[0:00] Last week, we were talking about the fact that we're to walk in the Spirit. He says back in, yeah, verse 16, This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
[0:21] Then we look down at verse 19, 20, and 21, and he says, Look, the works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these? Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murder, drunkenness, reveling, and such like.
[0:44] Then at the end of the verse, he says, They that do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. He says, don't follow this. Do not let the works of the flesh be what guides everything in your life.
[0:58] Instead, he says today in verse 22 and 23, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
[1:12] Against such there is no law. He says, look, you have the works of the flesh, and you have the works of the Spirit, a fruit of the Spirit.
[1:23] He says, they are totally contrary one to the other. Let's have a word of prayer as we begin today. Father, I pray that you would help us. As we look at this passage of Scripture, actually as we look at one little portion of it.
[1:39] Lord, that we would learn to walk in love. We're to walk in the Spirit. And the Spirit of God comes to live within us. And we're to walk in that Spirit. And the Spirit of God is the Spirit of love.
[1:51] Jesus came to die on the cross because you loved us. Jesus came to die on the cross because you cared about us and where we were going to spend eternity. You have a love for us that is so great.
[2:05] Lord, help us to remember your love. Help us to be examples of your love to others. Lord, work in our hearts and lives.
[2:16] May we have the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Fruit of the Spirit is fruit that comes from God himself. When God is working in us, we have the fruit of the Spirit.
[2:32] When we ask Jesus Christ into our life, the Spirit comes to live within us. And we have the fruit of the Spirit in us. Remember last week we were talking, John chapter 15, verse 1.
[2:46] It says this, I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. And then verse 5 says, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth to me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.
[2:59] For without me you can do nothing. The fruit of the Spirit, he's contrasting it with the works of the flesh. He puts them right there, side by side, so you can take a look.
[3:10] This is what happens when you live according to your flesh. These are the things you go after and the things you desire, and the things you allow into your life. But if you follow the Spirit and you walk in the Spirit, these are the things you get to have in your life.
[3:25] Excuse me. And he says, look, you can have adultery and fornication, idolatry, witchcraft, envying, murders, or you can have love, joy, peace, and all those others.
[3:42] It's pretty easy to make that choice, isn't it? If we really stop and think about, do I want this or do I want this? And he says, look, you can have the fruit of the Spirit through Jesus Christ.
[3:57] He's showing the contrast between the two. Another thing is, did you notice it's the works of the Spirit? And this and this and this and this and this.
[4:09] So I can have this and I can have this and I can have that and I can have that. I can have any of those I want. But he says when you're saved and you're allowing the Spirit to work in your life, he says you have the fruit.
[4:24] Works, plural, versus fruit, singular. See, it's not that I get love and I'm not joy, but I get peace and I get some long suffering.
[4:39] Now that goodness stuff, no, that name, no. No, he says you get the fruit of the Spirit. It includes all of them. I usually try to illustrate it this way. I'm not sure this is a good illustration, but it keeps it straight in my simple mind.
[4:53] Picture an orange. An orange is a fruit, right? I've got an orange. I open that orange up and I've got this segment and this segment and this segment and this segment.
[5:07] You open up the fruit of the Spirit and you've got love and joy and peace and long suffering. It's all one part of the fruit. God says, I give you the whole package.
[5:18] When I come into your life. When you have the Holy Spirit living within you and you have me guiding you, you've got the whole package that you can rely on.
[5:31] So today, as we look at the fruit of the Spirit, we're going to look at just one segment. He says, The fruit of the Spirit is love.
[5:41] Love. Love. Love. 1 John 3.16. Hereby perceive we the love of God because He laid down His life for us that we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
[5:55] He says, You want to know about the love of God? Just look at Jesus Christ. You want to know about the love of God? Look at what Jesus did for you.
[6:06] He went to the cross for you. He gave His life for you. You want to understand true love? Look at Jesus.
[6:17] Who's willing to do that? To go and give their life? 1 John 4.16. For we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.
[6:29] God is love. And He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in Him. He says, Look, if you really want to know love, you have to do it with God. You're never going to truly understand love until you know God because He's the embodiment of it.
[6:47] 1 Peter 4.8. And above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves. Charity is the same word for love using those other verses. He says, Have fervent charity, love among yourselves.
[7:01] For love, charity, shall cover the multitude of sins. We're going to fail. We're going to mess up. We're going to do it. But God's love covers all that for us.
[7:13] He's going to take care. So whether you're young or old, rich or poor, a believer or an unbeliever, everybody wants one thing in their life. They want love.
