The Fruit of the Spirit
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
Much is written about the Holy Spirit in the Word of God. The Epistles of Paul are freighted with many marvelous messages relative to the Spirit of God.
1. The Four Gospels present seven things which Christ said of the Spirit: (1) The Spirit and the New Birth (John 1:12-13; John 3:5-7). (2) The Spirit as the Father's gift (Luke 11:13; John 14:16). (3) The Spirit as the Teacher (John 14:26). (4) The Spirit as the Reprover of the world (John 16:8-9). (5) The Spirit as the Comforter of saints (John 16:7). (6) The Spirit as the One who testifies of Christ (John 15:26-27). (7) The Spirit as the Giver of power (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8).
What a wealth of riches are wrapped up in the foregoing statements. Think of it, we are born again by the Holy Spirit; we are taught of the Spirit; we are given the Spirit from the Father in order that He through us might reprove (convince or convict) the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Christ spoke of the Spirit as our Comforter, that is, as one walking at our side, to strengthen and encourage us along the way.
What could be more precious than to know that the Spirit would take of the things of Christ and show them unto us? What would be more blessed than to realize that we have an enduement from the Spirit, that He gives us power in the service of the Lord?
2. The Four Gospels present seven things concerning the Holy Spirit in the life of Christ. (1) Christ was born of the Spirit (Luke 1:35). (2) Christ was anointed by the Spirit (Luke 3:22). (3) Christ was filled with the Spirit (Luke 4:1). (4) Christ was led of the Spirit (Luke 4:1). (5) Christ ministered in the Spirit (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38). (6) Christ was raised from the dead by the Spirit (Romans 8:11). (7) Christ gave His final commandment in the Spirit (Acts 1:2).
Once more we have a marvelous wealth of truth. If you will study the seven statements above, you will find that each one should have a counterpart in our own lives.
We, too, were born of the Spirit. We, too, have an anointing of the Spirit. We should have the Spirit's infilling. We should be led of the Spirit. We should preach and minister in the Spirit. We will be raised by the Spirit, and every direction which we give, as leaders in God's Word and work, should be by the Spirit.
3. The Book of Acts presents seven definite things about the Spirit. (1) There is the Spirit and prophecy (Acts 2:4). (2) There is the Spirit and prayer (Acts 6:4). (3) There is the Spirit and praise (Acts 2:47). (4) There is the Spirit and persecution (Acts 8:1). (5) There is the Spirit and perseverance (Acts 14:22). (6) There is the Spirit and pay (Acts 2:44-45). (7) There is the Spirit and power (Acts 1:8).
Taking the seven statements above as a basis for the Holy Spirit in the lives and ministry of the early Christians, you will find a marvelous revelation of truth. Each word, prophecy, prayer, praise, persecution, perseverance, presentation of gifts and power is a keyword which unlocks the secret springs of the early Church.
4. The Book of Galatians presents seven things about the Holy Spirit. (1) There is the beginning in the Spirit (Galatians 3:1-3). (2) There is the indwelling of the Spirit (Galatians 4:6). (3) There is the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit (Galatians 5:17). (4) There is the walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). (5) There is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). (6) There is the sowing of the Spirit (Galatians 6:7-8). (7) There is the hope in the Spirit (Galatians 5:5).
Each of the above is worthy of study. Each conveys a truth distinct from, and yet allied with every other truth. We trust these suggestions will aid us in the study of the Spirit-filled life which is to follow.
I. THE SPIRIT OF LOVE
The first fruit of the Spirit is love,
1. The love of God in Christ is the supreme message of the Bible. "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God." God is love, and He that walketh in love must walk in the Spirit, for it is He who sheds abroad the love of God in our heart.
The true love, which is ours in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Ghost, is distinct from the flesh with its affections and lusts.
2. Christ is the greatest manifestation of love the world has ever known. The fact of Christ's love is thus set forth, "To know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).
We read of, "The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). We read again, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins" (Revelation 1:5). Yet, again, we read, "Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it." Above all, we read this wonderful statement, "God so loved the world."
We need not marvel that Paul prayed that we might know what is the height and the breadth, and the depth, and the length of the love of Christ. Such a love transcends every human conception, and encompasses every human need.
