the Holy Spirit living within them. A person who may never have been described as gentle prior to conversion, finds that after his conversion he has this new ability, a compulsion to treat others with loving, truthful, straightforward but not blunt or rude, honesty and kindness.
If you are oblivious to dates and holidays like I am, you may not realize that today is Palm Sunday. Kathy pointed it out to me earlier this week. I realize I should know such things without having to be told. Sadly, when she said this Sunday was Palm Sunday, my response was something like, “Oh.” She also pointed out something very interesting in regard to this word “gentle”in our text, Galatians 5:23. A related Greek word is also used in another very timely and familiar text: Matthew 21.
1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once." 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'"
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?" 11 And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee." (Matthew 21:1-11, ESV).
This is not the way kings act. This is not the way proud men act, who demand the respect of everyone. And what may be most amazing in all of this is the fact that it is God, the second Person of the Trinity, the Creator of all that is, the Person to whom all obedience and all love is owed, entering Jerusalem humbly. Gently. Not a conquering king on a tall, white steed with armor glistening in the sun, with the blood of his foes staining his garments, and with his foot upon the necks of his enemies. Rather, this Son of David, this prophet from Nazareth (“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”) rides into the city on a young donkey, a mere foal. This is humility and gentleness at its greatest, if one can actually use the word “great” to describe gentleness.
And then, once this greatest of all gentlemen entered Jerusalem, He went to the Temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers." (Matthew 21:12-13 ESV). In other words, gentleness does not equal wimpiness. The Gentleman Jesus overturned the tables of the robbers of the Temple in His zeal for the truth.
Gentleness doesn’t mean we should just keep our opinions or anything else we may have to say to ourselves to avoid conflict, especially when that conflict concerns the Gospel. Paul is a prime example of this. Was Paul being gentle when he said, “even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed”? (Galatians 1:8 ESV).
Look with me at Matthew 11 please. Jesus is speaking to the crowds and in verse 20 we read,
20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you." (Matthew 11:20-24 ESV)
Now that’s real preaching! That’s the way it’s supposed to be done! We need to just tell it like it is and if the pagans are offended, then that’s just tough. Right!? We need more of the kind of preaching like Jesus preached and less of this wimpy, limp, politically correct, seeker sensitive nonsense! We should be seeker INsensitive! Right!? Well, . . . look at the next verses:
25 At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:25-30 ESV)
How can Jesus pronounce judgments and condemnation and woe on entire cities in one breath, and say “Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly” in the next breath? Because, like Paul, confronting error and warning people of their need to repent is not contrary to gentleness.
Beloved, we are living in a day when it is considered unkind and intolerant and ungentlemanly to confront anyone about anything of a moral or spiritual nature. Rather, we are instructed to be open and flexible and tolerant and inviting and accepting and nonjudgmental and sensitive and feeling and brainless. We’re told there is no such thing as truth, or that our truth is no more true than someone else’s contrary truth, that we must not have any convictions about anything, that we must do away with our black/white, right/wrong, good/evil, saved/lost kind of thinking. But that is something we simply cannot abide as Christians.
And to hold our ground while pointing out error is not the equivalent of being unkind or unfeeling. We must hold our ground while at the same time being humble and gentle about it. We’re never in a position to be haughty or proud or conceited or belligerent or rude or self-promoting. Jesus did not conduct himself in that manner, nor did Paul, nor should we. And Paul warns us of such in the very next chapter of Galatians, chapter 6.
1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. (Galatians 6:1-3 ESV)
A number of years ago people used a phrase to describe someone who was proud. People would say, “He thinks he’s all that!” Listen, Jesus really IS “all that”! And HE was gentle and humble in His dealings with people, with sinners whose sins were all against Him. But the King of Glory humbly and gently rode into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey. He grew up in Nazareth, of all places. The Scriptures even tell us He wasn’t much to look at. He wasn’t a movie star.
He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:2-3 ESV).
Gentle, humble, lowly. Not pretentious, not proud, not gruff or impatient. Not easily angered, not quick to find fault, not critical or argumentative or rude or boisterous or un-gentlemanly. The Lord Jesus perfectly and completely exemplified every grace, every godly characteristic, every fruit of the Spirit for us to see and emulate. When we look at Him, we can see the epitome of all those fruits lived out before our eyes. The Lord Jesus was the incarnation of gentleness.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7 ESV).
Does a spirit of gentleness characterize us? Does this humble and gentle attitude that was Christ’s describe us? And do we dare forget just how kindly and gently Jesus has dealt with us? That even when we were His enemies, He gently and patiently worked in our hearts through the Holy Spirit to bring us to our senses and bring us to Himself?
Of all people, we who look to Christ as our example in everything, ought to know what it means to be humble and kind and gentle towards one another and towards others. The fruit of the Spirit is gentleness.
]]>And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 ESV)
Just how important is faith? Absolutely necessary! Without it, there is no way in which we can please God. Faith is essential for a right standing with God. Without it we are hopeless. There is no drawing near, there is no reward, there is no forgiveness of sin. He rewards those who, by faith, seek Him. Now let’s compare this verse with another passage, Romans 3:10-11.
As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” (Romans 3:10-11 ESV)
The same Greek work translated “seek” is used in both texts. In Hebrews we read that God rewards those who, by faith, seek Him. Here in Romans we read, “no one seeks for God”. So as far as I can tell, either:
Which is it? How would you answer? I think I know how you would answer. Number 2 is correct. But it is correct only because of the enabling grace of God. People believe God exists and they believe He rewards those who seek Him because He grants them the grace, the power, the ability to believe in Him and seek Him. That is how you and I and every Christian comes to salvation: by the grace of God in granting us saving faith, and then by believing in Christ alone. There is no other reasonable, biblical explanation.
Does that do anything for you? Do you ever ponder the truth of God’s grace toward you? Does your heart ever rejoice in the kindness and mercy of God toward you in granting you the very faith He requires of you so that He might reward you in the end? And do you ever wonder why God has been so gracious to you while others whom you love are passed over?
Look with me for a moment at the book of Exodus, chapter 11. There have been 9 plagues upon the people of Egypt while the people of Israel have been completely unaffected. A reasonable man would begin to see that there is some preferential treatment going on. But God has chosen to make an example of Pharaoh and the Egyptians by hardening Pharaoh’s hard heart even more. Here in chapter 11, we see that final threat of God’s wrath against Pharaoh and his nation.
4 So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, 5 and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 6 There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. 7 But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ 8 And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. 9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 11:4-9 ESV)
But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ Now skip down to chapter 12, verse 11 where Moses is giving the people of Israel instructions regarding their imminent departure from Egypt.
11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:11-13 ESV)
Have you ever wondered why they call it Passover? It seems almost comical to me how people use that term to describe a Jewish holiday without considering what it really means, and the meaning couldn’t be easier to figure out. Because the children of Israel listened to Moses’ words and sacrificed a lamb and sprinkled the blood of that lamb on their doorposts as they were told to do, God passed over them that night. However, He did not pass over everyone. Look at verse 29.
29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. 32 Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”
33 The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. 35 The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. (Exodus 12:29-36 ESV)
God made a distinction between Israel and Egypt. He passed over the one, but not the other. There were those who believed God’s prophet Moses, and those who didn’t. Who were they? In chapter 12, verse 50 we read, “All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. ALL the children of Israel responded to the message? Now my question to you is, how is that possible?
Forty years earlier, Moses was convinced he could lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. (Acts 6:25 ESV). Forty years later, he was convinced he couldn’t lead them out of Egypt. God was choosing the wrong man for the job. But the Lord showed Himself strong in and through Moses. He took a weak old man and gave him faith to trust in God.
He also made a distinction between Egypt and Israel. All people may be created equal, but not all people are the same. God said repeatedly to Pharaoh, through Moses, “Let MY people go.“ And eventually, God had His way with Pharaoh and with His own people. This is God’s gracious preferential treatment toward His own.
That is why you and I have faith while vast multitudes around us do not. Because God has shown us preferential treatment. The old writers called it “discriminating love.” Moses did not seek for God, God sought out Moses. We did not seek for God. He sought us and you and I should be endlessly thankful for it. That is the nature of saving faith.
In talking about faith, we see many facets of faith like the facets on a beautiful diamond. Yesterday I saw a news item regarding a ring made from a single diamond. The entire ring is one 150 carat diamond. If you’re interested, it sells for $70 million. But faith is worth far more than that because without faith, we cannot please God. What is it worth to be pleasing to God?
One of the facets of faith which we should consider is what Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11 ESV)
This is Paul’s explanation of how all believers are granted certain spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit for the common good. They are not granted for our personal, private benefit, but for the sake of all. And they are quite different. Notice he says in verse 4 that there are varieties of gifts. In verse 5 he says there are varieties of service. In verse 6 he says there are varieties of activities. Gifts, service, and activities given as a manifestation of the Spirit who lives within us. But a lot of variety.
