[0:00] I said, cool. The rest of you, while they're heading for junior church, Galatians chapter 5.
[0:15] ! I'm jumping into Galatians next week.
[0:33] I'm debating whether to do Galatians or to have a Memorial Day service. So, we'll see. But for today, Galatians chapter 5.
[0:45] And guess which verses we're looking at? 22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
[1:04] Against such there is no law. Today, walking with goodness. We're looking at that part of the fruit. Goodness. Remember I talked about the fruit being like an orange?
[1:18] You open it up, it's one fruit. There's different parts to it. You open up, there's one fruit of the Spirit. All these different parts to it. All this sweetness, all this goodness.
[1:29] It is part of it. And today, we're looking at that. Goodness. Being good. Think about it in your mind. What does it mean to be good? I'll give you a definition in a minute or so.
[1:41] But to be good. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, thank you for the fact that we can come here and we can look at your word. You have made it possible so that we have your word in our hands.
[1:53] We can look at it. We can study it. We can read it. Lord, we can make it our very own. We can memorize it. Make it a part of our lives. And Lord, these verses we're looking at right now, probably many have memorized them.
[2:07] About the fruit of the Spirit. And Lord, today, as we look at the goodness. The goodness of God. The goodness that we can have in our life.
[2:18] The goodness that we can show to others. All because of the goodness of God and the Spirit that lives within us. Lord, help us today to learn, to grow, to be able to go out and show the world the goodness of God.
[2:35] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You know, there's some other verses that talk about God's goodness. Ephesians chapter 5, verses 8, 9, and 10. Should be up on the thing there, I think.
[2:50] Yep. Okay. It says, For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.
[3:01] Notice the next verse. For the fruit of the Spirit is all goodness and righteousness and truth. Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
[3:14] So we've been reading in Galatians chapter 5, verses 22 and 23. The fruit of the Spirit is. And one of those is goodness. Here in Ephesians, he writes, The fruit of the Spirit is all goodness and righteousness and truth.
[3:28] You know what good is? Proving what is acceptable unto God. Doing what pleases God. Doing what he wants. Following his dictates.
[3:41] Following his wisdom. Following his truth in our life. He says, I want to do the goodness of God. I'm going to prove what's acceptable to God.
[3:53] Someone has defined goodness this way. Okay. Uprightness of heart and life. Virtue equipped and ready at every point. What does that mean?
[4:07] Goodness is uprightness of heart and life. Let's stop there for a second. When I look at that word uprightness. I'm going to be upright.
[4:17] I'm going to be good. I'm going to be upright. What is that? I keep looking up. Looking unto Jesus. The author picture. I'll keep looking up.
[4:30] And as I look up and follow him, I'm going to do right. I'm going to do what is right. So if I want to know what goodness is in my life, I keep my eyes on Jesus and do what he wants.
[4:46] I keep my eyes on Jesus and I obey his word. I keep my eyes on Jesus and follow him. Following him all the time. Then he goes on and says, virtue equipped and ready at every point.
[5:00] Virtue. Moral excellence. Everything I do is morally excellent according to God's word. And he says, I'm ready and equipped to follow that at every point.
[5:12] How can I do that? I have to be in God's word. I have to know God's word. I have to read God's word. I have to make it a part of my life. So if I want to know what goodness is, I keep my eyes on Jesus and I do what pleases him according to his word.
[5:26] That's my definition of goodness. And he says, now look, the fruit of the spirit, part of that is goodness. When the Holy Spirit's living within me, when the Holy Spirit comes in and takes over, he helps me to keep my eyes there so that I can follow him and do what his word says.
[5:47] That's what the spirit is there for. It's to guide us in all truth, the Bible says. So I have that opportunity. And that should be one of the most important things in our life, that we have that goodness inside of us.
[6:01] That should be one of the things we desire most. I want to serve him and do what he says according to his word. He says, look, follow me.
[6:12] And that should be the driving force in our life. Let me illustrate it with a simple little story. A family is going to go on an extended vacation.
