WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.120 Here at St. Columbus we believe that the gospel changes all of who you are. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:13.919 That salvation doesn't just end with the forgiveness of sins, but that grace is comprehensive. 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:14.919 It changes everything. 00:00:14.919 --> 00:00:17.000 It changes all of who we are. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:22.359 And John Calvin talked about this in the 1500s during the time of the Reformation when he 00:00:22.359 --> 00:00:28.039 described God's grace as the twofold gift of the Spirit. 00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:31.039 And he said that God's grace, when it comes to you, when you encounter it, when the Spirit 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:37.359 comes and falls upon you and you receive the grace given in Jesus, you get a twofold gift 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:39.159 of grace. 00:00:39.159 --> 00:00:41.479 And the first is that you get forgiveness. 00:00:41.479 --> 00:00:45.840 You get God's pronouncement that you are forgiven of all your sins. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:47.840 We call that justification. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:52.159 But the second grace that you get is not just the forgiveness of sins, but it's also the 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:57.640 grace of change, of sanctification, that the Spirit actually comes and dwells with you 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:03.880 and helps you and changes your heart and makes you able to be different. 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:09.040 The latter, sanctification, never comes before the former. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:13.439 But the former, Calvin said, never comes without the latter. 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:16.480 So the gospel always changes us. 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:19.359 The place where we get forgiveness always means change. 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:25.040 And we think here at St. Columbus that understanding the gospel, believing the gospel, and coming 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:28.880 to know the gospel more and more over and over again in Scripture, changes you all the 00:01:28.880 --> 00:01:29.880 way down. 00:01:29.880 --> 00:01:35.440 Now, that change expresses itself in what we call virtue. 00:01:35.440 --> 00:01:41.400 It's one way it does, at least, or a character that your character actually changes. 00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:45.440 The Bible uses the metaphor of fruit to talk about this. 00:01:45.440 --> 00:01:49.120 Now, fruit, it grows on trees. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:50.480 It also grows on bushes. 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:52.560 And it also grows on vines. 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:56.920 But it doesn't grow unless it's planted, unless it's rooted, unless it's being watered, unless 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:01.120 it's sitting beside a river, as we read about in the Old Testament, and in Revelation. 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:05.200 And that's why the Bible uses the metaphor of the tree, of the vine, of the bush, and 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:08.719 it's fruit all over from Genesis to Revelation. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:15.520 And in the middle, Psalm 1, you'll remember, the people of God who meditate on the commands 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:22.300 of God are like trees who are planted by streams of water which yield fruit in their seasons. 00:02:22.300 --> 00:02:26.960 This is the metaphor all across Scripture for sanctification, for change, for growth, 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:32.960 for virtue, for character, for the fruit of the Spirit, which is what we read about in 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:33.960 this passage. 00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:39.040 And that fruit is the first place that Paul kind of gives a comprehensive list in the 00:02:39.040 --> 00:02:40.720 Bible of what it is. 00:02:40.720 --> 00:02:50.840 It's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, and self-control. 00:02:50.840 --> 00:02:57.000 So each week for the next 10 weeks, we're going to look at one of these fruits, love, 00:02:57.000 --> 00:02:58.759 joy, peace, patience, kindness, and so on. 00:02:58.759 --> 00:03:03.960 And we're going to do a whole sermon on each one of them, which means by the time in 10 00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:09.120 weeks, if you haven't memorized Galatians 5, 16 through 25, then that's bad news. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:13.280 Of course, we'll be going to other passages as well to look at love and joy and peace 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:15.360 and patience and all that. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:22.840 But tonight we're doing an introduction to the whole concept of the fruits of the Spirit, 00:03:22.840 --> 00:03:29.080 which comes the introduction, the whole thing is summarized in a command in verse 16, walk 00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:31.200 by the Spirit. 00:03:31.200 --> 00:03:35.720 So that's the initial command, walk by the Spirit so you can put on the fruits of the 00:03:35.720 --> 00:03:40.360 Spirit so you can change, so you can grow. 00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:45.960 So the question tonight is, are you a tree planted by rivers of water yielding fruit 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:46.960 in season? 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:51.880 And how do you become one? 00:03:51.880 --> 00:03:54.720 Well the answer here is that you walk by the Spirit. 00:03:54.720 --> 00:03:55.720 So what does that mean? 00:03:55.720 --> 00:03:57.520 Let's take a look at it, let's think about it. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:00.920 And Paul tells us two things and we'll add a third. 00:04:00.920 --> 00:04:05.680 He tells us walking by the Spirit means not walking by the flesh. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:08.880 It means not being under the law, he tells us. 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:12.759 And then we'll ask just how do you, some lessons on how do you do it? 00:04:12.759 --> 00:04:15.120 So those are the three things. 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:21.000 So first, walking by the Spirit means not walking by the flesh. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:27.199 Now there's a struggle here right at the beginning of the passage, but I tell you, Paul says, 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:31.079 walk by the Spirit and you won't gratify the desires of the flesh. 00:04:31.079 --> 00:04:32.079 There's a struggle. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:39.120 Paul, talking about two opposing powers, two opposing forces that are in you, that are 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:45.439 in all of us, two powers that are fighting against each other in your inner life at the 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:47.879 very core of who you are. 