Some spiritual gifts are easier to recognize than others. I think I would recognize the gift (or gifts) of healing if I saw it. If someone was able to heal the illnesses of other people (and apparently it would primarily be other Christians within the church since all the gifts are given for the common good), on a semi-regular basis, then I would be tempted to think that person had a Spirit-endowed gift. If someone performed works on numerous occasions that violated the laws of nature and physics, think I would recognize that as the spiritual gift of the working of miracles.
What does the gift of faith look like? Paul is not talking about saving faith here. This is a peculiar kind of faith, or possibly a peculiar degree of faith given to some believers but not all. He says in verse 11, All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. And he says in verses 27 through 31 that some have certain gifts while others have different gifts. That would apply to this gift of faith as well. In other words, some believers have it, and some don’t. But how do we know who has it if we don’t know how to recognize it when we see it?
We’ve already read what faith is in Hebrews 11:1. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. We’ve already concluded that all believers are granted saving faith. So if some believers have the gift of faith, how does that gift show itself?
Biblical faith is never blind. If you remember from last week, we talked about little Johnny hoping and wishing for a shiny new bike for Christmas and a couple of you mentioned that Johnny was not exercising faith by wishing for a bicycle. He was just hoping he would get one with no reason to believe he actually would receive it. He hadn’t been promised one so there was no real conviction that his wishes would come true.
Biblical faith is legitimate because it is faith in what God has said. We see that spelled out for us in the 11th chapter of Hebrews. Abel believed the word of God as it was passed along to him by his parents. Enoch, who walked with God, pleased God which is impossible without faith in Him and His promises. Noah believed God’s word of warning. Abraham believed God’s word of calling. Isaac, Jacob and Joseph believed God’s word of promise. Moses and Joshua and all those people of faith in this chapter had an object of faith, not merely some form of Robert Shuler-like positive thinking like Johnny hoping for a bike. The object of their faith was the God who spoke to them. The object of their faith was the same as ours: the word of God.
That, I believe, is also how the spiritual gift of faith works. Once again, James helps us with this concept. He said this:
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4 ESV)
There are those believers who meet trials of various kinds and they really have a tough go of it. Their faith has not matured to the point where they find these trials to be occasions for joy because they cannot see beyond their present suffering. I suspect most of us are pretty much solidly in that category at least some of the time. Sometimes we handle our trials and troubles better than at other times. We often have a hard time believing that even THIS difficulty which we find ourselves in (whatever it may be) is somehow spiritually useful. “How could God possibly be using THIS in my life for my good?” It just feels like an exercise in misery and woe for no apparent reason.
But the person who has the gift of faith consistently believes there is a divine purpose behind their trials and truly believes God is at work in them. They have been granted a steadfastness in their faith that the rest of us seem to slowly work toward through our many trials. The person who has the gift of faith then exercises their faith for the common good by encouraging fellow believers to trust the promises of God when it seems particularly difficult to do so.
Another facet of faith we want to look at which will be our final one is what Paul says to us in the text which has been the basis for our entire study, Galatians 5:22 - The fruit of the Spirit is faith. That is how the KJV, HCSB, & Green’s Literal Translation state it. Paul is not speaking strictly about faith itself, but of faithfulness as the ESV and most other translations render it. He says there that the fruit of the Spirit is kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness. He is not speaking about “the faith”, but about Christian behavior, or how a kind, good, faithful, and gentle person behaves.
How does a Christian demonstrate faithfulness? What Paul is getting at here is the consistent, daily, long-term, obedient behavior that makes a person trustworthy. Fidelity as opposed to infidelity. Their lives are so consistently godly that their obedience to God in everything is predictable. Expected. When such a person sins, it is out of character for them to do so. It surprises those looking on.
Faithfulness is fidelity; loyalty; firm adherence to allegiance and duty; as the faithfulness of a subject. As in good and faithful servant or slave. Faithfulness to God may be most easily recognized through one’s faithfulness to God’s people, His church.
A couple of weeks ago, you will recall I gave most of you a little sheet of paper to fill out. It was a poll I was taking not solely for my benefit, but for yours. I asked two questions regarding your attendance in Sunday School or your lack of such. I did not ask it solely because I am perpetually disappointed with the miserable attendance numbers, but because I am perpetually disappointed at the lack of commitment on the part of the majority of you who call Grace Fellowship your church family. I believe this matter of faithfulness addresses that issue. Listen to Hebrews 10:19-25.
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:19-25 ESV).
Some within the fellowship that the writer of Hebrews was writing to were in the habit of not meeting together. And he exhorts them not to neglect (some versions use the word “forsake”) the assembling of themselves together. Why? Well, among other reasons, because there was a pressing need to encourage one another in light of the fact that they were seeing the Day draw near.
What Day (with a capital “D”)? According to the next six verses, he’s talking about the Day of Judgment!
30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:30-31 ESV)
Skip down to verse 36:
36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; (Hebrews 10:36-37 ESV)
The coming one? Who could that be? The one who will judge His people?
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” (Hebrews 10:38 ESV)
It seems we have a choice of either living by faith through which we are able to please the Lord, or shrinking back, not being faithful, and displeasing the Lord. It seems that consistently and regularly assembling with God’s people and not neglecting to meet together with them is a sign of faithfulness to God. That kind of faithfulness is one of the fruits of the Spirit that dwells in genuine believers.
I suspect you might be thinking, “Keith is making a mountain out of a molehill. Just because I don’t regularly attend Sunday School, he thinks I’m somehow being unfaithful, that I’m not really committed to this church.”
Do you remember the verse we spoke of last week when Jesus was speaking in Luke chapter 16?
"One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. (Luke 16:10 ESV)
This is your church family. We are all fellow believers, brothers and sisters. One of the things we do as a church family is Sunday School. Some of you have never ever attended. But this is what we do. It is a very little thing. It is an occasion for us to assemble together to encourage one another in these increasingly dark days. And THE Day is approaching when the Lord Himself will return.
1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.2 He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'"6 And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:1-8 ESV)
When the Lord returns, will He find faithful people? Will He even find those who cry to Him day and night? Will He find faithfulness in us, even in small, seemingly insignificant things? Will He find those who faithfully assemble together to encourage one another regularly to persevere in their trials, to stand firm when persecution comes, to not forsake the brethren by habitually neglecting one another?
Faithfulness to Christ, being a good and faithful slave of our Master, means we are faithful to love one another, to care for one another, to encourage one another, to regularly assemble with one another for the sake of each other’s souls.
Are we faithful?
]]>In the Asia Minor city of Smyrna, persecution broke out against Christians and some were put to death for their faith. But the agitated mob wanted to cut off the church there by getting rid of their leader, the now aged Polycarp. The believers hid Polycarp in a farmhouse. (The leaders there taught that one should not seek out martyrdom, but neither should it be avoided if there was no choice and it meant denying Christ).
The authorities found the farm house and came to arrest the old man. He welcomed his captors as if they were old friends and gave them food and drink. He asked for an hour to pray before being taken to the arena. They relented. The hour stretched into two hours. The officers, overhearing his prayers began to wonder what they were doing arresting an old man like this.
Polycarp was brought into the arena. Instead of Polycarp begging for his life we find the proconsul pleading with this aged bishop to just curse Christ so he would be released. Polycarp's reply:
“Eighty and six years have I served Him, and he never did me any injury; how then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior.”
He was burned alive. The Christians present said there was a joyful radiance on Polycarp's face as he died. Believers were allowed to bury his remains on February 22, probably in the year 155. Churches near and far from Smyrna observed this date in years to come and drew strength from the testimony of this old, old, man who would not deny Christ, no matter what it cost him. 1
He would not deny Christ. He would not follow in the footsteps of Peter.
I would not want to have the distinction of being known as the disciple who denied Jesus three times. That one sinful act has been lurking in Peter’s shadow for 2000 years. However, I am convinced that Peter’s failure of faith on that occasion has been used of God to inspire multitudes of believers to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus in some of the worst persecution imaginable. How ironic that Peter’s failure in faith has been an inspiration to generations of Christians to stand firm, even in the face of a painful death.
When we think of those like Polycarp who have been martyred for their faith in Christ, and how they have persevered through deaths that cause us to cringe, we wonder how. How can someone have such faith as that? I wonder if I would be so brave and so unmovable in my faith if they came looking for me and threatened me with death by fire?
Beloved, this is the very reason why our lives as believers in the Lord Jesus are often difficult. We are constantly being tested and our faith is perpetually being tried for the purpose of strengthening and growing our faith. I want you to consider a passage of Scripture with me for just a moment: Luke 16:10.