[6:23] They have a dog. They have a neighbor, nine-year-old Mike. Nine-year-old Mike, they ask him, would you like to take care of the dog while we're gone?
[6:36] And they explain it to him. They say, okay, Mike, here's what you got to do. You got to feed him. You got to water him. You got to groom him. You got to walk him. You got to spend time playing with him. You got to spend time and show him lots of love.
[6:49] What would that be worth to you, Mike? Mike's like, I'll give you 10 bucks. See, that's the way it should be for us. To know and understand and be able to do the goodness of God.
[7:05] We should be willing to give our lives. Because of all that he's done for us. Because of all that he's done for us. He gave his life for us.
[7:15] He rose again from the dead. He ascended back into heaven. He's preparing a place for us. He is coming again. Is God good? He's going to get there. He's going to get there.
[7:25] He's going to get there. You're going to get there. You're going to get there. All right. So God is good. And our attitude should be, what can I give him? What can I do for him?
[7:36] I can follow him I can keep my eyes on him I can do what is right according to him and according to his word I want that more than anything in my life is to be able to do that Galatians chapter 10 chapter 6 in verse 10 you're right there I do it says as we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the household of faith are you ready to do good to everyone you think about it keeping my eyes on him doing what he wants according to his word what did Jesus do Jesus gave his life for others am I willing to give goodness to others to help them out people look at that word goodness and they interpret it different ways there's a lot of different meanings to good but most people interpret it in one of these three ways the goodness revolves around the idea that whatever increases my pleasure is good oh if it makes me feel good if it makes me gain things if it makes me oh those are good things in my life but all of us have to admit some good has come into our life we've learned to walk with God in bad things we've learned to trust God during bad things we've learned to do a lot of different things when things weren't going necessarily the way that we wanted but we've been able to learn and have a closer relationship with God what happens when we go after just pleasure it's all about me what makes me feel good it's not about what God wants but what I want and so that's not the definition of good we should have another one is people say you know what knowledge brings goodness the more knowledge
[9:37] I have about certain things it'll help me and I will be good I think of the old Star Trek show remember the old Star Trek show what was the whole purpose behind all of what they were doing the more knowledge we can gain the better we can take care of ourselves and the more good we can do and we can have a perfect society that was what it was all about only problem is we all know that just because we know good doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen you know so often we look at things and we know the right thing to do but do we do it do we we know we shouldn't steal but there's a lot of people visiting Jared's establishment because of that we know we shouldn't lie but we all do it we know we shouldn't okay as Christians we may not lie we may not steal we may not covet
[10:49] I mean murder but we all do covet you know and I'm sure most of us lie and steal at times and stuff too we may not murder but there's other things we do see we know the right thing to do but do we always do it no so those definitions are good are like hmm Jesus keeping our eyes on him doing what he wants according to his word Jesus is the definition of goodness we're supposed to have the mind of Christ let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus we talked about Timothy a couple weeks ago you know Timothy was he had the same mind he was like minded all these different things Acts chapter 10 verse 38 look at what it says 1038 of Acts how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good and healed all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him
[12:01] Jesus went about doing good how was he able to do that Jesus who God anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power and God was with him see when we ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into our life and save us we get his spirit and when we get his spirit God is with us and we're able to go about doing good it's not something that we can produce ourselves it's not something we can do on our own it's that fruit of having the spirit of God living within you so that was all introduction how do we get that into our lives how do we develop that in our lives first of all number one realize our inability to produce God's goodness we cannot produce God's goodness in our life God can produce his goodness in our life the Holy Spirit living within us can produce
[13:05] God's goodness in our life we cannot do it on our own why can't we well first of all because of our human nature our human nature Adam and Eve they fell we have been offspring of theirs even down to today we have the nature they had they could not do it on their own without God they tried but they could not we cannot do it on our own without God how do I know that by human nature I can't do that well first of all because the Bible tells me so and I believe the Bible and I'll talk about that in a minute second of all because I'm a parent I understand all of this why that can't happen Romans 512 Romans 512 says wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned because of
