The Fruit of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit Part 5
Galatian 5:16-23
(From Steve Meenho Kang, Live by the Spirit (Bloomington, IN: Westbow Press, 2022)
Currently we are going through the message series, “The Holy Spirit.”
During this series, we are examining the work of the Holy Spirit.
First week, we talked about the person of the Holy Spirit.
Second week, we talked about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Third week, the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Fourth week, the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
And today, we will talk about the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
The original disciples were not the typical candidates for turning the world upside down for Jesus.
They were ordinary people.
They wanted to be powerful and famous.
They even abandoned Jesus when He was arrested.
Then how can we explain their transformations?
Did they take a seminar on leadership?
No.
Did they start to think positively?
No.
Were they placed in a better environment?
No.
What was it then?
It was the arrival of the Holy Spirit that transformed them.
The Holy Spirit alone transformed wimpy, untrained, selfish individuals to godly people who turned the world upside down.
Once they were baptized and filled by the Holy Spirit, they were never the same.
They were transformed from people who used to bear the works of the flesh into people who bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
They did not look any different physically.
They did not suddenly become educated.
They did not acquire special skills.
No, they were transformed by the Holy Spirit.
They were changed from deep within.
The Holy Spirit alone transformed them.
It was the Holy Spirit and nothing else.
Some of us need radical transformations in our lives this morning.
We need radical transformation in our marriage, family, friendships, attitudes, personalities, habits, health, career, and our relationship with God.
Therefore, if we claim to be Christians, we must think about it.
After we received the Holy Spirit, do we live a transformed life?
Or do we have the old life that is not changed?
We too must be transformed from people who used to bear the works of flesh into people who bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
However, bearing fruit does not happen automatically.
We must do what the Apostle Paul told us to do to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
I. We must consciously follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit (v. 16).
Verse 16 says this.
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
The fact that we are forgiven does not mean that we will never sin again.
Once we are saved, we enter into a war that we never had to face as non-Christians.
We become engaged in a fierce battle between the Holy Spirit and the flesh.
And this battle will not end until we go to heaven.
Our every emotion, thought, choice and act will feel the pressure caused by these two forces.
In other words, we have dual natures in us.
When we committed our lives to Jesus, we experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit came into our lives, and He now resides in us.
And because of Him, we have the spiritual nature in us.
However, we still have the fleshly nature within us.
Our fleshly nature is not completely dead, and it is still in us.
Therefore, on one side is our fleshly nature; on other side is our spiritual nature.
One is dark and the other light.
One is evil and the other righteous.
One is full of deadly desires and the other is nothing but life.
But we cannot control our fleshly side on our own.
We simply cannot.
But the good news is that the Holy Spirit resides in us.
Therefore, we must walk by the Holy Spirit day by day and moment by moment.
Then the Holy Spirit will guide us through our battle with the flesh.
We must choose to follow His lead and walk along with Him.
Therefore, you must ask yourself these questions:
Am I walking with the Holy Spirit?
Am I allowing the Holy Spirit to lead my life?
If your answer is ‘no,’ there are two possible reasons.
Either you do not have the Holy Spirit within you (i.e. you are not a Christian), or the Holy Spirit is there but you prefer to live your life on your own.
If you have the Holy Spirit within you but are not allowing Him to transform your life, why not?
Allowing the Holy Spirit to control your life may seem risky… but it is the best place to be.
In fact, it is the only way to live.
We must consciously follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
II. We must continually suppress our fleshly desires (vv. 17-21).
We are still in our flesh.
Because of this, we still have our old, fleshly, un-sanctified nature in us.
And our spiritual nature and the fleshly nature are in constant battle.
Verses 17-18 say this.
17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
This section started with the word “for.”
This means that the Apostle Paul was giving the reason why if we walk by the Sprit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
What is the reason?
It is because our flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit and our spirit desires what is contrary to the flesh.
They are in conflict with each other because they cannot co-exist.
Therefore, we must not do what we naturally want to do because we might naturally want to do what our flesh desires.
And we must continually suppress our fleshly desires as long as we have our physical body.
Let me tell you honestly from my experience.
Is it easy?
No.
Our fleshly nature keeps coming back, and we have to constantly suppress it.
But we cannot do it on our own.
We must do it through the Holy Spirit’s power.
Therefore, we must be very careful not to be dominated by our fleshly nature.
Because the Holy Spirit dwells in us, our fleshly nature has no power over us.