"One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. (Luke 16:10 ESV)
The fruit of the Spirit is faith. Every believer has some measure of faith. That’s why we’re called Believers. We have faith in Christ, we are trusting in Him to save us, we believe in what He did upon the cross to purchase us for Himself and deliver us from condemnation. By definition, you can’t be a believer without faith.
So it would seem, according to the words of Jesus here in Luke 16, that if we have been granted any faith at all, and if we are faithful in even the smallest and (apparently) most insignificant of situations, then we will be faithful in the weightiest and most serious of situations. Not infallibly so, but ultimately so. This is exactly what we believe the Bible teaches. The Baptist Confession boils it down very succinctly in this statement:
Those whom God hath accepted in the beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, and given the precious faith of his elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved, seeing the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, whence he still begets and nourisheth in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit unto immortality; and though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they are fastened upon; notwithstanding, through unbelief and the temptations of Satan, the sensible sight of the light and love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured from them, yet he is still the same, and they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased possession, they being engraven upon the palm of his hands, and their names having been written in the book of life from all eternity. 2
We are fastened upon the rock of our salvation, Christ, by the faith which God has granted to us. And He nourishes faith in us, testing us and teaching us to grow in our faith through the storms and floods. And even though we may lose sight of Him from time to time, He will never lose sight of us. He is still the same, and He will keep His promise to take us all the way to glory. Amen?
So rejoice in the testing of your faith. We are being trained and disciplined and matured in order that we might be good and faithful servants of our good and faithful King.
Now turn with me to Hebrews 11. We’ve talked about faith, we’ve seen the dictionary definition of faith, we’ve discussed how God grants us faith and causes it to grow. We’ve even looked at the failure of the faith of Peter and how his failure has been used of the Lord to inspire faithfulness in us. Now let’s look at an example of faithfulness and draw some positive inspiration from someone who did it right.
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. (Hebrews 11:1-4 ESV)
First, I want to focus on verse 1, the definition of faith. This is the Bible’s own definition which the Spirit of God Himself has supplied for us. According to this verse, faith has to do with things not yet realized or seen. Let’s think of it this way:
Once upon a time, way back when Johnny was a young child, he hoped for a new bicycle for Christmas. After what felt like decades of hoping and wishing and being good, Christmas day finally arrived with a shiny new bike under the tree. At that point, faith was no longer necessary. Little Johnny stopped hoping for a bike. His hope had been realized and he no longer needed to “walk by faith” believing Santa Claus (or his Dad) was going to make the delivery.
Now I am going to make a statement you need to consider: When Christmas day arrived, the bike became a reality and was no longer something that only existed in Johnny’s head. True or False? Johnny hoped and believed he would get a bike. And until the bike was seen, he still exercised faith and hope that he would get one. But suppose in spite of everything, Johnny didn’t get a shiny new bike. What should we conclude?
There are those within the very large tent of evangelicalism who teach that, like God, you can create reality by the power of faith. They say that, like God who created the universe out of nothing by the power of His faith, we can harness the power of faith and bring bicycles and Lambourghinis into our existence. So it may be Johnny didn’t get the shiny new bike for Christmas because he did not have enough power to faith it into existence. He just wasn’t enough like God, I suppose.
Beloved, regardless of how much Johnny may have hoped and prayed and had faith to believe he would get a bike for Christmas, his faith had absolutely nothing to do with the existence of that bike. This is how the Word of Faith Movement has perverted this entire concept of faith. In essence, they make a god out of faith, and they make God subject to the power of Faith.
Whether or not people believe God, believe in God, believe in Christ, believe the Bible, or believe that God created the world from nothing, neither their faith nor our faith has any effect upon reality, upon what is true. Faith does not determine what is real or true. Things do not exist because we believe they do. Something isn’t true because we trust that it is.
Hebrews 11:1 tells us faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. So let me ask you another question: How did Adam know God created the world? . . . Because he was there? Even Adam was required to believe that God had created him and the rest of the world. That has always been the case. Ever since the Garden of Eden, it has been necessary to exercise faith, to believe that God is our Creator.
Verse 2 tells us it was through this kind of faith that the people of old received their commendation. Because of their faith in things hoped for and unseen, people spoken of throughout the Old Testament Scriptures were commended by God. Like Abel. Look at verse 4.
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. (Hebrews 11:4 ESV)
Abel’s faith resulted in a commendation, a good testimony from God. So the question is, “What was it that Abel believed? What did Abel hope for which he was convinced was true even though he had never seen it, which caused him to bring the kind of sacrifice that he brought to God?” Because that’s what we’re talking about: Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Abel had that kind of faith and therefore brought an acceptable sacrifice. What did he believe that caused him to do that? Turn with me to Genesis 4.
1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD." 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. (Genesis 4:1-5 ESV)
According to what we read in Hebrews 11, Abel’s offering of a lamb was an act of faith but Cain’s offering of his crops was not. Why? Because of what he believed to be true, because of what he hoped for which he could not yet see. What did Abel have faith in that Cain did not believe? Whatever Abel believed, it resulted in this particular kind of sacrifice which God accepted, resulting in God’s approbation of Abel. Abel had saving faith and Cain did not. So what did Abel believe?
He believed God. Cain did not. Look with me at Genesis 2 and notice what it says beginning in verse 15:
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:15-17 ESV)
This is God speaking to Cain and Abel’s father. If you eat of this tree you will die. Now chapter 3, verse 6:
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6 ESV)
These are the parents of Cain and Abel who defied God’s command which led to their fall into sin and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. They were cursed by God. They lost Paradise. Now skip down to verse 22.
22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--" 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24 ESV)
The Garden is still there, the tree of life is still there, and they are prohibited from returning to it lest they live forever in their fallen sinful state.
Then in chapter 4 we see the story of Cain’s and Abel’s sacrifices and Abel’s death at the hands of his brother. There is no record of Abel speaking or saying anything. And yet the writer of Hebrews says he was a man who possessed saving faith because God approved of Abel’s animal sacrifice. It was because of Abel’s faith that he brought a sheep and not a tomato to the Lord. How did he know to do that?
Because of the actions of God on behalf of his parents. As a result of what God did, Adam and Eve did not die. They should have. God said they would. But they did not. Why? Because God provided a temporary substitutionary sacrifice for them, the life of an animal in exchange for the lives of our first parents.
21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21 ESV)
Abel understood the grace of God. Undoubtedly he was told by his parents how God had spared their lives. They could point Abel to the Garden where angels kept guard to prevent them all from re-entering and eating from the Tree of Life so as to make their fallen condition an eternal one. And surely Adam recounted the occasion when he saw God Himself, in the person of the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus, slaughter an animal, probably a sheep, and shed its blood in order to provide the skins that would clothe them and cover the nakedness that was the result of their rebellion.
Surely Abel knew all of this. And by faith, he understood there was an eternal life to be had which would be purchased by the blood of another future sacrifice. It was this faith that caused Abel to bring God an acceptable offering from his flock. By faith, followed God’s own example, doing what God had done, by taking the life of a lamb as a substitute for his own life. And God was pleased with it.
Abel believed God. He believed what he knew. He trusted what he was told as well as what he could see. The evidence of his faith in God to deliver him from the death his own father had brought upon us all was his animal sacrifice through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.
One more thing Abel believed, and it may be this is the most important thing. It was something the Lord Jesus said in front of Abel’s parents which I suspect they were sure to pass down to their sons:
14 The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:14-15 ESV)
Abel believed that. He was told the entire story: What Eden was like, and there was this tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and how his Mom was tempted by the serpent. How she foolishly listened to his deceptions, and how she invited Abel’s Dad to join her in her deception. They told him how the Lord Jesus came looking for them, and how ashamed and afraid they were. They told their son how the Lord was upset with them, but He loved them and made provision for them through a sacrifice, the first death the world had ever seen because the wages of sin is death.
And they told Abel that one day, Someone would come and destroy the works of the Devil and crush his head under His feet. That is what Abel believed!
Does our faith look like Abel’s? I don’t mean we should be sacrificing animals in the back yard. But do we really believe what God has said so that it affects how we approach Him and how we think about Him? Do we not have the same hope Abel had, that one day the work of the Devil will be destroyed and the Lord Jesus will reign over all His people in righteousness and they will live forever?
And it would be wise for us to keep in mind that Cain heard everything and knew everything Abel did. He had access to the very same information as Abel. He even saw a sacrifice presented to God by his own brother that God declared to be acceptable. He was even told by God that he would be accepted if he brought a sacrifice like his brother’s.
But, obviously, he did not believe it. He did not listen to the word of God. And his actions proved his faithlessness.