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:52.919 And he says in verse 17, the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires 00:04:52.919 --> 00:04:54.360 of the Spirit are against the flesh. 00:04:54.360 --> 00:05:00.199 There's a sharp antithesis, opposing forces and he's doing psychology here. 00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:04.599 The Bible does a lot of psychology and he's teaching us what psychologists might tell 00:05:04.599 --> 00:05:08.279 you that you have desires that are always fighting against each other. 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:11.959 And you know this, we all know this, we've all grappled with this all the time in our 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:20.519 daily lives, that we have deep desires to do wrong and we have deep desires to do good, 00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:22.319 to act well. 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:26.279 And we don't always act rationally. 00:05:26.279 --> 00:05:31.119 And what I mean by that is that sometimes we all know what to do, what is good, what 00:05:31.119 --> 00:05:34.159 God wants, what God commands in any situation. 00:05:34.159 --> 00:05:36.239 We know exactly what it is. 00:05:36.239 --> 00:05:40.519 We're faced with a choice and a dilemma and we know exactly what the right path is and 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:44.399 we still choose to do wrong, actively choosing to do wrong. 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:50.799 And that's what Paul's calling here, the desires of the flesh that sometimes can rise up and 00:05:50.799 --> 00:05:54.879 dominate the desires of the Spirit. 00:05:54.879 --> 00:06:01.959 Now I think that probably one of the best illustrations of this in all of literary history is Augustine, 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:08.800 the Bishop of Hippo in Africa in the early church age. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:16.159 His talk about the pear trees in his book The Confessions, an old famous book where he 00:06:16.159 --> 00:06:21.800 prays prayers to God and thinks about his own biography, his own life. 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:27.040 And he writes a story in book two of The Confessions about these pear trees. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:28.439 And just listen to what he said. 00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:33.120 Now this is in pretty old English but that makes it even more fun but you have to work 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:35.160 harder so listen up. 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:42.680 A pear tree there was near our vineyard, laden with fruit, tempting neither for color or 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:43.680 for taste. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:47.720 In other words, the pear trees weren't particularly good pears, didn't produce particularly good 00:06:47.720 --> 00:06:48.960 pears. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:55.039 But some of us, lewd young fellows, went late one night, which was our pestulent custom 00:06:55.039 --> 00:07:00.599 prolonging our sports in the street till late into the night, to shake down and rob these 00:07:00.599 --> 00:07:02.599 trees. 00:07:02.599 --> 00:07:08.039 And we took huge loads of pears, not for our eating but to fling them to the very hogs 00:07:08.039 --> 00:07:11.159 once we had obtained them. 00:07:11.159 --> 00:07:14.359 We did nothing but taste them and only a few. 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:19.879 And this was to do what we liked only because it was misliked. 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:27.120 And then he prays, Behold my heart, O God, behold my heart, which thou hast pity upon 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:30.600 in the bottom of the bottomless pit. 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:38.120 Now behold, let my heart tell you what it found there, that I am gratuitously evil, having 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:46.800 no desires to do wrong, except the simple thrill of doing wrong for itself. 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:51.160 It was foul, he says, and I loved it. 00:07:51.160 --> 00:07:55.040 I love to perish, I love my own faults. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:59.160 And then he goes on to say, I didn't do it because of the desire for hunger. 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:01.439 It wasn't to feed my family. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:04.319 There was nothing noble in that act of theft. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:11.439 It wasn't a situation for us more modern thinkers like Aladdin and Abu. 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:14.399 They weren't trying to get something just to eat because they were starving. 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:15.399 He wasn't doing it for that. 00:08:15.399 --> 00:08:18.800 He says, no, and it scared me when I realized the truth. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:23.719 He says this, it was as if I was controlled by my sinful desires. 00:08:23.719 --> 00:08:25.959 Now we all know that. 00:08:25.959 --> 00:08:28.800 We all know that's like sometimes. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:32.919 Whether you're a Christian or not, deep down even for non-Christians, Paul says enrollments 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:38.719 to that the spirit actually testifies to every person's heart and gives them a conscience, 00:08:38.719 --> 00:08:44.039 that they know the difference in right and wrong to at least a general extent. 00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:47.399 We know what it's like to be controlled by deep desires, sinful desires, desires of the 00:08:47.399 --> 00:08:48.399 flesh. 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:51.199 Paul calls them right here. 00:08:51.199 --> 00:08:58.719 And we even know when it's, we know what's right and we still choose to do otherwise. 00:08:58.719 --> 00:09:01.879 And that's what he's talking about in these two opposing forces. 00:09:01.879 --> 00:09:06.480 The desires of the spirit, the desires of the flesh that are deep down within us. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:10.759 Now let's just think for a second about these two different desires just for a moment. 00:09:10.759 --> 00:09:17.919 The desires of the flesh, the flesh, the desires of the flesh, the flesh is not something that 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:22.399 has to do with your body. 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:26.720 He's not referring here to the soul versus the body. 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:34.120 So the flesh here is not just some mere physicality, some material, some spiritual against physical 00:09:34.120 --> 00:09:35.200 type of a notion. 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:36.200 And how do we know that? 00:09:36.200 --> 00:09:40.600 Well, just look down at the list of sins that he gives. 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:44.240 Now some of them undoubtedly have to do with the body, right? 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:48.320 Sexual immorality, first one, definitely a bodily issue. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:49.320 But it goes on. 00:09:49.320 --> 00:09:51.399 What else does he say? 00:09:51.399 --> 00:09:54.639 Idolatry, sorcery. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:09:56.139 Sorcery. 00:09:56.139 --> 00:09:57.399 He's not physical at all. 00:09:57.399 --> 00:09:59.120 It's completely spiritual. 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:04.720 It's a complete problem of the spirit, of its witchcraft is the other word for it. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:07.559 Or enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger. 00:10:07.559 --> 00:10:08.879 These are spiritual states. 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:10.559 These are states within your heart. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:11.840 They're not physical. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:16.879 And so he's not, when he says the order of the flesh, the sinful desires of the flesh, 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:18.080 he's not talking about your body. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:22.120 He's not merely talking about your physicality, but he's talking about all of who you are. 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:30.080 Full mind, body, intellect, emotion, will, your whole flesh is being given over to the 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:33.960 order of sin, to the curse, to rebellion against God. 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:37.159 It's not being against spirituality. 00:10:37.159 --> 00:10:38.279 It's the whole of it. 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:40.960 And then the desires of the spirit. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:47.560 Now this is what Calvin was talking about in his twofold grace. 00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:54.119 For a Christian, when the spirit of Christ comes, an encounter knocks you back, knocks 00:10:54.119 --> 00:10:57.319 you on the ground, convicts you of sin, changes you. 00:10:57.319 --> 00:11:02.919 When you wake up from the dead, when you're forgiven your sins, that's justification. 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:09.559 But Paul says the spirit of Christ then testifies with our spirits, one that we're children 00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:12.319 of God, that we're justified, that we've been forgiven. 00:11:12.319 --> 00:11:17.479 But also he testifies with us and teaches us what is truly good. 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:22.039 In other words, for the first time, for the first time when the spirit comes and encounters 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:26.759 you, the spirit gives you the grace to do what is righteous, to walk down the path of 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:29.519 righteousness, as Psalm 1 talks about. 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:34.399 That's what happens when the spirit comes and testifies to your consciousness, testifies 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:36.879 to your inner heart, makes you alive. 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:42.759 Paul says it like this in Ephesians, awake, rise from the dead, oh sleeper. 00:11:42.759 --> 00:11:46.759 And then he goes on to say, walk in the works of the spirit. 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:51.000 Wake up, wake up to the good, wake up to change, wake up to walking the path that you've been 00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:52.000 called to walk. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:53.000 That's what he's talking about. 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:58.399 And it only comes when the spirit of God, a spirit of Christ comes and changes you, 00:11:58.399 --> 00:11:59.840 forgives you and changes your heart. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:10.120 Now this is assuming, Paul is assuming here, that the good, that some objective way of 00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:17.000 living life, a good way that it's real, that it's outside of you, that it's not just something 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:21.840 that you make up, that it's not just about your feelings, but that there truly is a 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:29.560 good that exists external to you and that you can choose whether or not to walk in it. 00:12:29.560 --> 00:12:32.159 That you have a choice, that you're active. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:33.159 The Christian is active. 00:12:33.159 --> 00:12:37.279 He has a choice whether to walk down the path of righteousness or to be overwhelmed by sinful 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:42.439 desires and the spirit awakens us to that, makes us alive to that. 00:12:42.439 --> 00:12:46.839 Just think about 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 00:12:46.839 --> 00:12:53.159 Paul is talking to a bunch of messy Christians in Corinth who have done a lot of things since 00:12:53.159 --> 00:12:56.439 he left there that were deeply sinful. 00:12:56.439 --> 00:13:02.039 And he gives another long list there of active patterns of sins, very similar to the list 00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:04.959 we have here in our passage. 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:13.720 But then he says, but such were some of you, but you aren't anymore. 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:20.560 You have now been sanctified by the spirit of Christ, he writes. 00:13:20.560 --> 00:13:25.080 In other words, Corinthians, he's talking about what you've become in Christ by the 00:13:25.080 --> 00:13:26.080 spirit. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:27.080 You've been changed. 00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:31.200 You're no longer a slave to these patterns of sins. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:32.840 You've been changed from the inside out. 00:13:32.840 --> 00:13:38.399 And now what he's telling them is you have to become who you are. 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:40.840 You have to become who you already are. 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:43.639 You've already become a child of grace. 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:48.000 You've already become a holy one, as Derek talked to us about this morning, a saint. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:50.440 But now you have to walk in it. 00:13:50.440 --> 00:13:54.280 And so what he's saying is there's an active and there's a passive and there's an active 00:13:54.280 --> 00:13:59.120 aspect to good works, to walking in the fruits of the spirit. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:02.759 And that's that the spirit comes and changes you and gives you the grace to do good works. 00:14:02.759 --> 00:14:06.439 You'd never do it apart from him, works that truly please God. 00:14:06.439 --> 00:14:11.439 But when he has and because he has, he's saying you now have to become that. 00:14:11.439 --> 00:14:12.439 You have to walk down that path. 00:14:12.439 --> 00:14:13.500 You have to make a choice. 00:14:13.500 --> 00:14:14.500 You have to be active. 00:14:14.500 --> 00:14:18.799 It's real and ethics really matters for the Christian life. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:20.879 That's what he's saying. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:28.799 So the point is this, the Christian life, it's a fight. 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:30.279 It's a fight. 00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:35.919 It's presenting us between two opposing desires, the desire of sinful flesh that still lives 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:41.879 within you as a Christian and the desires that the spirit has given you. 00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:43.360 And it's a fight. 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:44.360 J.C. 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:50.959 Ryle in his great book, Holiness, a book that is really great to pick up on thinking about 00:14:50.959 --> 00:14:53.559 things like this. 00:14:53.559 --> 00:14:58.879 He has a whole chapter in it that he just titles the fight. 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:02.639 And we've printed a quote actually from it in the bulletin, which I meant to bring up 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:06.519 here and read, but I don't have one, about the fight. 00:15:06.519 --> 00:15:09.840 That the Christian life is a fight in 1 Timothy 6.12. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:12.519 This is where Ryle gets that idea. 00:15:12.519 --> 00:15:17.439 Paul says this, fight the good fight of faith. 00:15:17.439 --> 00:15:19.120 And what kind of fight is it? 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:20.559 It's a good fight. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:25.039 You used to fight a bad fight before you were a Christian if you're a Christian tonight. 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:27.519 And that was the fight against God, against your nature. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:32.240 And now, by the grace of the spirit, you've been able to fight the good fight, which is 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:36.799 the fight against your sinful desires, against the flesh, against those tendencies to walk 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:42.559 down the path of righteousness for the first time, being awakened to the good, to the good 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.439 life, to the wise life. 00:15:44.439 --> 00:15:45.600 And that's what he's calling us to here. 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:53.919 Now, the application for point one, have you started the fight? 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:57.360 If you're a Christian tonight, if you're a believer in Christ, are you fighting? 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:01.519 Are you active in the fight? 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:05.720 Are you pushing back and trying to overwhelm the sinful desires of your flesh, which keep 00:16:05.720 --> 00:16:10.600 coming up the indwelling sin, as it used to be called in the older days of the Puritans? 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:13.519 Are you fighting? 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:17.480 And have you come to a place in your life where you've given up the fight? 00:16:17.480 --> 00:16:23.000 We all find ourselves there at some point because we look at these lists, and undoubtedly 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:28.639 we can find ourselves somewhere in both of these lists. 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:32.440 If we really come to grips with who we are, and we can do that as Christians, we can come 00:16:32.440 --> 00:16:36.879 to grips with what we still struggle with, but as we read this list, enmity, strife, jealousy, 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:42.960 anger, rivalry, dissension, lust, we can come to these lists and say there are places where 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:47.519 we struggle here, and then come to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and realize there 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:51.519 are things here that, fruits that I'm not developed in. 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:53.120 I know for me it's patience. 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:54.120 I'm not patient. 00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:58.319 I'm not patient at home with my kids and my wife. 00:16:58.319 --> 00:17:04.240 We all can find ourselves here, and there's a tendency to stop fighting because it feels 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:08.960 like we'll never overcome, we'll never get there, we'll never become people who are truly 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:13.440 loving and joyous and peaceful and patient and kind. 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:18.119 But what Paul is saying is yes you will, yes you can, you have to fight. 00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:22.279 You have to be a Psalm one tree, planted by streams of water as a Christian. 00:17:22.279 --> 00:17:24.919 Now, well I'll wait for that. 00:17:24.919 --> 00:17:28.519 I wanted to say something, but I'm going to leave it for the second point. 00:17:28.519 --> 00:17:30.439 When are we going to bear fruit? 00:17:30.439 --> 00:17:32.679 That's the question Paul's asking us here. 00:17:32.679 --> 00:17:37.399 And when are we going to fight to change by the help and grace of the Holy Spirit? 00:17:37.399 --> 00:17:40.399 Okay, so that's the first thing. 00:17:40.399 --> 00:17:46.479 Walking by the Spirit means not being walking in the flesh, fighting the sins of the flesh, 00:17:46.479 --> 00:17:47.479 the sinful desires. 00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:52.759 Secondly, walking by the Spirit also means not being under the law. 00:17:52.759 --> 00:18:01.360 So he says that you'll see in verse 18, but if you were led by the Spirit you were not 00:18:01.360 --> 00:18:03.120 under the law. 00:18:03.120 --> 00:18:09.640 So being walking in the Spirit means fighting against the sins of the flesh, the fleshly 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:13.920 desires and it also means not being under the law. 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:16.920 Now what does that mean? 00:18:16.920 --> 00:18:26.360 This phrase is tricky. 00:18:26.360 --> 00:18:27.360 This phrase is tricky. 00:18:27.360 --> 00:18:31.560 What does it mean to not be under the law? 00:18:31.560 --> 00:18:32.560 What it doesn't mean is this. 00:18:32.560 --> 00:18:38.759 It doesn't mean being outside of God's divine commands, like the Ten Commandments. 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:40.480 That's not what he's talking about here. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:44.600 If you walk by the Spirit you don't have to pay attention anymore to God's divine commands, 00:18:44.600 --> 00:18:46.440 the Ten Commandments are something like that. 00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:49.080 That's not what he means here by law at all. 00:18:49.080 --> 00:18:52.799 It's something much more specific than that here in the book of Galatians. 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:54.200 This is what he means. 00:18:54.200 --> 00:19:02.160 Being under the law means thinking that your performance is the ground of your acceptance 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:04.519 before God. 