[14:08] Adam and Eve because of what they did it has been passed down to us and he says all have sinned every one of us I've sinned you've sinned we have all sinned Romans 312 says this they are all gone out of the way they are together become unprofitable there is none that doeth good no not one and you know Romans 310 there is none righteous no not one none of us are righteous none of us are good enough on our own none of us can accomplish the goodness of God without God living with inside us we need God working in us we need God living within us so I know because I'm human that doesn't happen I know because I'm a parent I mentioned that it doesn't happen most of you who are older in here which is most of you have raised children let me ask you how many of you taught your kids the ABCs you didn't teach your kids the ABCs we got a whole bunch of dumb kids running around up there you all influenced it somehow or other how many of you taught them you know 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 the numbers yeah you did that how many of you went out of your way to teach them how to throw a tantrum how many of you went out of your way to teach them how to lie how many of you went out of your way to teach them how to manipulate people and they're good at it aren't they if you didn't teach them that where did they get it from they have a sinful nature
[16:04] Bonnie's stepdad he didn't like it when we used to talk about Angel doing things and that sin nature coming out of her don't say that about her she's a sweet innocent little thing she would never do anything if only he knew her today no those things are built into us because we're born with a sinful nature we didn't have to teach them how to do it it's there and so because of our sinful human nature we sin it's a given because of the flesh because of the flesh that we have you know even a Christian I am saved I have asked Jesus Christ to come in our life his spirit does live within me I can still in my flesh do bad things terrible things you think about Christians if I had to ask you who was the greatest
[17:05] Christian that ever lived most people go apostle Paul he wrote a third of the new testament he started went on four missionary trips he did started churches everywhere he did all these things well let's see what Paul says about himself Romans chapter 7 verse 18 for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not he says I want to do the right things but so often because of my flesh I don't and that us we want to do the right thing but a lot of times because of our flesh we don't we go about doing things that we know we shouldn't be doing and Paul says I'm the same way I do those things that are wrong so we have to realize that we cannot do
[18:09] God's goodness by ourselves because of our human nature because of our flesh so what do we need to do number two rely on the Holy Spirit for goodness rely on the Holy Spirit for goodness for we are born of the spirit if you're a Christian and you've asked Jesus Christ to come into your life if you've asked him to save you from your sin you get his spirit coming to live within you and that new birth is a spiritual process it's a growing process just like as we grow up as children we become a Christian it's like we're a child again and we're growing in our spiritual nature John chapter 5 John chapter 3 verses 5 6 and 7 John chapter 3 verse 5 6 and 7 says this verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the spirit is spirit marvel not that I say unto thee he must be born again you were born flesh here we are
[19:16] I know each and every one of you are born because you're sitting here there's a body there I can see you okay but I can't tell if you were born of the spirit or not that's between you and God I can see evidence of it maybe but have you been born again by the spirit of God have you let Jesus come into your life are you growing in him allowing him I'm keeping my eyes on him trying to do what is right by him according to his word I'm trying to be good see goodness only comes by the Holy Spirit in that process there's a guy in the New Testament in the book of Acts in Acts chapter 11 verse 24 and it says for he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith and much people was added unto the Lord oh I must be talking about Paul nope talking about a guy that Paul knew a guy by the name of Barnabas it's talking about Barnabas
[20:27] Barnabas traveled with Paul on his first missionary journey and then before Paul went on a second missionary journey Barnabas wound up taking his nephew John Mark who had been on that first missionary journey for part of it and he took him and he went a different direction and Paul took Silas and went another direction Barnabas went out with John Mark and did basically the same thing that Paul was doing he was taking the gospel to different areas and notice what it says he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and faith and much people were added unto the Lord you can't do it on your own realize that you can't do it on your own second rely on the Holy Spirit notice what it says he was full of the Holy Ghost and of faith and then the third thing I'm going to give you in a few minutes comes back to much people were added unto the Lord Barnabas is a good example of walking in goodness so we're going to walk in goodness next one
[21:34] Ian we're born of the Spirit and when we're born of the Spirit we receive a divine nature we receive a divine nature 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 3 and 4 according as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and god in us through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue look right there for a minute did you change it nope he says look you've got divine power it's been given unto us what do we get with that divine power everything that pertains to life and godliness if I want to be good it has to come through the power of God on my life his divine nature working in me it comes through that knowledge of him see the more we get to know Christ the more his spirit works in us and the more time we spend with him and get to know him through his word he says we become more like him verse 4 whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these he might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through us he says god has