Whether a person believes God or doesn’t believe God, one thing is certain. Jesus said it Himself: Thy word is truth. (John 17:17). Whatever God says is truth. I would strongly urge you and everyone else who may hear this message to believe that. Our faith must be in the word of God. That is saving faith.
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1. http://www.christianity.com/ChurchHistory/11629600/
2. http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/1689lbc/english/Chapter17.htm. John 10:28, 29; Philippians 1:6; 2 Timothy 2:19; 1 John 2:19; Psalms 89:31, 32; 1 Corinthians 11:32; Malachi 3:6
]]>This week we’re looking at the word “faith” and the name of someone else very famous. If you have a dog, you may want to pay attention. The Latin form of the English word “faith” is fide, as in ”sola fide”: Faith Alone. Another form of the word is “fee-doe”, or as we usually pronounce it, Fido, a name that has been given to many dogs on many occasions. Why is that so?
Because dogs, much more than cats, are known to be faithful companions. Cats are only faithful to themselves because they typically don’t believe in the existence of humans. But dogs do. Thus the name Fido - Faithful. And when your dog advances a bit in years, you can call him Antiquus Fido, or Old Faithful. Your friends will think you’re smart.
One of the fruits of the Spirit (or as I like to call them, the Attributes of a True Christian) which we read of in Galatians 5, is faith, or faithfulness. Faith is extremely simple and surprisingly complicated at the same time. It is simple in that it is easily defined, unlike some of the other Christian attributes we’ve looked at. If you have faith, you believe something to be true. Not a hard concept to grasp. In fact, in the simplest sense of the word, faith is something all people possess, not just Christians.
But saving faith, belief in the biblical Gospel message, is impossible apart from the grace of God. Let me say it again: Apart from a gracious work of God upon the heart of an individual, it is impossible to truly believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I realize that sounds crazy to lots of people. It seems that we all can believe whatever we want to believe. But because of faith, because we believe the Bible, we know what I have just said is true. We believe the Gospel. We also believe it is impossible to believe the Gospel apart from the grace of God. We believe that because we believe what the Bible says about it. That’s a whole lot of believing! That’s a lot of faith.
Now this next statement get’s a bit complicated. Today, lot’s of people don’t believe in faith. OR rather, they believe faith doesn’t work, or more precisely, that faith in God and the Bible is foolish. In other words, they have no faith in our faith. They do, however, have faith. They have faith in science. Their faith is in the scientific process. They have faith that they can eliminate the need for faith. They believe we must prove scientifically what is and is not true in order to believe. If something cannot be proven by science, then, they say they can’t and don’t believe it.
The theory is that once we undeniably prove by means of unbiased scientific inquiry that God created the world, then we will all have sufficient reason to believe in God. But that would eliminate the need for faith in God if we proved His existence. If something is proven scientifically to be true, then faith is unnecessary. There’s nothing in which to believe except the facts, and of course, the facts speak for themselves. Faith is not included.
Here’s what Webster’s 1828 Dictionary says about faith:
FAITH, n. [L. fides, fido, to trust]
1. Belief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting on his authority and veracity, without other evidence; the judgment that what another states or testifies is the truth. I have strong faith or no faith in the testimony of a witness, or in what a historian narrates.
3. In theology, the assent of the mind or understanding to the truth of what God has revealed. Simple belief of the scriptures, of the being and perfections of God, and of the existence, character and doctrines of Christ, founded on the testimony of the sacred writers, is called historical or speculative faith; a faith little distinguished from the belief of the existence and achievements of Alexander or of Cesar.
4. Evangelical, justifying, or saving faith, is the assent of the mind to the truth of divine revelation, on the authority of God's testimony, accompanied with a cordial assent of the will or approbation of the heart; an entire confidence or trust in God's character and declarations, and in the character and doctrines of Christ, with an unreserved surrender of the will to his guidance, and dependence on his merits for salvation. In other words, that firm belief of God's testimony, and of the truth of the gospel, which influences the will, and leads to an entire reliance on Christ for salvation.
So there are different kinds of faith. For example, I have greater faith in some Presidential candidates than others to do the right thing, to tell the truth, and to lead our country in a good direction. I believe some candidates try to tell the truth while others don’t try quite so hard. That is one kind of faith.
Another kind of faith is faith in the testimony of the Bible (or any other religious book) that it is true and that there really is a God. Multitudes of people have faith in the existence of God and they would tell you they believe the Bible is true. Mormons and Muslims and scores of other religions have no trouble teaching that we should all have faith in a god we cannot see.
Saving faith is another kind of faith entirely. It is a specific faith granted by God to the elect by means of the gospel message in order that they might repent of their sins, and trust in Christ. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17 ESV). Paul said to the Philippians that God had granted them saving faith (Philippians 1:29). To the Ephesians he said, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8 ESV). Grace is a gift from God, faith is a gift from God, the entire salvation package (if I may call it that) is a gift granted by God to all those for whom Christ paid the price for their salvation. All whom Christ purchased by his blood, in other words, the Church, are granted salvation.
That is the nature of saving faith.
There is another aspect to this idea of biblical faith which is separate from, but certainly related to saving faith. According to the Scriptures, faith can be quantified. In other words, there are those who have great faith, and there are those who don’t have so much. Then there are those who are expected to have great faith that is sufficient for particular occasions, but they don’t. Look with me for a moment at Matthew 6.
25 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:25-34 ESV)
This is the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus is speaking to people who are obviously “concerned” for their physical well-being. The word He uses is anxious. Worry. And their worry is a result of little faith”. He didn’t say they were faithless. He said they didn’t have much. But which comes first? Worry or little faith? Yes. Each one causes the other. Lack of faith produces worry, and the more we worry, the smaller our faith becomes. We talk ourselves out of trusting God. Do you worry a lot? It’s because you don’t have much faith. Is your faith small? Well, stop worrying! Your heavenly Father knows what you need.
Look at another text with me: Matthew 8. This will sound familiar to most of you.
23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing." 26 And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?" (Matthew 8:23-27 ESV).
As I was thinking about this, it dawned on me that these guys in the boat with Jesus had tons of faith. Peter could have said to Jesus, “Hey, I have great faith! That we’re all gonna die!” That’s exactly what they believed and I can’t say that I blame them. But what they didn’t believe was what Jesus had told them: “Let’s get in the boat and go to the other side.” They had greater faith in the power of the storm than in what Jesus had told them. They had faith, but it was misplaced. They didn’t trust Jesus, they trusted their own senses. And their senses were shouting, ”We’re all gonna die!” They had very little faith in Jesus.
Now I want you to compare this with another text: Matthew 17:14-20.
14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him." 17 And Jesus answered, "O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20 He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:14-20 ESV)
In this passage, we have a bit of a problem with the ESV. In verse 20, where the ESV uses the phrase little faith, most ancient texts use the Greek word apistia which literally means no faith, or unbelief (KJV, NKJV, etc.). That is the word used in verse 17 which the ESV renders faithless. So which is it? Was Jesus rebuking the disciples because they had little faith or because they were faithless?
If they were being rebuked because of the smallness of their faith, it must have been nearly microscopic. Because He then says, “If your faith was the size of this teeny weenie mustard seed, you could do a lot more than cure diseases!” If they had faith at all, it was not sufficient to the task which Jesus had commissioned them to do: heal the sick. Which doesn’t seem quite fair, does it?
But! It may be that that was the whole point. Are we so foolish as to believe Jesus sent out the disciples to perform a task which He did not realize they were incapable of doing? Are we to believe Jesus wasn’t aware that their faith was so small and they weren’t up to the challenge? May it never be! Look with me at James 1.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. (James 1:2-3 ESV)
Who did Jesus send out to minister and heal the sick and the demon-possessed? The disciples. What are disciples? Learners. Students. What did they learn from their excursion into the real world? That their faith was pathetic; microscopic; nearly invisible, maybe even non-existent. What did they see when the man brought his son to Jesus? He spoke a word and the boy was instantaneously healed.
So what did the learners learn? What did these disciples learn from this experience? To have more faith. Their faith was tested, and they failed the test miserably. But the Lord does not send tests just to give us a failing grade. Presumably these disciples learned from their experience (because that is the job of a disciple: learning) and they walked away from it with a growing faith. The testing of their faith produced more steadfastness. It produced greater faith. The testing of our faith is for the purpose of producing more faithfulness.
4 And let steadfastness [faithfulness] have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God,who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith,with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:2-7 ESV)
The doubtful, virtually faithless Christian worry-wart is unstable in all his ways. What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? What if I get sick? What if my unemployment runs out before I can find another job? What if a certain person doesn’t get elected for President? What if a certain person gets re-elected for President? What if the stock market crashes? What if Iran nukes Israel? What if Israel nukes Iran? What are we gonna do?