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:09.080 Being under the law means thinking that your performances, your good works are the ground 00:19:09.080 --> 00:19:11.559 of your acceptance before God. 00:19:11.559 --> 00:19:15.920 It means that thinking that your work and your achievements are what make you actually worth 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:18.560 something and valuable. 00:19:18.560 --> 00:19:23.720 That's what it means to be under the domain of the law here. 00:19:23.720 --> 00:19:27.880 It's acting as if something is greater to you than God's grace. 00:19:27.880 --> 00:19:32.160 In other places in the Bible the simple word for it is idolatry. 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:34.720 Being under the law is idolatry. 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:38.840 You'll remember one of the great illustrations of this is in the Old Testament we looked 00:19:38.839 --> 00:19:47.039 at this last semester when Elijah was on the mountain with the prophets of Baal and they 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:51.399 were trying to get their gods, their idols, to come down to them and hear them and accept 00:19:51.399 --> 00:19:54.399 them and say that they're worth it. 00:19:54.399 --> 00:20:00.240 They cried out in prayer, you'll remember first, but the text says, but there was no 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:02.359 sound. 00:20:02.359 --> 00:20:08.679 When their gods didn't come after they performed for them they started doing a dance. 00:20:08.680 --> 00:20:11.920 There was no voice, the text says. 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:15.120 When that performance and that performance kept failing them, when their gods, their 00:20:15.120 --> 00:20:19.320 idols never came to them, when they were trying to be accepted by their performances and it 00:20:19.320 --> 00:20:24.279 wasn't working, it says that they started beating their chests. 00:20:24.279 --> 00:20:28.279 When that didn't work it says that they cut themselves and spilled their own blood all 00:20:28.279 --> 00:20:29.680 over the altar. 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:30.680 They started cutting themselves. 00:20:30.680 --> 00:20:34.360 They cried out, they danced, they beat their chests, they cut themselves, they performed 00:20:34.360 --> 00:20:35.840 and their gods never came. 00:20:35.840 --> 00:20:37.440 Their idols never worked for them. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:41.759 Their idols left them miserable, totally crushed because they had put their whole weight, their 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:45.960 whole worth, their whole value, the ground of their acceptance merely in the performance 00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:48.080 before some idol. 00:20:48.080 --> 00:20:51.559 In other words, they had decided that they were going to go under the domain of law. 00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:54.080 That's what Paul's talking about here in Galatians. 00:20:54.080 --> 00:20:58.240 In the immediate context, you'll remember if you've read this book, that coming under 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:03.840 the domain of law was people telling Christians in Galatia that if they truly wanted to be 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:10.240 accepted by God, they not only needed to believe in Jesus, they needed to take on the Jewish 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:12.879 cultural customs of that time. 00:21:12.879 --> 00:21:17.959 They needed to act like Jews even if they were Gentiles. 00:21:17.959 --> 00:21:22.599 You can come under the domain of law at any point in history, at any point in life. 00:21:22.599 --> 00:21:24.480 It's different for them than it was for us. 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:29.959 It's coming under the yoke of loving something more than God and it caused you to perform, 00:21:29.960 --> 00:21:34.759 it caused you to work so that you might be acceptable and worthy. 00:21:34.759 --> 00:21:39.920 For some of us, we're unable to walk by the Spirit. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:43.759 Our flesh is fighting against us from walking by the Spirit because we are so overwhelmed 00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:49.880 with achievement for some other idol, for some other God in our lives, even as Christians. 00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:51.759 This happens to Christians all the time. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:55.000 For some of us, it could be getting married. 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:57.480 For some of us, it could be workplace achievement. 00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:00.400 It could be our reputation in general. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.099 It could be our standing in the local church. 00:22:03.099 --> 00:22:06.880 It can be some guy or some girl or some grade, anything. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:10.920 It's taking any of these things that are naturally goods in and of themselves and making them 00:22:10.920 --> 00:22:14.920 into gods and trying to do a dance and perform for them. 00:22:14.920 --> 00:22:19.240 It's unconscious, unconscious most of it. 00:22:19.240 --> 00:22:25.160 The issue here, the difference in that and walking by the Spirit is all about motivation. 00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:31.120 What is it that motivates you to do good works, to love, to have joy, to be patient, to treat 00:22:31.120 --> 00:22:34.160 people well, to fight against sin? 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:37.519 What is it that motivates you? 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:38.519 This is cloudy. 00:22:38.519 --> 00:22:44.759 Let me give you an illustration from my own life. 00:22:44.759 --> 00:22:51.800 I'm not speaking for anyone else, but I do think this is probably true of all preachers. 00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:57.000 This is an illustration from the preacher's life that there's a difference in walking 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:03.200 by the Spirit in any walk of life, any occupation, any profession, and walking under the law 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:05.399 or according to the flesh. 00:23:05.399 --> 00:23:08.279 Now, here it is. 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:12.759 I want to preach a good sermon, not a bad one. 00:23:12.759 --> 00:23:15.079 And fair enough, right? 00:23:15.079 --> 00:23:16.079 Who wouldn't? 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:18.279 And you want to hear a good sermon. 00:23:18.279 --> 00:23:21.319 Every time you walk into a church or wherever, you want to hear a good sermon. 00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:23.759 You don't want to hear a bad one, right? 00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:24.960 And that's fair enough. 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:25.960 That's obvious. 00:23:25.960 --> 00:23:26.960 It's universal. 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:28.759 Of course, that's the way it is. 00:23:28.759 --> 00:23:35.439 But preachers sometimes are tempted to think too much about the fact that people want 00:23:35.439 --> 00:23:37.480 to hear a good sermon. 