GETTING FRUIT FROM GOD’S GARDEN SERIES: LOVE, JOY, PEACE
May 4, 2008 FBC Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson
Gal. 5.19-24
A ILLUSTRATION
B In Romans 8, Paul dwells on the work of the Holy Spirit in the life a believer.
1 He describes in great detail what the Holy Spirit does in, for, and through us.
a Rom. 8.2 Sets us free from the law.
b Rom. 8.4 Walk/live according to the Spirit (not the flesh)
c Rom. 8.5 Sets our minds on the things of the Spirit.
d Rom. 8.9 Christians are in the Spirit. (Lost people are not)
e Rom. 8.9-11 The Holy Spirit dwells in you.
f Rom. 8.13 As the Holy Spirit "indwells" you He starts to change you, putting to death the deeds of the flesh.
g Rom. 8.14 Those led by the Spirit are Sons/Daughters of God
h Rom. 8.15-17 The Holy Spirit is now at work giving them life, witnessing to our spirit that we are children of God. Adoption was legal.
2 The Spirit of God wants to transform us into the likeness of Christ.
a 2 Cor. 3.18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
b Rom. 8.29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, . . .
C When you are saved, you receive the Holy Spirit (all of Him), but when you get saved He’s just getting started with you.
1 Justification: You are JUSTIFIED the moment you are born again. (Right standing with God; sees you as righteous through the blood of Jesus)
a ADOPTION: Relationship, favor is restored.
aa In the fall of 1970, my birth mother (Phylis) offered me to my momma because she didn’t want/need/or desire to take care of me. "Debbie, if you want him, he’s your . . . but your going to have to pay."
bb The devil doesn’t want/need/ or desire to have a relationship with you. DEVOUR/DESTROY.
cc God/Grace/Mercy said "no" and my God what a price He paid for kids like us to call him "Abba," "Daddy"
b If I would have been raised by Phylis, I would have been raised like a gypsy, brokenness, addiction, ungodliness . . . my mom’s house I was raised in stability, constantly being told "I Love You!", and learned about the things of God.
aa Psalm 65.4 How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You To dwell in Your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, . . .
bb God adopts you and takes you home with home, and you learn to be satisfied with the good things in His house.
2 We begin to act/look like the one who adopted us.
a (There are other translations that state this thought more properly, but none say it plainly!)
b Phil. 1.6 " And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns." TLB
c Where on a journey with the Holy Spirit and we’ll arrive when either He comes to get us or we go to meet Him.
3 When we listen to God calling us, He comes to us through the power of the Holy Spirit, and lives in us.
a (IL.) D.L. Moody, jar, water. Asked, "How do I remove the air from the jar?" A man said a vacuum. "No, it will implode." Fill it with water, something else.
b How do we replace the deeds of the flesh in our hearts? Fill it with something else, The Holy Spirit.
c If we allow the Holy Spirit to move in, He’ll renovate, redecorate, move some things around, clean out the closets . . .plant a garden and inevitably it will produce some fruit.
d READ Galatians 5.22-24
e Let’s look today at some fruit that comes from God’s garden. (PRAY)
I Let’s look at "fruit of the Spirit"
A If you walk in the Spirt, the fruit will manifest in your life. Period. (Vice versa is also true)
1 The deeds/works of the flesh are what we can do on our own/flesh. (V.19-21)
a The works of the flesh stand in total opposition/spiritual warfare to the fruit of the Spirit.
aa Counterfeits of the fruit: Sex for love, Religious practices for the manifest presence of God, selfishness for self-control)
bb There are 15 works: 3 Sex, 2 Religion, 10 relationship (MacArthur)
Immorality: Pornia adultery, fornication, homo, beastiality
Impurity: akathsaria unclean
Sensuality: Sexual indulgance w/o shame or concern (affected, infected)
Idolatry: Idols
Sorcery: drugs/witchcraft
Enmities (hateful attitudes)
Strife (what is birthed in relationships from enmities. Attitude)
Jealousy (Hatred from coveting what someone else has)
Outbursts of anger (losing temper and lashing out, birthed out of jealousy. Action)
Disputes, dissensions, factions, envying (feuding)
Drunkenness (DRUNK), Carousing (rowdy)
b A person can look at the list and say, "I don’t drink, mess around, outbursts of anger, have a hateful attitude, cause divisions . . . I’m okay, right?"
2 We wrongly believe that absence of deeds of the flesh is sufficient.
a There was a song in the 80’s that asked, "You don’t drink, don’t smoke, what do you do?"
b We must display the manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit.
B The Fruit of the Spirit is . . .
1 love
a One word to describe our identity in Christ is LOVE.
aa (cf. Rom. 5.8; John 3.16; 15.8; 1 John 3.16, 4.7)
bb Gal. 5.1414 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."
b Love is the fruit that all the other fruits flow out of . . .(the greatest of these is love) . . . you can’t have joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc. w/o love!
c What does love look like? Look at the cross.
2 Joy (Chara)
a Feeling of happiness that is based on a Spiritual reality.
b 1 Peter 1.8 "8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
c The joy that makes heaven shout sing is the joy in you right now! (Doesn’t that make you want to jump, throw your hands up to the roof, move?)
3 Peace (tranquility of mind that comes from being in a relationship with the LORD)
a God is in control all the time. "Let not your heart be troubled." Jesus mean that!
b 27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. John 14:27 (NASB)
aa I’m not always "okay", feel like I have it all together . . . I’m not going to trust my feelings, but rather His promise.
bb (IL) In the dead of winter, a fruit tree loses its leaves & fruit, but in the spring its leaves will emerge and fruit will reappear because the substance that made it a fruit tree was still inside it even during the cold, blizzard, storm.
c The reason you can keep it all together/be anxious for nothing is that the Prince of Peace, the Peace of God is IN you!!!
Conclusion:
A Justified, Adopted, Sanctification, Glorification (eventually)
B Deeds of the Flesh (we provide deeds of the flesh) / Fruit of the Spirit (Provided by the HS).
1 MacArthur Illustration
". . . compared to a man standing on a ladder in an orchard, picking the fruit and dropping it into a basket held by a helper below. No matter how much fruit is picked and dropped, the helper will not receive any unless he is standing under the ladder with his basked ready."
-The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Galatians. pg. 164. Moody Press, Chicago, 1987.
a Are you ready to pick up/catch what He’s throwing down?
b Your flesh provides death . . . His fruit brings life. (Salvation)
2 Emptied and filled.
a Empty out the deed drawer . . . fill us His Spirit, bring the fruit.
b pray
b
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Mike Fogerson