“O ye of little faith!” “What are we gonna do???” We’re gonna keep trusting in God. We’re gonna keep believing all that He has said, He will do! We will continue to believe the Scriptures. We will continue to believe God cannot lie. We will trust in the faithfulness of God. When our faith is tested by various trials we can rejoice in knowing that those trials are sent by a loving Father for the purpose of teaching us to trust Him more and remain faithful. That’s what disciples do: learn to trust their Master.
So if you have a little bit of faith, the trials you face are for the specific purpose of not leaving you there. It is for your good, that you might develop a strong, unmovable, unshakable faith. Look at verse 12.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial [under the testing of his faith], for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12 ESV)
Turn with me to one more passage: Luke 22. This should be a comfort to us in the trials that test our faith.
31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." (Luke 22:31-32 ESV)
Now listen carefully: Did Peter’s faith fail that night? Was it not Peter who denied the Lord three times that night? Who was it that said they would never leave the Lord Jesus? That he would die for Christ? Of course Peter’s faith failed. Partially. Momentarily.
Do we not see here that Jesus knew full well He was sending Peter and all of the disciples into a test of their faith, a test which none of them would pass? Jesus was forsaken by them all! He was sending Peter into a situation that Satan wanted to use to completely destroy Peter’s faith. That night, they all flunked their test in Faith 101. Briefly. Temporarily. Not completely. They may have flunked the test, but they passed the course!
Jesus assured Peter, and by extension He assures us, that we have an Intercessor, a High Priest in heaven who speaks to the Father on our behalf. Jesus prays for us perpetually and the result is that our faith never fails entirely or permanently. But when it does fail, something happens. Jesus said to Peter, when you have turned again. When you have repented of your sin. Notice, Jesus didn’t say, “If you turn from your sin and repent.” When.
Surely it is true, the testing of our faith produces endurance, patience, steadfastness, and faithfulness.
Now some of you are thinking, “This is all good, and I’m glad to hear you explain some of these things to us. I want my faith to grow and by the grace of God I’m going to stop worrying and complaining and start trusting the Lord more, even in the worst of situations. This has been very helpful, Keith. Thank you very much.”
Well, you’re welcome. BUT you’re also thinking, “Keith gave us all these definitions of faith from Webster’s Dictionary and he hasn’t once even referred to the biblical definition of faith in Hebrews 11. He hasn’t referred to Hebrews 11 at all! Doesn’t he know that is THE biblical text on faith? Doesn’t he know that’s the so-called ‘Hall of Faith’ with Abraham and Noah and Moses and all those other cats?”
Yes, as a matter of fact, I do know that. So turn to the book of Hebrews and lets read that chapter and discuss those great heroes of the faith . . . unless you want to save that for next week.
We also haven’t discussed what was supposed to be our text for today, Galatians 5:22 - The fruit of the Spirit is faith. We haven’t discussed what it means to have the spiritual gift of faith, which is different than the fruit of faith. We haven’t discussed how those are related to, or how they are different from saving faith. So there is much more to talk about. But not now. I do not have faith to believe you would tolerate another hour of preaching very well. So we’ll stop here for today.
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Next week: Hebrews 1 & the faith of Abel. Faith is Fundamental (Hebrews 11:3&6)
Two weeks: Fruit of the Spirit vs Gift of the Spirit
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1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!' 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.' 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
13 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. 16 "The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me."
17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" 18 And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." (Luke 10:1-20 ESV)
Psychologists describe euphoria as “a feeling of happiness, confidence, or well-being.” Elation. Or simply joy. We are beings that possess a variety of emotions and joy is a particularly good one. We see it in the words of these 72 disciples as they report back to Jesus after having spent some time going from town to town to prepare the people for His own ministry among them.
The text says in verse 17, The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" It isn’t hard to imagine the absolute elation in the voices of these men as they tell of this power they have been granted over the most fearsome power they know. But now, with the authority of the Lord Jesus, they are no longer victims of Satan’s comrades, but victors! Jesus said to them, “Nothing shall hurt you.“ To be able to address demonic powers and command them to leave a possessed person like Jesus Himself did on so many occasions, that must have been pretty heady stuff!
“Even the demons are subject to us in your name!” Fantastic power over evil spirits was at their command. It was the very power of God at work through them! To be used of God in such a profound and dynamic way was more than they could have ever dreamt of. And thus we read the phrase, the seventy-two returned with joy! They must have been beside themselves. It was euphoric, it was elation, it was happiness, it was pure joy to have this power over the enemies of their own souls.
And yet Jesus says to them, “Do not rejoice in this”. You do not need to be joyful “that the spirits are subject to you.” That is a very interesting statement. They were joyful that evil spirits were subject to them. But in Galatians 5, we’re joyful in our subjection to the Spirit of God. We are to rejoice in our subjection to the one Spirit who is holy. That sheds some light on why Jesus says to His 72 disciples, there’s no need to rejoice in your authority over demons. Rather, rejoice that your names are written in heaven!
Why would these 72 disciples need to be reminded of what they should truly rejoice over? On the one hand, they can see that they have been granted a power over demons that is clearly supernatural, from God. So it is easy to understand their joy in that. On the other hand, neither we nor they can yet see or fully fathom what Heaven is like. It is harder to rejoice in something we have yet to actually experience. They, like we, walk by faith at this point, not by sight. So our joy in our salvation is joy in something not quite tangible, not fully realized. But it is very, very real. That is why the Psalmist says, “In your presence is fullness of joy.” It is not until we are in Heaven and we realize our own presence there with the Lord, in person, seeing him with our own eyes, that we will experience total joy.
But even now, in this world, as believers, we have much reason to be joyful. Because of Christ, we have legitimate reason to be joyful, elated, euphoric, and happy! Our names ARE written in Heaven! This joy in our salvation is a fruit of the Spirit of God, manifested in his children. And it is, as the hymn says, only a foretaste of glory divine. But even a foretaste of joy is still joy!
So the fruit of the Spirit is love, and joy, and thirdly, peace - The Greek word is eirene (i-ray'-nay), from which we get the English name Irene. All parents should name their little girls Irene, and if you have a little boy, then you might want to consider the name Irenaeus. Not a very popular name, but not a bad name at all. Would that more parents named their children Irene or Ireneaus which means Peace.
In a secular sense, peace means harmony, concord, security, safety, prosperity, felicity. Lack of strife, cessation of conflict. In the largest secular sense, it refers to a state of national tranquillity, the absence of war both from without and within. But for the Christian, peace is something which the Spirit brings to the soul and heart and mind of a person who is no longer under condemnation by his own sin. No longer at odds with God, no longer considered an enemy of holiness and righteousness. The conflict between himself and God is over. Look with me at Romans 5.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:1-11 ESV)
The direct effect of justification is peace. Here Paul is not really speaking of the internal peace of heart and mind that is a fruit of the Spirit, but peace in a more forensic sense. We were sinners, we were enemies of God, we were opposed to His rule over us, we were ungodly. But now God has justified us through Christ and the consequence of Christ’s death for us is reconciliation to God. But verse 11 tells us, “more than that”, meaning more than a new legal standing that has become ours through Christ, more than justification alone, more than a peace treaty that has been signed in the blood of Christ, we have the added side-effect, the added benefit of the great emotional blessing that comes with reconciliation:
we ALSO rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (v11).
This reconciliation, this outward peace agreement brings inward peace and rejoicing. So we have here in salvation, through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us, love and joy and peace. This is how the true Christian experiences a wholeness of life and mind and body, a fullness of soul, a completeness that no other religion affords. God, by His grace towards us in Christ, and by His kindness in giving us His Spirit, changes our outward standing before Himself as our holy Judge, and as a result of that He changes our inward condition by granting us peace and joy and love. We have peace without and within!
It is a powerful feeling to experience the burden of sin and guilt being lifted from the conscience. It is not “merely” true that the guilty have been made righteous, but that profound objective truth profoundly affects us subjectively. Peace with God has the effect of making us peaceful. It reminds us of the scenes we see in our heads when we think about the 23rd Psalm. We are His sheep, we dwell in His green pastures, we lack nothing that we need, we are perpetually cared for by Him, protected by Him, loved by Him. We will never be abandoned by Him. We can rest in Him. It is that restful state of heart and mind which comes from His meeting our every spiritual need that the Spirit grants to all believers. That is the spiritual fruit of peace.
Someone will say to me, “I’m a Christian and I know the Lord loves me, Christ died for me, and I belong to Him. But this joy and peace you’re talking about is pretty scarce in my life. I just don’t get those vibes, I don’t feel those emotions. Joy and peace are, at best, fleeting visitors who come into my life on occasion, but they don’t stay very long. Why is that? Why am I so often worried and fearful if the fruit of the Spirit is supposed to be joy and peace?”