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:42.599 And when they prepare, they work hard and they drum up good illustrations and they spend 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:49.960 extra time trying to make it clear and precise and easy to listen to and helpful and moving. 00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:55.079 And you're tempted to be motivated precisely because nothing else that the people want 00:23:55.079 --> 00:23:56.519 to hear a good sermon. 00:23:56.519 --> 00:24:00.279 And when the people hear a good sermon, they accept you and they think you're worth it. 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:03.480 And they like you and they tell you these things, right? 00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:07.160 And that happens for any preacher, I think. 00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:08.160 I can only speak for myself. 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:09.160 It's a real temptation. 00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:10.640 I'm happy to be honest. 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:13.200 But I think others might say the same thing. 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:14.200 It's real. 00:24:14.200 --> 00:24:15.200 It's there. 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:16.759 Now, most of it's unconscious. 00:24:16.759 --> 00:24:18.000 It's under the surface. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:23.759 It's a deep desire of the flesh that it's coming under a law that you're not really 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:24.759 worth something. 00:24:24.759 --> 00:24:29.680 That preaching becomes about law, not grace, about being accepted, about being made worth 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:32.400 it, right? 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:33.920 That's the order of the law. 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:35.920 That's the domain of the law. 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:39.119 But the domain of the spirit, it's different, right? 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:42.279 I mean, what is it when it comes to preaching? 00:24:42.279 --> 00:24:49.200 It's knowing that preaching is the proclamation of the Word of God that God has specially 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:54.359 given specific officers in his church the task of. 00:24:54.359 --> 00:24:55.359 It's weighty. 00:24:55.359 --> 00:24:56.359 It's huge. 00:24:56.359 --> 00:24:57.359 It's got gravitas. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:24:58.359 It's so important. 00:24:58.359 --> 00:25:02.000 It's the way he progresses the word throughout the world, or one of the main ways, at least. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:03.000 And it's big. 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:04.000 It's huge. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.799 And instead, when you have the motivation that because you've been changed by grace 00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:12.319 and you walk by the spirit in your preaching preparation, then you pray over it and you're 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:18.639 humbled and you do it because you want God to work through it and the spirit to be active. 00:25:18.639 --> 00:25:21.879 And those are two completely different motivations for preaching good sermons. 00:25:21.879 --> 00:25:25.639 Now in either one, you might preach a good sermon, but there's two different reasons 00:25:25.639 --> 00:25:26.680 for why you did it. 00:25:26.680 --> 00:25:32.039 And that's the difference in walking by the spirit and walking under the law, doing good 00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:33.680 things to be accepted. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:35.680 You see the difference? 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:38.440 Two very different motivations. 00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:45.120 That's why just to close out this point, I think Paul in this passage uses a very specific 00:25:45.120 --> 00:25:47.880 word for desire here. 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:51.920 He doesn't use the normal term in Greek for desire. 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:55.400 There are many terms in Greek for desire, but there's one very normal one, and he chooses 00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:56.400 not to use it. 00:25:56.400 --> 00:26:04.160 All the times he uses the word desire, he uses the word epithymia. 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:08.200 So thymia just means desire, but you can hear a little prefix at the beginning of that 00:26:08.200 --> 00:26:10.120 word epi, right? 00:26:10.120 --> 00:26:12.840 And epi-center or something like that. 00:26:12.840 --> 00:26:16.640 It's big, it's expansive, it's grounding, it's undergirding. 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:20.519 And what he means here is that he's not talking about normal desires. 00:26:20.519 --> 00:26:24.800 When he talks about desires of the spirit, desires of the flesh, desires to come under 00:26:24.800 --> 00:26:28.160 the domain of law to be worth something. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:31.080 He's talking about epi-desires. 00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:38.319 Normal desires are you want to eat cake when you're on a diet, right? 00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:41.399 You want to go home right now because you're hungry. 00:26:41.399 --> 00:26:45.559 These are normal desires, but epi-desires are much deeper than that. 00:26:45.559 --> 00:26:49.519 They're the desires that actually drive all your other desires. 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:54.960 They're the desires like, I seek a spouse because I want to be loved. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:58.000 I want to be valued. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:02.119 Where I've come and knelt before the cross because I want to find joy and I haven't found 00:27:02.119 --> 00:27:03.119 it anywhere else. 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:07.519 You see love and joy, those are epi-desires, those are deep down desires. 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:12.559 Blaise Pascal, the great French mathematician and philosopher, he talked about it this 00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:16.960 way with reference, even this is a famous quote, so you've probably heard it, but with 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:19.720 reference to suicide and it's epi-desire. 00:27:19.720 --> 00:27:24.960 He says this, all human beings are seeking deep happiness. 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:26.920 This is without exception. 00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:30.360 Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this sin. 00:27:30.360 --> 00:27:35.279 Happiness is the motive of every action of every human, even of those who hang themselves, 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:38.000 he wrote in the 18th century. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:42.120 Sin, Paul is saying here, begins with your epi-desires, your ultimate desires, the desires 00:27:42.120 --> 00:27:48.160 beneath all of other desires and then it controls those daily desires that keep reoccurring 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:50.920 in your life. 00:27:50.920 --> 00:27:59.640 That means because sin is rooted in epi-desire, that sin is not just wanting bad things, but 00:27:59.640 --> 00:28:06.200 it's wanting things, good things in this world, badly in a way that's deeply sinful, that 00:28:06.200 --> 00:28:12.279 comes from a place of epi-desire, of bent deep down desires. 00:28:12.279 --> 00:28:20.360 Paul says here, Christian, verse 13 just before this, you are free. 00:28:20.359 --> 00:28:23.839 You are free from that law. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:27.839 You are free from the domain of the law. 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:33.039 You do not have to do good works in order to perform, in order to be accepted. 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:35.879 You're free from that. 00:28:35.879 --> 00:28:44.039 And so now you are free to walk by the Spirit out of the love that's first been given you 00:28:44.039 --> 00:28:46.039 in Christ. 00:28:46.039 --> 00:28:49.839 In other words, walking by the Spirit is being motivated by the love. 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:56.079 You have received in Christ Jesus, not by achievements, not by your worth, not by trying 00:28:56.079 --> 00:29:01.759 to be worthy with some idol, with some things standing out in front of you. 00:29:01.759 --> 00:29:06.559 All right, so thirdly and finally and briefly, this has been a normal link sermon, not a 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:11.119 short sermon actually, I'm realizing, but we'll be done very shortly. 00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:17.359 Point three, let me just say four brief things, some lessons here now. 00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:22.639 Paul tells us walking by the Spirit means fighting against the sinful desires of the 00:29:22.639 --> 00:29:23.879 flesh. 00:29:23.879 --> 00:29:28.559 Walking by the Spirit means not walking, not being under the domain of the law, or in 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:33.240 other words, prone and chasing after idols. 00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:38.639 So there are four lessons I think here in the text very briefly on how to think about 00:29:38.639 --> 00:29:42.639 this a little bit and do this as we approach the whole series. 00:29:42.639 --> 00:29:43.879 And here they are first. 00:29:43.880 --> 00:29:51.200 He says at the end of the passage, verse 24, in the Spirit you have crucified your sinful 00:29:51.200 --> 00:29:55.280 desires. 00:29:55.280 --> 00:30:01.800 Now I said earlier, all of us can go on these lists and identify areas where we are weak, 00:30:01.800 --> 00:30:04.320 especially in the fruits of the Spirit. 00:30:04.320 --> 00:30:09.760 And that's part of what we're collectively calling each other to do in this series, is 00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:16.839 to think about the fruits of the Spirit and realize weaknesses and vices and where we're 00:30:16.839 --> 00:30:18.599 not there. 00:30:18.599 --> 00:30:25.319 But this verse, if you have the Spirit of Christ, you have crucified the sinful desires 00:30:25.319 --> 00:30:27.359 of the flesh. 00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:29.960 In other words, it's past tense. 00:30:29.960 --> 00:30:31.200 Did you notice it's past tense? 00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:41.720 You have already crucified the sinful desires of the flesh, meaning this, that as you walk 00:30:41.720 --> 00:30:51.279 down this path of life as a Christian, every time you lose that battle to whatever it is 00:30:51.279 --> 00:30:58.559 on these lists that you struggle with, every time you lose, Paul is telling you that that 00:30:58.559 --> 00:31:02.599 sin has already been crucified on the cross. 00:31:02.599 --> 00:31:03.599 It's already been killed. 00:31:03.599 --> 00:31:10.919 It died in the death of Christ, and that God has forgotten it, and that He's forgiven 00:31:10.919 --> 00:31:18.039 you for it, and that you're justified, meaning that when this happens, if you are fighting 00:31:18.039 --> 00:31:25.919 and you lose and you will, you have to know that that sin has already been crucified in 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:32.080 Christ, that you are already justified and forgiven before God, and that means you can 00:31:32.080 --> 00:31:36.519 get up and you can march on and you can crucify your shame with it. 00:31:36.519 --> 00:31:37.960 You don't have to hold on to your shame. 00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:42.720 You can forgive yourself because God has forgiven you, and we can't set a higher standard of 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:48.800 forgiveness than the standard that God himself set in Jesus Christ on the cross, and holding 00:31:48.800 --> 00:31:52.840 on to shame and holding on to guilt and not being willing to forgive yourself for something, 00:31:52.839 --> 00:31:58.079 and move on and grow is like setting up a higher standard than the death of the Son 00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:01.119 of God for your own forgiveness. 00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:05.359 So He's telling you here, rejoice, be glad, get up. 00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:08.799 You've already, your sin has already been crucified. 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:12.240 That's past sin, present sin, and future sin. 00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:13.240 It's already dead. 00:32:13.240 --> 00:32:18.079 All right, so secondly, and the first two are the kind of explanation ones, and the last 00:32:18.079 --> 00:32:21.519 two will be just a couple sentences. 00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:30.720 First 25, secondly, it's not just, yes, if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep and 00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:32.759 step with the Spirit. 00:32:32.759 --> 00:32:38.960 Now, He's just said, if you belong to Jesus, the sinful desires have already been crucified. 00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:43.839 You've already been forgiven for them, everything you will do, and now He's saying the following 00:32:43.839 --> 00:32:51.440 idea, sanctification, if you live by the Spirit, let us also keep and step with the Spirit. 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:53.559 So the last one was completely passive. 00:32:53.559 --> 00:32:58.120 Jesus did that work for you, and that's why you can walk the walk of faith. 00:32:58.120 --> 00:33:03.279 But now, if you do belong to Jesus, and if you are alive in the Spirit, you do need to 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:06.240 walk step in step with the Spirit. 00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:08.360 You have to be active. 00:33:08.360 --> 00:33:09.480 You have to make choices. 00:33:09.480 --> 00:33:10.480 You have to fight. 00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:11.480 That's what He's talking about here. 00:33:11.480 --> 00:33:18.160 Now, when I was, very quickly, when I was a little kid, I grew up in a family that hunts, 00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:20.799 that goes hunting a lot. 00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:25.119 I know that some people might have an aversion to that immediately, but it's just the kind 00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:26.599 of place I grew up in. 00:33:26.599 --> 00:33:27.599 Everybody did it. 00:33:27.599 --> 00:33:28.599 Everybody hunts. 