[7:24] They want to know that they are loved. They want to know that somebody cares. Probably most of you older people know who Madeleine Murray O'Hare is. I don't know if some of you younger ones do or not.
[7:36] But Madeleine Murray O'Hare was the founder of the American Atheist. Madeleine Murray O'Hare is the reason you no longer have prayer and Bible reading in your schools.
[7:50] 1963, she took a court case to court about her son. She didn't want him being taught those things because they were atheists. And schools are supposed to be for everybody.
[8:02] And it wasn't for her son because they were atheists. Side note, when we lived in Fort Lauderdale, a guy came to our church as an evangelist.
[8:14] His name was William Murray. Madeleine Murray O'Hare's son that was used in the court case. He's a believer in Jesus Christ.
[8:25] He's an evangelist. And he came and he preached and he told the story of his mother. She disappeared in 1995. I think they have since found her remains, but she disappeared.
[8:37] And when she disappeared, they were trying to find out what might have happened. She had diaries. And they took the diaries and they're looking through the diaries. And over and over and over throughout the diaries, she wrote this sentence.
[8:49] Somebody, somewhere, please love me. Think about that. Somebody, somewhere, please love me. She's fighting against the God who loved her more than anybody else.
[9:05] He came and gave his life for her. And yet she kept missing what he had done. So this morning, I want us to take a look at love. First of all, notice the meaning of love.
[9:18] And it's defined, first of all, by the word itself. In language. By the word itself. The word used there is agape. Most of you have been in church long enough. You know that there's basically three, four different words for love in the Greek.
[9:31] Eros, the erotic kind of love. Philio. Philadelphia, brotherly love. Saint agape. A strong, sacrificial type of love.
[9:44] And he says, look, I want you to understand that this love that I'm talking about is that strong, sacrificial type of love. I had it for you. I want you to have it for others.
[9:57] So he says, you have the fruit of the Spirit, and part of that is love. That strong, sacrificial love for others. It's the kind of love, you take a mother.
[10:07] She wants to sleep at night, but her baby is sick at 3 a.m. Where's mom? Mom is not sacked out in bed.
[10:20] She's there, taking care of that baby, looking out for that baby, because she loves that baby. She's made a decision that this is important. This is the most important thing to me.
[10:31] I want to make sure this baby is okay. That strong, sacrificial kind of love. That's the word being used here. Then I want you to see it defined in Scripture. We kind of touched on this already.
[10:44] What is love? Well, the Bible tells us God is love. 1 John 4, 8, it says, He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.
[11:00] God, as I said, is the embodiment of love. He loved us from the beginning. He'll love us until the end. He is the foundation of everything. God is love.
[11:12] And then God's love is everlasting. God's love will always be there. God's love, the Bible tells us from the beginning, before the foundations of the world, God had a plan in place.
[11:28] And it says, throughout all eternity, God's love will be demonstrated to us. Actually, the word used for love, the word used for everlasting, is a word that means from vanishing point to vanishing point.
[11:44] Jeremiah 31, 3, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness will I draw thee.
[11:58] Have I drawn thee? He says, I have an everlasting love. From vanishing point to vanishing point, before the foundations of the world, to the end of eternity, whenever that might be.
[12:08] It won't be. He says, God has loved us that much. And Jesus, when he was here on earth, even though he was here in a human body, still had that same idea, that he will love us until the end.
[12:23] John 13, 1. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
[12:39] He was going to love those disciples until the end. He's going to love us until the end. It is that strong, sacrificial love that keeps on going.
[12:51] That energizer bunny type of love. It won't quit. It just keeps on going. We get wrapped up in emotional love.
[13:04] You watch young couples before they get married. They got all the giggles and everything, you know, and stuff, and they love this and they love that.
[13:14] And then you hear a little while later they broke up. It's an emotional type of love. But the love that's being talked about here, God says, I love you because I have made the decision to love you.
[13:28] I love you because I made that choice that I am going to love you. See, emotional love, like I said, comes and goes.
[13:39] Let me illustrate it. A man had some tests done in the hospital and in order to do those tests they had to put him out, use anesthesia and put him out. He has the tests, they're all done, he's in the recovery room, he's waking up and he looks over and his wife is sitting there in the chair and he looks over and he goes, you're beautiful.
[13:59] And he falls back asleep. A little while later he opens his eyes again and he looks and goes, you're cute. She goes, what happened to beautiful? The drugs are wearing off.
[14:14] See, that emotional can kind of go back and forth. But God's love is an eternal, everlasting love. So, what is the message of God's love?
[14:25] That's the next thing. God says, I love you. What's the message he's trying to give to us to that love? Go back to 2 Corinthians. Just back a couple of books there.