We do not have to be dominated by it.
Our flesh has been nailed to the cross, so it does not have the power over us it once enjoyed.
Yet it can still influence us if we let it.
But the problem is… too often we let it influence us.
Sometimes we struggle over who is going to be in charge.
But how can we tell which side of our nature is dominating us?
We can know by its fruit.
Verses 19-21 say this.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
The acts of the flesh can be divided into four categories.
The first category is sexual.
It includes sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery.
These sins cover all sexual offenses, whether public or private, between the married or the unmarried.
The second division is religious.
It includes idolatry and witchcraft.
Idolatry is worshipping anything other than the true God.
False gods can be power, prestige, money, or self.
Witchcraft is the secret tampering with the powers of evil.
The third category concerns personal relationships.
It includes hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy.
The last category concerns excessive alcohol consumption.
It includes drunkenness and orgies.
Paul warmed us that people who continually practice these will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But I want you to notice this.
Paul never meant to say that we can lose our salvation if we ever commit one of these sins.
That is not what he said here.
The original Greek verb that he used here is in present tense.
Therefore, he was referring to a habitual continuation in fleshly sins rather than an isolated lapse.
His point is that continual practice in sin is evidence of a lack of spiritual life.
But occasional lapses into sin are a sign of fleshly nature in the Christians.
Therefore, we must ask this question to ourselves: Do I exhibit one of these lifestyles?
If the former, you still need salvation.
If the latter, you need to surrender totally to the Holy Spirit’s control.
Even for Christians, the fleshly nature is still in us.
We must continually suppress our fleshly desires.
III. We must consistently bear the fruit of the Spirit (vv. 22-23).
The good news is this:
We do not have to serve our fleshly nature any longer.
Now we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
We can live above our fleshly nature.
And when we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, He produces the spiritual fruit in us.
Verses 22-23 say this.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
In verse 19, “the acts of the flesh” are written in plural because our fleshly desires can be manifested in multiple ways.
However, in verse 22, “the fruit of the Spirit” is written in singular because it manifests itself as a unified whole.
However, it can still be manifested in different relationships.
The first three, “love, joy, peace” concern our relationship to God.
He is our first love and our first joy.
Because of Him, and we eternal peace with Him.
The next three, “forbearance, kindness, goodness,” describe our relationships with other people.
We will seek their best and put up with their worst.
And the final three, “faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” concern our self-ward relationship.
We are able to master our passions and maintain a godly lifestyle.
There is no law against these virtues.
I came back from China last week.
In China, I met a woman, who pastors an underground church and runs a nursing home for elderly people.
One day she got arrested and taken to a police station because she was doing church without permission from the government.
Once she got to the police station, she told the police boldly.
“What did we do wrong? We do so many good deeds. We sweep the street every day. We give out lunch to homeless people. We take care of elderly people who are abandoned by their families. We believe in Jesus and we love people. What did we do wrong that you arrested me?”
Then the police said this.
“I know all the good deeds that you do. Continue to believe in Jesus and do many more good deeds. However, do not let the church get too big.”
And they let her go.
There is no law against these virtues.
We do not produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit by our own effort.
When we give control of our lives over to the Holy Spirit who lives in us, we begin to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit naturally.
We must consistently bear the fruit of the Spirit.
Conclusion
The choice is ours.
We can produce the things of the flesh by setting our mind on such things.
Or we can produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit by giving Him control of our lives.
It is that simple.
When I do premarital counseling sessions, I ask couples this question.
Which of these are not needed to have a happy, God-honoring marriage?
Nothing!
We need all of these in our marriage.
Every single one of them.
This is why we need to walk with the Spirit and grow spiritually in order to have a happy, God-honoring marriage.
And this is true for all God-honoring relationships.
When we walk by the Spirit, our minds and hearts will be open to spiritual dimensions that we never knew existed.
And we will begin to be truly transformed.
This is what the disciples experienced.
Perhaps some of us never experienced these dimensions of life before.
But as we walk by the Holy Spirit, He can open them up to us.
As we walk by the Holy Spirit, He can reveal them to us.
Therefore, this is what we must do.
We must resolve anew each morning to walk in the Spirit.
Every day, even before we get up, we must commit ourselves to His control.
Then we must strive to maintain our walk all throughout the day.
The Holy Spirit will guide, protect, and empower us.
All we must do is follow His guidance.
Then and only then, will we be able to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