00:33:28.599 --> 00:33:33.440 We go out and we harvest our own food, and we put it in the freezer, and we eat on it 00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:36.759 all year long, usually at least the meat. 00:33:36.759 --> 00:33:39.720 And when I was young, I'll never forget. 00:33:39.720 --> 00:33:41.279 I mean, this was constant. 00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:46.319 Every week we go hunting, and when we get out in the woods, my dad would always turn 00:33:46.319 --> 00:33:53.359 around with me in his like 5 a.m., freezing cold, dark outside with just a headlamp face, 00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:57.319 which you're never happy at 5 a.m. when it's freezing cold outside in the woods. 00:33:57.319 --> 00:34:04.679 And he would say, now you walk everywhere that I walk and nowhere else. 00:34:04.679 --> 00:34:09.079 And he said, every step I take, you make sure you put your feet in exactly the holes that 00:34:09.079 --> 00:34:10.239 I've made with my feet. 00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:11.920 Now, why did he tell me that? 00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:15.440 Well, if you've ever been hunting, you probably know, and that's because when you're hunting, 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:21.159 especially deer or turkey or something, you don't want to break any sticks or pine cones 00:34:21.159 --> 00:34:25.880 or crunch any leaves if it's the autumn, because you scare the animals away. 00:34:25.880 --> 00:34:28.240 Now, when you're a little kid, that is impossible. 00:34:28.240 --> 00:34:29.240 You just can't do it. 00:34:29.240 --> 00:34:30.720 You break sticks constantly. 00:34:30.720 --> 00:34:35.840 And that's why every dad tells their son or daughter, you take every step I take. 00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:42.039 And of course, your legs are too short to do that, so you actually have to jump step 00:34:42.039 --> 00:34:45.599 to step to take the steps he took to avoid the sticks. 00:34:45.599 --> 00:34:47.559 And it never works, right? 00:34:47.559 --> 00:34:50.759 But that's the same idea here. 00:34:50.759 --> 00:34:51.759 You've been justified. 00:34:51.759 --> 00:34:57.920 And now you actually need to jump step and step with the spirit and follow the lead of 00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:02.800 the spirit in your heart to walk the path of righteousness. 00:35:02.800 --> 00:35:07.039 That's what he's saying, a fight, the good fight of not letting the sinful desires overwhelm 00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:08.519 you, but overwhelming them. 00:35:08.519 --> 00:35:09.519 All right. 00:35:09.519 --> 00:35:13.320 I'll move on to the third and fourth very quick. 00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:19.960 Why are the fruits of the spirit, the fruits of the spirit are products, right, of walking 00:35:19.960 --> 00:35:22.639 step and step with the Holy Spirit? 00:35:22.639 --> 00:35:23.639 Why? 00:35:23.639 --> 00:35:27.840 Well, just quickly, I just want to say, because the fruits of the spirit theologians will 00:35:27.840 --> 00:35:33.920 tell us are the communicable attributes of God. 00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:40.800 In other words, God has, we often say, communicable attributes and incomunicable attributes. 00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:45.000 And the incomunicable ones are the ones that he can't share with you. 00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:46.880 They're exclusive to God. 00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:47.960 You can't catch them. 00:35:47.960 --> 00:35:50.440 You can't be like him in that way. 00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:53.680 Of course, he is everywhere at all times. 00:35:53.680 --> 00:35:55.119 He's omnipresent. 00:35:55.119 --> 00:35:56.880 And you're not going to get there. 00:35:56.880 --> 00:35:57.880 Sorry. 00:35:57.880 --> 00:35:58.880 It's just not going to happen. 00:35:58.880 --> 00:35:59.880 And he's also omniscient. 00:35:59.880 --> 00:36:04.360 He's everything past future and present all at once. 00:36:04.360 --> 00:36:09.200 And we talk about God, we talk about him being eternally present at all times. 00:36:09.200 --> 00:36:10.640 Everything is present to him. 00:36:10.640 --> 00:36:13.760 And that's just not going to be in the cards for us ever. 00:36:13.760 --> 00:36:17.640 But there are things about God that we can catch that are communicable. 00:36:17.640 --> 00:36:18.640 And they're right here. 00:36:18.640 --> 00:36:21.240 They're the fruits of the spirit. 00:36:21.240 --> 00:36:24.800 And that means when you grow up and love joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, 00:36:24.800 --> 00:36:31.240 faithfulness, self-control, never, never are you more like God. 00:36:31.240 --> 00:36:33.480 That's what it looks like to be like God. 00:36:33.480 --> 00:36:38.519 It's what it looks like to be the image of God that he called us to be in Genesis 1, 00:36:38.519 --> 00:36:41.140 that we lose in sin. 00:36:41.140 --> 00:36:43.160 To be the image of God is putting on the fruits of the spirit. 00:36:43.160 --> 00:36:44.440 It's being like God. 00:36:44.440 --> 00:36:45.440 All right. 00:36:45.440 --> 00:36:52.440 Lastly, I just want to say, join us here in this series as the guys who preach, we've 00:36:52.440 --> 00:36:56.840 talked about this and we've said, in this series, we want to identify our weaknesses 00:36:56.840 --> 00:36:58.559 in this list. 00:36:58.559 --> 00:37:04.240 Ours, we want to deeply commit to pray about them. 00:37:04.240 --> 00:37:05.240 We want to focus on them. 00:37:05.240 --> 00:37:07.119 We want to mark them when we fail. 00:37:07.119 --> 00:37:08.920 We want to notice how we fail. 00:37:08.920 --> 00:37:11.800 We want to be awake like Paul calls us to be. 00:37:11.800 --> 00:37:17.360 To what's going on in our hearts, day in and day out, and strive to change. 00:37:17.360 --> 00:37:22.320 And each week we're going to be asking, what is this fruit in a roundabout way? 00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:25.080 What is its opposite? 00:37:25.080 --> 00:37:27.080 What is its counterfeit? 00:37:27.080 --> 00:37:30.800 What looks like love but really isn't? 00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:31.800 And how do you get it? 00:37:31.800 --> 00:37:35.760 And that's what we're going to be doing. 00:37:35.760 --> 00:37:38.320 So pray about this. 00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:40.640 Examine yourself. 00:37:40.640 --> 00:37:43.280 Look for your own opposites and counterfeits. 00:37:43.280 --> 00:37:46.440 What are your tendencies? 00:37:46.440 --> 00:37:49.720 And fight for fruit and change. 00:37:49.719 --> 00:37:53.279 And you can do it on the grace given to you by the Holy Spirit. 00:37:53.279 --> 00:37:54.279 Let's pray. 00:37:54.279 --> 00:37:59.199 Father, we thank you for the truths here. 00:37:59.199 --> 00:38:05.799 Change is so, Lord, we ask in this time, this semester as we pray and think and explore 00:38:05.799 --> 00:38:09.599 our own hearts and want to grow to be like you, O God. 00:38:09.599 --> 00:38:12.000 And we can't do it without the spirit of Christ. 00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:14.039 So come, spirit of Christ, and help us. 00:38:14.039 --> 00:38:20.039 In Jesus' name, amen.