[14:38] 2 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, sorry, 1 Corinthians chapter 13. We're talking about love. So, 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 beginning at verse 1, it says this, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, love, I become as sounding brass or tinkling cymbal.
[15:01] If I do things, I can do all kinds of great things, but if I don't do it out of love, he says, I'm making a whole lot of noise. It's not really sincere. Verse 2, though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not love, charity, I am nothing.
[15:22] He says, look, if I could do all kinds of things and solve all kinds of mysteries and do all that, he says, but I don't do it in love, I'm nothing. And though I have been so all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, love, it profiteth me nothing.
[15:41] Charity suffereth long in his kind. Charity envieth not. Charity, love, bondeth not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
[16:04] Charity, love, never faileth. But whether they be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether they be tongues, they shall cease. Whether they be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
[16:16] But what did he say about love? They never fail it. Someone has said, God knows that our relationships are more important than our accomplishments.
[16:30] And he challenges us to grow in his love. God says, the relationships we have with people, the relationships we have with our family, the relationships we have with other church members, relationships we have with coworkers, relationships we have with other people in general.
[16:51] He says, those are more important than our accomplishments. One of the things you know from listening to me, I'm a sports fan.
[17:01] I'm a Celtics fan. I watched the game yesterday. Watching the Celtics, I've done that all my life. But one thing I have noticed different here lately about the Celtics is the things you find on Facebook about them, you'll see Jason Tatum at practices, at games, walking through an airport, doing whatever, and his little son, Deuce, Jason Jr., is right there next to him.
[17:35] We were talking about when you watch Jason Tatum play, he doesn't blow up, he doesn't get angry, he doesn't curse, he doesn't, and I think part of that is because my son is sitting right there.
[17:47] Al Horford, who also plays for the Celtics, there have been pictures up, he and his son together. His son was at the game last night, sitting on the bench with the players. He was like the ball boy for them.
[17:59] Drew Holiday. No. Drew Holiday, he was there, and his son was there at different times.
[18:10] They're showing them as a family group the love they had for their family. There's actually a commercial with Jason Tatum. Why is all of this so important to you?
[18:22] Why do you play like you do? And it shows he and his wife at home having conversations and things. He says, it's because I know who I'm playing for. See, the love that we have for others, the relationships that we have, he says, that is so important.
[18:41] So, let's take a look at these things of love real quick. He says, first of all, there's a helpfulness, a helpfulness of biblical love. He starts off with charity, love, suffereth long.
[18:58] Love is patient, slow to anger. The actual word that's used there has the idea behind it, a long time to boil. It takes a long time to get upset.
[19:11] It takes a long time to get angry. It takes a long time because I love the people I'm around and with. He says, you're going to learn to be patient if you truly love as God does.
[19:30] And that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to be Christ-like, right? He says, if you're going to do that, then he says, you're going to have the kind of love that is patient with other people. I know most of you have heard this.
[19:43] Probably at one time or another. But, and I've heard it with the word those instead of the saints, but I put saints because we're in a church, so I'll do it that way. It says, to dwell above with the saints we love, oh, that will be glory.
[19:58] But to dwell below with the saints we know, well, that's another story. And you know, think about it. We look forward to heaven.
[20:10] We look forward to going there. Oh, I can't wait to get to heaven. And be with Jesus. I can't wait to be in heaven and be with all those other saints. You know, it's good to see family members and friends and all of them. I can't wait to go to see other church members.
[20:23] Oh, I just can't wait to go to heaven. But sometimes we forget while we're down here that the people we're fighting with, the people we're arguing with, the people we kind of like, hmm, I wish they'd go away, are also going to be with people in heaven with us.
[20:41] So, why wouldn't we have the same attitude here that we're going to have there? Why wouldn't we have the same attitude that I love these people and I can't wait to spend eternity with them?
[20:54] In Acts chapter 7, you don't have to go there, Acts chapter 7, Stephen is being martyred. He's the first martyr for Jesus Christ. And in Acts chapter 7, verses 59 and 60, it says, And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
[21:15] And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had thus said this, he fell asleep. Lay not this sin to their charge.
[21:28] He's being stoned to death. They're throwing rocks at him, trying to kill him. And they do kill him. And what's his attitude? Don't lay this to their charge. God, I love these people.
[21:41] I want to see these people saved. I want to see these people come to know Jesus Christ. I want the very best for them. And he says, Look, don't lay this into their charge. Abraham Lincoln, early in his political career, had a rival by the name of Edward Stanton.