There is a simple, biblical, two-part answer to that question. The first reason why we often experience more worry than joy, and more fear than peace is due to our lack of faith. We worry and fear because we do not believe the things God has said, which is not merely unfortunate for us because of the mental suffering it causes. It is sinful.
The second reason for chronic lack of joy and peace in our lives is directly related to the first. Our lack of faith is often caused by our neglect of the word of God. We lack faith and therefore suffer from fear and anxiety because we either don’t know what God has said, or we forget what He has said. We’ve stopped preaching God’s word to our own souls.
We often suffer unnecessarily from a downcast, discouraged, depressed soul because it has been far too long since we’ve actually sat down and meditated upon the promises of God. We get so caught up in our worldly affairs and concerns that we sometimes forget God’s promises to us. It is far too easy for us to do so. We need to have our souls revived and restored and lifted up. But how? Turn to Philippians 4.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me--practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:4-9 ESV)
The joy and the peace of God, the renewal and revival of our hearts and minds, is dependent upon our:
It is when our hearts and minds are preoccupied with the things of the world and distracted from the things of God that we become worried and fearful. We forget what we know, we become ungrateful, and joy and peace evaporate.
But when we intentionally rejoice in the Lord, when we intentionally walk in the Spirit and give thanks to Him constantly for this salvation that is ours solely by His grace, solely because of His love towards us, it is then that our anxious fears subside, and the peace of God GUARDS and PROTECTS our hearts and minds. He keeps us stable, unmovable, constant. We fix our eyes upon the Lord Jesus and God’s peace guards our hearts.
Beloved, there is a never-ending stream, a flood, a tsunami of things to worry about. The world around us tempts us to be fearful of the future, uncertain about the economy, about world politics, about the environment, about personal safety, about the education of our children, about everything. There is no peace in this world. The temptation to be phobic about absolutely everything is constant. What about my future, what about my job, what about my health, what about my family, what if we have another terrorist attack, what if I can’t make my house payment, what if the stock market crashes, what if . . .
Let me ask you this:
My dear brothers and sisters, what if you had to worry about whether or not God loves you? When we neglect what God has said, when we lose the priority of meditating on and rejoicing in what Christ has done for us, the temptation to be worried and fearful roars in like a flood. Brethren, look at this text!
. . . [W]hatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me--practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you!
There’s the promise! Is your joy and peace tank running on empty? Are you wondering why these fruits of the Spirit seem so elusive in your life? Paul says we are to walk in the Spirit in order to experience these fruits, and the way we walk in the Spirit is by thinking about spiritual things and practicing those things he has taught us.
Like everything else, this sermon comes with a warning label, so here it is:
WARNING! It may be necessary to turn off your computer or TV or SmartPhone, or curtail social activities and hobbies in order to begin experiencing joy and peace.
I know. This is tough talk! I confess, I experience withdrawal symptoms and separation anxiety when I leave my laptop in another room. My suggestion is to start slowly at first, 30 seconds at a time, and gradually build up your tolerance for Disconnection. Before you know it, you’ll be able to think independently of your iPad and iPhone and Internet service for up to minutes at a time. (Your mileage may vary.)
But what do we have to gain, beloved? Peace and joy! What do we have to lose? Worry and fear! Peace and joy? Or worry and fear. Take your pick. But now you know the cure: Think about what God has said and done, practice the things you have learned from the Scriptures. And the God of peace and joy and love and patience and kindness and goodness and self-control and gentleness will be with you by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is what walking in the Spirit looks like and that’s how you experience joy and peace.
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For at least a century, the liberal thinkers within Christendom have succeeded in convincing us that God possesses the single attribute of love, and that to an infinite degree. He directs that love towards all people indiscriminately and equally while seriously neglecting all other divine attributes. We’ve been taught that God is love and very little else. God possesses a kind of blind, ignorant, emotional love that somehow does not recognize people as sinful and rebellious. And this is the fertile false doctrinal ground in which all kinds of lies grow and prosper such as, “God loves you just the way you are.” That one sentence instantaneously removes the necessity for repentance from sin in many people’s minds.
This naïve idea of God loving men to the neglect of His justice and holiness is extremely dangerous. It causes critics to ask the question, “How could an all-loving God allow so much suffering in the world?” It also causes others who claim to be Christians to say things like, “My God would never elect some people to salvation and not others. My God is not like that. My God would never send people to Hell”
This warped perception of a God who is strong on love but really weak on wrath and condemnation and the punishment of evil has caused some of us to lean so far in the other direction that we hesitate to even recite the phrase “God is love.” When I quote that verse, I feel compelled to follow it up and balance it out with Psalm 7:11b - God is angry with the wicked every day. These liberal ideas about God’s love has actually made the discussion of the love of God very complicated.
But what makes it even more complicated is the largeness of the topic of love. In a few weeks we’ll have a holiday that is simultaneously enjoyed and hated by millions - Valentines Day. It’s supposed to be about love. But is it? What is love? On Friday night we saw a sign outside a local church that says, “Money buys the dog, but only love wags the tail.“ Does that help us understand biblical love?
The Bible says in 1 John 4:8, God is love. So if God is love, then is love God? If A = B, then doesn’t B = A? Is God’s love like Valentine’s Day love? If not, then what IS God’s love like? Is it like the love I felt in the 10th grade towards my girlfriend which only lasted a couple of months? Is it like Tina Turner’s song, What’s Love Got To Do With It? where she says “What’s love but a second hand emotion?” Is there no real substance to love?
If I asked you to quote a Bible verse with the word “love” in it, how long would it take you to think of 10 examples? Lots of passages quickly come to mind: “For God so loved the world”. “What manner of love is this, that we should be called the children of God.” “This is love, not that we loved Him, but that He first loved us.” “Love one another.” Love your neighbor as yourself.” “Love the Lord your God. . ..“ ”Husbands love your wives.” “Love is patient, love is kind.” “The greatest of these is love.” “If you love me, keep my commandments.” “Love not the world.” “Love your enemies.” If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them (Luke 6:32 ESV).
According to one search I performed, there are 281 verses in the Bible that contain the exact word “love”. And some verses have it three or four times.
So when Paul says the fruit of the Spirit is love, what is He talking about? An emotion? A feeling we’re to maintain towards others? A very basic word study reveals that the Greek word is agape, a word that has been used and misused for decades within Evangelicalism. Also, there are two different Greek words in the New Testament which are unfortunately translated with only one English word “love”: agape and phileo. They are not synonymous words. Agape speaks of a selfless, intimate but not sexual love for others; a sacrificial love. “Phileo” is generally understood to be brotherly or familial love.
The best text in the New Testament to explain the difference between phileo love and agape love is John 21. Look there with me for a moment. The context is the 40 days after Jesus rises from the dead and before He ascends into heaven. Peter and the other apostles had been instructed by the Lord to go to Galilee and there they would see Him. So they go to Galilee and while they are waiting, Peter says to the other disciples with him, “I’m going fishing” and they say “We’ll go with you.” So they head out, fish all night and catch nothing.
The next morning, a man on the shore (who, unbeknownst to them, is Jesus) shouts to them from the shore that they should be fishing on the other side of the boat. So they throw the net over the other side and catch so many fish the net will hardly hold them all. Then John says to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” Immediately, Peter the fisherman leaves the biggest catch of his life, dives into the water and swims ashore to be with Jesus and have breakfast with Him. Now look at verse 15.
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love [agape] me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love [phileo] you." He said to him,"Feed my lambs." 16 He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love [agape] me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love [phileo] you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love [phileo] me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love [phileo] me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love [phileo] you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. (John 21:15-17 ESV)
Jesus caused Peter to be grieved, he was heartbroken because of the difference in the two words Jesus used: Peter do you love [agape] me? The word implies love even to the death. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13 ESV). Peter knows how much Jesus loves him. That is not in question. Jesus does not say, “Peter do you know how much I agape you?“ He doesn’t have to ask that question. They all know without doubt that Jesus has displayed the greatest love a man can give for His friends, even for the friend who denied he knew Him three times.
Because of his desertion, Peter knows better than to tell Jesus that his love for Him is such that he would give his own life for Christ. He miserably failed that test. Yes, Peter likes Jesus. He likes Him a lot. And he is greatly distressed that he cannot honestly say because of his own sin against the Lord that he loves Him with all of his heart, even to the point of death.
And that is the whole point of the question: “Peter, do you phileo me?“ “Do you like me?” “Of course I do! Lord you know I do!“ He likes Jesus, but he does not yet love Him with no regard for his own life. But we know the rest of the story. Soon, Peter will indeed agape, he will love Christ with all of his heart. He will fearlessly preach the gospel to the very people who crucified the Lord when he receives the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, because the fruit of the Spirit is real, selfless, sacrificial love.