given us great and precious promises go through the bible sometimes just read through the bible and look at all the promises that are given there that he has given to us he says you've got great and precious promises he says and you can become partakers of the divine nature if god's spirit is living within you you have access to that divine nature you have access to that goodness that you can show to other people and you have access so that you can escape the corruption it's in this world through lust you do not have to live according to the lust of your flesh you can live according to the truth of god and his word second corinthians 5 17 therefore if any man be in christ he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things have become new he says look if you're in christ if you've asked jesus to come into your life you've asked jesus to come and be your savior you've asked him to take over and take charge of your life he says you're a new creature old things are passed away everything has become new you say well i used to do this and this and this and this i don't care you become a christian you ask jesus christ in your life he says all things have become new wow what else do we have to do we have to walk in the spirit we have to walk in the spirit that's the next one he says go back to verse you're there in galatians five i think i might have put it up there but look at verse 16 this i say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh that's where this all started that we're talking about because you remember he says that he says walk in the spirit and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh then he goes on verses 19 20 and 21 and tells you all the things that are walking in the spirit walking in the flesh he says oh you know adultery fornication uncleanness idolatry all envyings all those different things he says instead verse 22 that the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace he says look walk in the spirit keeping your eyes on him doing what is right according to his word he says walk in the spirit and then the third thing reveal the goodness of God to a lost world remember when I read about
[25:28] Barnabas in Acts chapter 10 verse 38 I said now how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power and he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him and what did he do he went about showing Christ to all that were around him reveal the goodness of God to a lost world God wants us to be good there is a difference between being good and doing good think about that one for a second there's a difference between being good and doing good being good is who we are on the inside am I good am I keeping my eyes on Jesus wanting to do what is right according to his word am I good that way or am I just going around putting on a good show for people well they'll think better of me if I do this they'll think better of me if I say this nothing or am I truly changed on the inside am I truly good on the inside you know
[26:51] I I think of it this way suppose you used to have a problem with cursing okay now that you're a Christian now that you've been changed now that the Holy Spirit lives inside you how do you operate I don't say those things anymore good do you think them see being good is on the inside doing good is what people see on the outside and we can be hypocritical can't we we can be hypocritical about how we treat people and do things he says be good good living is a fruit of the spirit he says the spirit living in your going to change you going to make you different where do we find goodness looking at him doing what is right according to the word of
[27:58] God goodness is found in the word of God goodness is found in the word of God you know our world teaches if it feels good do it that is some of the worst advice you can possibly give don't follow your heart the heart is deceitful and wicked above all things the Bible says don't follow the word of God Micah in the Old Testament one of the books toward the end of it chapter 6 verse 8 says this he has showed the old man what is good and what does the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy to walk humbly with your God he says what does it mean to do good what is good to do justly if I'm going to do justly I'm going to follow the standard
[29:00] I'm going to follow the regulations I hate that word but you get the idea I'm going to follow the word of God I'm going to do justly whatever that book says that's what I'm following and that's what I'm doing he says you're going to do justly you're going to love mercy suppose there's people around you messing up they don't follow the word of God they're not doing what it says you evil!
[29:28] people stay away from me no he says you're going to love mercy you're going to show them because what did Christ do he came to show mercy he came to give his life a ransom for many and then he says and to walk humbly with thy God what does that mean I'm going to do whatever he asked me to do I'm going to follow him it's not about me it's not about what I want it's not about my pleasure it's not about any of those things what does God want me to do I'm going to follow him so he says look goodness is found in the word of God you can't be a good husband or a good wife or a good parent or a good child or good anything without the word of God because it teaches us how to do those things be in them second goodness is cultivated through godly fellowship godly fellowship why do we gather here every
[30:33] Sunday and Wednesday well to hear the word of God yes you do why else I hope you gather for the fellowship I hope you gather because you've got friends here who know God who live for God who want to serve God you're here because I can be around these people who are going to encourage me who are going to uplift me and if I have a problem or if I have an issue and I have questions I can ask them and they're going to give me biblical godly answers so through the biblical fellowship the godly fellowship!