[21:59] Edward Stanton called Lincoln at one time in one of their debates, the original guerrilla. That was a tough, that was a, he's letting him have it.
[22:11] He's the original guerrilla. When Lincoln was elected president, he chose Edward Stanton to be his secretary of war. And people are like, Why would you choose Edward Stanton?
[22:24] And Lincoln said, Because he's the best man for the job. And Lincoln said, Because he's the best man for the job. When Lincoln was assassinated and they had the funeral, Edward Stanton was at Lincoln's funeral and spoke.
[22:36] And he said, Here lies the greatest leader the world has ever known. See, Lincoln's attitude of not retaliating, his attitude of being patient with people had won out.
[22:53] He says, Look, love suffereth long. Then he says, And is kind. Love is kind. You know, it takes patience to take it from people.
[23:09] Kindness will give anything for others. We can take it from people as they attack us and everything, but we're willing to give back to them. Not give back in the same, but to give back help.
[23:22] It actually, the words there for kind means to be useful, serving, or gracious. He says, We're going to be gracious to people. We're going to be kind to people. 1 Peter 3.8 says this, Finally, Be all of one mind, having compassion one of another.
[23:40] Love is brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. See, that aspect of our love for others is going to show others how important our relationship to them is.
[23:53] They are important to us. Then there's the humility of love. The humility of love. He says there later in verse 4, he says, Charity, love, envieth not, charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.
[24:09] It's not jealous. Sometimes we get so jealous of other people. Why do they get this? Why do they have that? Why do they have this thing?
[24:20] Why did they get that job? We ask a whole lot of whys and we get jealous of people. He says, No, no, no. Don't get jealous. Be glad for them when they succeed.
[24:33] You say, Well, jealousy, that's not really a sin. I'm just kind of talking and stuff. I wish I had their things. Don't ever think jealousy is just a nominal little moderate thing.
[24:47] Let me mention two names to you. Cain and Abel. Jealousy is not just a little moderate thing. It can lead to some very, very severe things.
[24:59] Proverbs chapter 27, verse 4. Wrath is cruel. Anger is outrageous. Right? Who is able to stand before envy?
[25:13] Wow. Wrath is cruel when people get angry and just kind of lose control. He says, That's bad. Anger. Ooh, that's bad. But who is able to stand before envy?
[25:29] God doesn't think it's just a little thing, does he? Love does not brag. Love does not brag. You know, we brag, we try to make others jealous of us.
[25:42] We're not supposed to be jealous of us, but we want them to be jealous of us. So we brag, I did this, and I did this, and I did this. You ever meet people like that? They're just always talking about themselves and what they've done.
[25:55] Love is not arrogant. It says it's not puffed up. It's not puffed up. 1 Corinthians 4, 18-20.
[26:06] Now, some are puffed up as though I would not come to you, but I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.
[26:22] For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. Paul says, I don't want to hear how much you've done about this and how you did that and how you did the other thing.
[26:34] He said, I want to see the spirit of God working in the light. I don't want to hear, I want to see. Someone said, arrogance is big-headed, but love is big-hearted.
[26:54] He says, love, you're going to show people. There was a missionary by the name of William Carey. William Carey is known as the father of modern missions.
[27:05] He was a missionary to India. He knew 23 different languages and dialects. Think about that. 23 different languages and dialects.
[27:19] And he translated the scriptures into most of them. One day, he was in England, and someone was carrying on conversation with him, they were having dinner, and they said to William Carey that, I understand you were once a shoemaker.
[27:37] William Carey's answer was, oh no, oh no, I was never a shoemaker. I was just a shoe repairman. That was his attitude toward life.
[27:49] He was very humble about all the things that God could do through him. So, we have, go to the next slide, Ian. I didn't put it up there.
[28:01] I forgot what the first point was. Anyway, the last one was the fact that we are humble. And there's also a holiness to love. Look at verse 5, a holiness. Does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.
[28:18] Love does not behave itself unseemly. It's not rude, not unbecoming. Remember last week we were talking about the Corinthians and there was a phrase that they used, it's talked about being like a Corinthian, which meant you are a drunken, immoral person.
[28:33] He says, look, no, the Corinthians were experts in unbecoming behavior, but don't, don't be like that. Chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians verse 21 says, for in eating everyone taketh before other his own supper, and one is hungry and another is drunken.
[28:53] He's talking about the communion time, the communion table, the Lord's supper, and they were turning it into a big party. And he says, no, no, no, no, no. It's love is not unbecoming.
[29:04] We're here to remember Jesus Christ. We're here to remember the love that he had for us. We're here to remember that he gave himself for us. We don't turn it into a big party. love does not seek its own.