The word Paul uses, agape or phileo, depends upon the context. For example, 1 Corinthians 15:22 says, If anyone has no love [phileo] for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! If a person doesn’t even like the Lord Jesus, if he doesn’t even have a familial love, or the love that good friends share, then let that person be condemned. May they be accursed. The one who doesn’t at least have phileo love for Christ does not know Christ. They have not believed the Gospel.
There’s another passage which shows the distinction between these two kinds of love, 2 Peter 1, beginning in verse 3.
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection [phileo], and brotherly affection with love [agape]. (2 Peter 1:3-7 ESV)
As believers, we are to have both brotherly affection and sacrificial love towards one another. It is not sufficient for us to call each other brother or sister and to enjoy being members of this spiritual family and love one another as spiritual siblings. Do we agape, do we really love one another deeply, from the heart? Would you be grieved like Peter if I asked, “Do you even like each other?” We call each other family, we say God is our father and Jesus is our brother. But do we really love each other like family? And that is before we even talk about life-sacrificing love for one another.
The word Paul uses in Galatians 5 for the primary fruit of the Spirit is not phileo, but agape. The fruit which is generated in our hearts by the Holy Spirit is the exceptional love that sometimes even leads to the laying down of our lives for one another. Paul did not say the fruit of the Spirit is like. Nor did he say the fruit of the Spirit is tolerance. Yes, sometimes there are things about us that we may not particularly enjoy about each other, but do we truly love each other in spite of those things, or do we merely tolerate one another? Without the Spirit-given fruit of self-sacrificing love, we have to ask ourselves if we have been truly born again.
Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 13 and we’ll see just how fundamental this particular fruit of the Spirit is. Some of you are thinking, “I was wondering how long it would take him to get to 1 Corinthians 13, the Love chapter.” You cannot afford to tune out what I’m about to say because you’ve already heard a thousand sermons on love from 1 Corinthians 13. Please listen carefully.
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13 ESV).
Regardless of any other giftings or abilities the Lord may have granted to us, if we do not exercise sacrificial love towards one another, we are like useless noisy gongs, we gain nothing, we are nothing. What does that mean? To speak in the tongues of angels without love is just noise! To have great wisdom and understanding of the deepest of spiritual mysteries without love makes me useless to the Body of Christ. To have faith enough to be able to speak to this mountain and cast it into the sea, without love, is a worthless faith. If I’m willing sacrifice all my earthly possessions for the sake of others, and if I’m willing to sacrifice my own life for others even by the excruciating death of being burned alive (which is how I take what he is saying), but my sacrifice is not motivated by the love of God, it is all for nothing.
If any of us do these things for any reason other than because we are motivated by sacrificial love for God and for one another, a love that is generated in us by the Spirit of God, then there’s really not much point in doing it. It is for nothing. It is noisome. It is pointless. It is vain. It is worthless. That is how important this fruit of the Spirit called love really is.
Notice verse 4 - Love is patient and kind. If we look back at Paul’s list of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians we see that patience and kindness are there. This seems to imply that all of the fruit of the Spirit is built upon the foundation of love. It is agape love that provokes patience. Patience, kindness, and all the fruits of the Spirit grow from this soil called love.
The fruit of the Spirit is a package. The fruit of the Spirit is not like the gifts of the Spirit. God may give one of us a certain gift or two, and someone else different gifts to be used for the sake of the church. But the fruits of the Spirit are all cultivated in each of us. All of these fruits are characteristics the Spirit works in every believer. But the greatest of them all is love.
Now I could end this message by saying something like we all need to search our own hearts, to be honest with ourselves like Peter who knew he did not yet love the Lord Jesus as he wanted to or as he ought to. But really, when has anyone ever loved the Lord as he ought to? I could end on that note, but I’m not going to do that.
Rather, I’m going to say this: In spite of a very pleasant outward demeanor that I see among us nearly all the time, I’m tempted to think we must really believe the fruit of the Spirit is tolerance. I believe many if not all of us, myself included, have thought that phileo love, brotherly love, is sufficient. And as long as we never get outwardly, observably upset with one another, then we must really love each other a lot. But that’s not entirely true. We are often guilty of merely tolerating each other and sometimes we don’t even do that very well, rather than loving one another even with a familial love, brotherly love.
Do we love each other deeply? Do we even love each other like family? Or is it just a superficial tolerance of each other? Are we genuinely concerned about one another to the degree that, if it were necessary, we would give our lives for one another? Or have we confused putting up with each other with Holy Spirit-motivated love? Just how difficult is it for us to look past the things we don’t care for in our brothers and sisters in this room for the sake of love?
There is a passage of Scripture which contains the word love that I did not mention earlier, but you are all familiar with it. Peter said, “Love covers a multitude of sins.” A multitude of sins. He should know. If we’re going to really love each other as the Bible prescribes for us, we will have to look past our own needs, we will have to sacrifice our own lives, we will have to deal with, and then look past a multitude of sins in those around us. Listen to brother Peter:
7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies--in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:7-11 ESV)
Do we really love the Lord? Do we really love each other? Love for God and each other is the foremost evidence of the presence of the Spirit of God in our lives.
Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. (1 John 2:10 ESV)
]]>Pagan mom challenges Bible giveaway at North Carolina school
By Jonathan Serrie Published January 19, 2012 | FoxNews.com
A pagan mother's challenge to the distribution of donated Bibles at a local school has prompted the Buncombe County Board of Education to reevaluate its policies regarding religious texts.
Ginger Strivelli, who practices Witchcraft, a form of Paganism, said she was upset when her 12-year-old son . . . came home from North Windy Ridge intermediate school with a Bible. The Gideons International had delivered several boxes of the sacred books to the school office. The staff allowed interested students to stop by and pick them up.
"Schools should not be giving out one religion's materials and not others," Strivelli said. According to Strivelli, the principal assured her the school would make available religious texts donated by any group. But when Strivelli showed up at the school with pagan spell books, she was turned away.
"Buncombe County School officials are currently reviewing relevant policies and practices with school board attorneys," the district announced in a written statement. "During this review period, no school in the system will be accepting donations of materials that could be viewed as advocating a particular religion or belief." (So now there will be no Bibles distributed in any schools in that district)
The school board is expected to address the issue at its next meeting Feb. 2. According to legal experts, the First Amendment gives public schools two clear choices when it comes to the distribution of religious texts.
"You can either open your public school up to all religious material, or you can say no religious material," Michael Broyde, a professor and senior fellow at Emory University's Center for the Study of Law and Religion said. "You can't say, 'You can distribute religious material, but only from the good mainstream faiths.'" (I.e., You must be fair and open it up to the bad wacko faiths as well)
And it goes on from there. All that to say the promotion of sorcery, one of the sins in Pail’s list, is quite alive and doing remarkably well in the public schools of North Carolina in 2012. Paul’s list of sins is timeless. Idolatry is not an extinct sin. Sorcery and witchcraft are not a thing of the past. This list of the works of the flesh will endure until the Lord returns. So when I encourage you as I did two weeks ago to avoid such things as Halloween and the Twilight TV programs, it is because Paul says to avoid those things.
Now, let’s turn together once again to the book of Galatians and I want to read to you from chapter 5, and verses 16 through 23.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:16-23 ESV)
Many years ago I was teaching on the topic of holiness and the need for Christians to live godly lives. This is certainly one of the most basic doctrines of the Bible. God’s people are to be holy even as He is holy. Old Testament, New Testament, it doesn’t matter. We read this throughout the Bible. It applies to Israel in the Old and to the elect of God in the New. There are multitudes of passages that instruct us in this matter.
The pages of the New Testament are replete with commands for personal holiness. The writer of Hebrews puts it very bluntly by saying without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Holiness is a theme found on every single page of Scripture. Even the cover of your Bible probably has the word “Holy” on it.
However, in response to my teaching many years ago, someone who thought I was being legalistic accused me of being a spiritual “fruit inspector”. It wasn’t a compliment. I was reminded that personal holiness is optional. Those who want to delve deep into the Christian life can pursue a godly lifestyle by deciding to make Jesus their Lord. But holiness is certainly not necessary for salvation. I was told that yes, we need Jesus as our Savior. But obeying Him as Lord is totally unnecessary.
Beloved, the only way anyone can come to that conclusion is to entirely ignore the what the Biblical text constantly says. That is what this person did. In fact he readily admitted that most of the Bible does not directly pertain to Christians. None of the Old Testament was written to us. Obviously, that would include the ten commandments, as well as the rest of the Mosaic Law. And since we’re no longer under law, but we’re under grace in the Church age, none of that Old Testament stuff applies to us.