[31:09] you know Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25 most of! We kind of take that verse lightly now but the verse before that verse 24 listen to what it says Hebrews 10 24 and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works he says consider one another to do what to encourage to encourage and to love and to good works we should be here encouraging one another to the love that we show we should be encouraging one another as people come to us and they say I've got this going on you know what I'm here for you I'll help you in any way I'll pray for you and don't do one of those!
[31:59] yes I'll pray! you and away good works help them show them he says look you want goodness in your life get some good godly fellowship John Wesley you may not know that name John Wesley back in the 1700s he was an evangelist he was a Bible student he was a preacher he was an evangelist John Wesley most famous thing he did he is the founder of Methodism Methodist Church he would not recognize the Methodist Church today he would have no clue what that is but John Wesley said this back there in the 1700s do all the good you can by all the means you can in all the ways you can in all the places you can at all the times you can to all the people you can and as long as you can what was he saying do good all the time do good all the time show
[33:16] God's goodness wherever you go I'm not going to sing it this morning but there's a song that you know well I saw Jesus in you that's what he's saying he says do good anywhere anytime to anybody why so they can see Jesus in you that's what they're looking for they want to see Jesus third thing goodness is revealed through our walk with Christ it's revealed through our walk with Christ and that's what people are going to see they're going to look and they're going to see Jesus in you as you walk with Christ two verses you know really well Ephesians 2 8 and 9 for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves it is a gift of God not of works lest any!
[34:06] any man should boast he says look you get saved through faith it's a gift from God he says nothing you did but then verse 10 says this for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them he says you have been created to get saved be God's workmanship so that you can go out and do good works we did the verse say earlier about Jesus we went about doing good we do good things so that people see Christ in us and the only way we're going to do the good things because our definition of good is keeping our eyes on him so that we can do right according to the word of God so we live that way good works he says you created good!
[35:02] I'm almost done good works number one witnessing being a witness Matthew 5 16 let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven when people see the things that we're doing we see the good works that we're doing he says I want them to see Jesus I want them to see God in you and!
[35:26] that they would glorify the father which is in heaven so when you're doing things everything that you do don't think I'm doing a good thing aren't I think of it I'm serving the Lord Jesus Christ which brings me to the second thing is the good work of serving the good work of serving can I serve God at home yeah he says in Romans 12 21!
[35:54] be not overcome! of!! evil with good more things take place in the home because we're comfortable there we do whatever we want there it's our place it's our thing nobody else is around I can do whatever I this seems like to to use for that but at church Acts 9 39 then Peter rose and went with them when he was come they brought him into the upper chamber and all the widows stood by him weeping showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them Dorcas had passed away they were sad she was a person who went out of her way to serve the people in her church she had made them coats she had taken care of them she had done everything she could to serve them and they're like
[37:03] Peter come come we're having her funeral you need to see the things that she's done you need to see how she has served our church how she has done this how are you serving in the church are you doing good in the midst of everything if we're going to be the Christians we should be we're going to have an influence in our churches our communities and our families if we're going to do good we need to realize we can't do it on our own we need the spirit of God working in us we need to rely on the Holy Spirit to produce that goodness the Holy Spirit comes to live within me I watch him and I do right according to the word of God because the Holy Spirit lives within me and then I reveal that goodness to the world around me I show them who Jesus is!
[38:04] are you living like that? He says look the Spirit of God is living within you you have the fruit of the Spirit within you and among the pieces of that fruit is goodness are we showing people the goodness of God are they seeing it in our lives are they seeing Jesus in you as he's seeing Jesus in me and one of the best ways they're going to see that is not by singing I saw Jesus in you this morning return to page I lost it I think it's 500