[29:19] He says, Philippians 2, 4, look not every man in his own things, every man also on the things of others. Don't be concerned just about yourself. Be concerned about others and what's going on with them.
[29:31] Not in a gossipy way, but in a helpful way. Love is not easily provoked, not easily aroused to anger. I use this in Sunday school this morning, 1 Peter 2, 23.
[29:43] Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. He says, Jesus did not revile again.
[29:58] Jesus did not threaten other people. Even though he's hanging on a cross, nailed to a cross, giving his life, the sins of the whole world are being dumped on him. He didn't revile, he did not threaten.
[30:13] Love is not easily provoked. And he says, the last part of that verse, thinketh no evil. Love does not harbor evil. Love does not keep records.
[30:28] You're either a scorekeeper or a grace giver. Be a grace giver, not a scorekeeper. You've heard the one about God's The husband was talking to his friend about his wife.
[30:42] He says, oh, whenever we argue, my wife gets historical. He said, don't you mean hysterical? Nope, I mean historical. She can come up with everything I have ever done.
[30:55] Love does not do that. Love does not keep records. Real quickly, to end here, the manifestation of biblical love.
[31:06] Someone has said, Christians should be God's love with skin on. We're to demonstrate God's love to those around us. Excuse me just a second. See, our love is displayed through giving.
[31:29] Our love is displayed through giving. How do we give to others? What do we do for others? Well, give up your time, first of all. Do you give up your time to those around you?
[31:40] An ingenious teenager, who was getting tired of reading bedtime stories to his little sister, decided to record several of them. And so, he did, got it all together, and he gave it to her and said, now, you can hear your stories anytime you want.
[32:00] Isn't that great? She looked at it for a second and she said, no. Why not? It doesn't have a lap. Spending time with people, getting to know people, talking with people.
[32:18] He says, get to know them. Give of your time. Second, give of your communication. 1 Peter 3, 80, finally, be all of one mind, having compassion one of another.
[32:31] Love his brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. Give time and talk to people. Let them know that you care. And number three, give your forgiveness.
[32:43] 1 John 4, 20 says, if a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
[32:58] If I can't love my brother, Mr. Cousins has three daughters out of six. Six daughters. I bet there were interesting times in your house.
[33:10] Six daughters. How many bathrooms? One, two? One at one time. Okay, six daughters and one bathroom.
[33:26] Forgiveness. In 1 John 4, 21, he says, and this commandment hath we from him, that he who loveth God loveth his brother also.
[33:40] We need to show love to those around us. We show love by giving to others. Think about it. How did God show love to us? God's love was displayed through giving.
[33:53] God's love was displayed through giving. I can't remember if I put it up on the thing or not. Did I put the verse up? The next verse? Yeah, oh, I did. I was going to say, you all know it, you can quote it with me, but you can read it off the screen too.
[34:06] Say it with me here. John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish But have everlasting life.
[34:21] for God so loved the world that he gave. God demonstrated his love for us by what he gave to us.
[34:34] Paul's writing to the Galatians here. He's writing to the Corinthians as well. He says, look, show love.
[34:45] Be motivated by love. God says in John 13, 25, I don't have the verse up there, but he said, the world's going to know you're my disciples by your love.
[34:57] He says, love one another. Love individuals. As a church, love people. I love the fact that we've had some people coming in lately who have some various backgrounds and you're showing love to them.
[35:13] That's good. That's what we're here for. Somebody, Angela just about, they had up a thing showing a hospital and says, the hospital is not for people who are well.
[35:26] Just like a church is not for good people. It's for those who need help. We've been demonstrating love to those who have been coming in.
[35:37] It's so good. Thank you for doing that. He says, look, love each other. Love the world. Take the gospel to them. He says, look, you want to understand what walking in the spirit is?
[35:51] It's the fruit of the spirit in your life. And he says, the first part of that fruit is love. He says, look, you come. you come to me just as you are and I will give you the fruit of the spirit.
[36:09] You come just as you are and I will fill you with all these things. So we're going to sing that this morning. Just as I am. It's up on the screen. Don't have to go to the hymn book. It's going to be the one on the screen.
[36:21] And, you know, we come just as we are. God doesn't say, clean yourself up first. He didn't say, get all this right. He didn't say, bring me so much money. He didn't say, he says, come just as you are.
[36:35] You come just as you are and I will take care of the rest. You come just as you are and I will cleanse you. I will clean you up. I will give you love and joy and peace and long suffering and all those different things.
[36:49] Come just as you are. Let's stand.