I was further instructed that except for the letters Paul wrote during his imprisonments (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon), none of the Bible, including the rest of the New Testament, pertains directly to us. In my Bible, this would mean that I could virtually ignore all but 14 of the 1241 pages of the text. According to this theological position, with the exception of the 14 pages of Paul’s prison epistles, the entire Bible is addressed to the Jews exclusively, not to the Church the Body of Christ. Even more astounding is that this man’s hero is the apostle Paul.
Paul himself was a “fruit inspector”. That is evident from his words to the Corinthian believers in 1 Corinthians 5 when he commands that church to immediately excommunicate a man for having sexual relations with his own step-mother. Sometimes the Church needs godly people to be “fruit inspectors”. (See 1 Corinthians 5:1-3)
In Galatians, Paul uses the word “fruit” to describe the result of the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. Paul teaches that every genuine Christian, every follower of the Lord Jesus, possesses (or is possessed by) the Spirit of God. The Scriptures refer to Him as the Holy Spirit not merely to distinguish the Spirit of God from the UNHOLY spirits, or demons. Rather, He is referred to as the Holy Spirit because He is 1) inherently holy and 2) because He indwells the believer to MAKE HIM or HER HOLY.
The Holy Spirit is perhaps the greatest gift God gives to the Christian. The Spirit of God, the third Person of the Trinity, lives within us. He dwells in our hearts to make us compatible with God Himself. But sadly, in spite of our salvation, in spite of our union with Christ, and in spite of the Spirit’s indwelling presence, somehow we still find the will to sin. And yet the Holy Spirit remains in us and perseveres in His work to cause us to will and act according to God’s good pleasure and not according to the desires of our flesh.
For someone to oppose that unbelievably gracious work of God in our lives by teaching that holiness is optional is the very definition of quenching the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s work is greatly hindered when people teach such things as, “Jesus is not Lord unless you give Him permission to be Lord. He is too much of a gentleman to impose His will upon us. He would never insist that we bow to Him as Lord.” I can’t think of anything that kills the desire for personal holiness and feeds sinful desires more powerfully than that heresy. Brethren, Jesus is Lord. And the Holy Spirit’s task is to make the people of God holy by teaching us first to agree with, and then to comply with the will of our Lord.
We want to try to understand this biblical concept of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives as Christians. When Paul says in Galatians 5 that we are to walk in the Spirit, the evidences that are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In 5:19 Paul says the works of the flesh are not good. He uses the word “works” or in some translations “deeds”. But here in verse 22 he refers to the “fruit” of the Spirit. Why does he choose that word “fruit” to describe what the Spirit does in us and not the word “work”? It may seem insignificant, but it isn’t accidental. I believe Paul intentionally uses the word “fruit” and not the word “work” because it is the same word Jesus used. Look at with me at John 14:15-17.
15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (John 14:15-17 ESV)
Here is the promise of the Lord to send to His disciples and to us, the Holy Spirit. Notice He says the Father will send the Spirit to those who love Jesus and keep His commandments. The Spirit will come and stay forever with and in His people. This is a tremendous promise, and surely the disciples did not understand fully what Jesus meant by all of this. Even we today have difficulty fully grasping all we read concerning the Holy Spirit. Now skip over to verses 25 & 26.
25 "These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:25-26 ESV)
After the departure of the Lord Jesus, he will send the Holy Spirit. But let’s back up and look at the bigger picture for a moment. We see that:
This is the work of the Trinity on behalf of the people of God and it is a marvelous thing in our eyes. So Jesus tells the disciples He will send the Holy Spirit. Now look at John 15, beginning at verse 1.
1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another (John 15:1-17 ESV).
What Jesus is saying here in this last conversation with His 11 disciples before His death is this: “I am leaving. But don’t let your hearts be troubled. I am going to send another Helper, Someone who can continue with you and you will carry on as though I were still here. I am sending you My Spirit, the Holy Spirit. He will grant you power. He will be with you, He will be in you , and it is in this way that I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will continue with you and you will continue in Me.”
“Together, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit will continue this work we’ve begun. The Father is the vinedresser, I am the Vine, you are My branches. And you WILL produce fruit. My Father, the Vinedresser will see to that. You will be tended and pruned in order to produce spiritual fruit by means of the Helper which My Father and I will send you. You will produce MUCH fruit because He will come in My name and work in you! He will abide in you and the main fruit He will produce in you is love.”
So when the Holy Spirit moves Paul to write Galatians 5 and he uses the phrase, “The fruit of the Spirit is . . .”, Paul uses the word “fruit” instead of “work” because he is explaining in greater detail what Jesus was alluding to with His disciples in John 14, 15, and 16. “Fruit” is the same Greek word Jesus used, and Paul is connecting some of the dots for us. Jesus said He would send the Spirit and His true disciples would consequently bear spiritual fruit, much fruit, the primary fruit of the Spirit being love; Love for God and for the brethren.
Here is Paul’s list of Spirit-provoked, Spirit-generated fruit in the believer’s life: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Jesus said those who abide in Him were to abide in His love and love one another.
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:34-35 ESV).
Jesus said, These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full (John 15:11 ESV).
Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled,” and “My peace I give to you” (John 14:1 & 27 ESV), which speaks directly to their need for peace and faithfulness instead of fear and worry.
Jesus said, “I am going away and you cannot follow, but I will come again for you” (John 13:33 & 14:3 ESV), which speaks to their need of patience and faith.
Then He says in John 16:13-15,
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
In other words, the Spirit is going to continue the work of God the Father and of Christ in all of His disciples. The Spirit is going to glorify the Lord Jesus, by teaching us the very things Jesus taught when He was here physically. What did He teach? Everything His Father said. All that the Father has is mine, and the Holy Spirit whom I am sending to you will take what is mine and declare it to you. The entire Trinity is at work in us when the Spirit works in us.
Jesus is the vine, the Father is the vinedresser, and the Spirit produces the fruit in us, the branches. The Spirit is going to glorify Jesus by producing fruit in the branches (believers) that are connected to the Vine, Christ. The fruit of the Spirit which Paul speaks of is the same fruit which Jesus spoke of. They are the same thing.
It is remarkable to see how the plans and purposes of God are accomplished by God in us. From eternity, God purposed to create a people for Himself, to save them for Himself, and to make them holy unto Himself. That work continues to this day, even to this hour. Love, joy, peace, and the other manifestations of the Spirit of God in us are the manifestations of the work of Jesus Christ in us. He is the Vine, we are in union with Him as the branches, the Father is the Keeper of His vineyard, and the Holy Spirit is the very presence of God within us which produces the inevitable fruit which all God’s people produce. He produces in us the holiness we must have, without which we would never see God, we would never inherit the kingdom, we would never enjoy eternal life, and we would not be saved.
8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. (John 15:8-9 ESV)
So how do we abide in His love? How do we glorify the Father? How do we prove that we belong to the Lord Jesus? We walk by the Spirit. We manifest the fruits of the Spirit of Christ so that we do not fulfill the desires of the flesh.
As I was looking at my notes last night around 10:00, I received this email from Grace Gems entitled Let me try to draw a picture of Biblical holiness (J.C. Ryle, "Holiness, Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots")
"Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord!" Hebrews 12:14
Are we holy? Shall we see the Lord? In this hurrying, bustling world--let us stand still for a few minutes and consider the matter of holiness. It is a solemn thing to hear the Word of God saying, "Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord! A man may go great lengths in religion--and yet never reach true holiness.
What is true practical holiness?
It is not knowledge--Balaam had that.
It is not great profession--Judas Iscariot had that.
It is not doing many things--Herod had that.
It is not zeal for certain matters in religion--Jehu had that.
It is not morality and outward respectability of conduct--the rich young ruler had that.
It is not taking pleasure in hearing preachers--the Jews in Ezekiel's time had that.
It is not keeping company with godly people--Joab and Gehazi and Demas had that.
Yet none of these were holy people! These things alone, are not holiness. A man may have any one of them--and yet never see the Lord! Let me try to draw a picture of Biblical holiness, that we may see it clearly before the eyes of our minds.
1. Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture.
2. A holy man will endeavor to shun every known sin, and to keep every known commandment.
3. A holy man will strive to be like our Lord Jesus Christ.
4. A holy man will follow after meekness, patience, gentleness, kind tempers, and government of his tongue.
5. A holy man will follow after temperance and self-denial.
6. A holy man will follow after love and brotherly kindness.
7. A holy man will follow after a spirit of mercy and benevolence towards others.
8. A holy man will follow after purity of heart.
9. A holy man will follow after the fear of God.
10. A holy man will follow after humility.
11. A holy man will follow after faithfulness in all the duties and relations in life.
12. Last--but not least, a holy man will follow after spiritual-mindedness.
Let us be sure that the habitual conduct of our lives is one of walking in the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ sent to us by God Himself.
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