3. The fruit of the Spirit is the shedding abroad of the love of God in our heart. We are to love even as He loved. If He loved the Church, we should love the Church. If He loved the world, we should love the world, in the same sense that He loved it. If we attempt to accomplish either of these in our own strength, we will fail. We can love as He loved, only when the Holy Spirit fills us with His love.
There is a verse which reads, "That ye, being rooted and grounded in love" (Ephesians 3:17). There is another verse which says, "Keep yourselves in the love of God" (Judges 1:21). There is yet another Scripture "He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16).
II. THE SPIRIT OF JOY
The second fruit of the Spirit is joy. How many times does God set the life of joy before the saint!
1. The life of Paul as a manifestation of joy. It was in the Philippian jail that Paul suffered with his feet in the stocks. It was to the Philippian saints that Paul spoke of his joy.
2. The life of Christ as our supreme example of joy. In John 15:11 there stands a verse, sublime in its beauty, and unfathomable in its fullness. It reads, "That My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."
Think of the occasion of these words. Christ was in the upper room with the sorrows of men lying heavy upon His heart. He had just broken the bread and poured forth the cup. He was about to enter Gethsemane's shades, and the bitterness of Golgotha's crest. With His Cross before Him, He spoke of His joy.
Christ desired that His joy might be implanted in us, and remain in us. No matter what may be our afflictions, or our necessities, or distresses, we should be always rejoicing. If Christ sang in the upper room where He was sorrowful, we need to sing in our imprisonments, in our tumults, in our labors, in our watchings, and in our fastings. Our Lord wanted our joy to be full. He wanted us to have exuberant joy, satisfying joy, overflowing joy, abiding joy.
III. THE SPIRIT OF PEACE
"The fruit of the Spirit is peace." This is the statement of our verse. Let us look into the peace which the Spirit gives.
1. We need to recognize God as the God of peace. Here are a few Scriptures which will set forth our thought. "The God of peace * * make you perfect" (Hebrews 13:20-21). "The God of peace sanctify you wholly" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). "The God of peace shall bruise Satan" (Romans 16:20). Here are a few Scriptures, which speak of the peace of God: "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding" (Philippians 4:7). "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts" (Colossians 3:15).
2. We need to consider Christ as the perfection of peace. In 2 Thessalonians 3:16, Christ is called, "The Lord of Peace." In Ephesians 2:14-15, we read, "He is our peace." In Isaiah 9:6 is found, "The Prince of Peace."
What does this Christ of peace do for us? He says, "My peace I give unto you." He tells us to follow peace with all men. He says, "Blessed are the peacemakers."
3. We need to consider the basis of peace. When Jesus Christ came to the disciples on the first day of the week after His resurrection, He stood in their midst, and said, "Peace be unto you." What a gracious greeting! What did He mean?
(1) He meant that He was our Peace upon the basis of the shed Blood. "Ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the Blood of Christ. For He is our peace."
It was upon the basis of Calvary that Christ came and preached peace to those that were afar off and to those that were nigh.
(2) He meant that we should have His peace. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." However, to those who are justified, He says, "Let us have peace."
Two soldiers were discovered in the North Carolina mountains two years after peace was made at Appomatox. They were hiding from their government because they were deserters. When they were discovered they asked about the progress of the war. Their discoverers told them the war was over. Peace had long since been declared, why then should they not have had peace?
IV. THE SPIRIT OF LONG-SUFFERING
Our text says "The fruit of the Spirit is * * long-suffering." The more familiar term is "patience."
Our God is a God of long-suffering. He is not willing that any should perish. It is His long-suffering and forbearance that leads men to repentance. If our God is a God of patience, His children should be children of patience.
1. We need to serve with long-suffering and patience. God has said, "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."
We must not serve the Lord with spurts and spasms. We must serve with all perseverance and patience. Gideon, as he passed over, came to the Jordan. He and his three hundred men were, "Faint, yet pursuing."
Peter with the disciples had toiled all night, at their fishing, and had taken nothing. Nevertheless at the Lord's word they let down their net for a draught. If we would catch men, we must not become discouraged and give up.
Let us not stay our hands until we have completed our task and secured certain victory.
2. We need to suffer with long-suffering and patience. Christians are too often like the seed which was sown, and springing up, soon withered away under the scorching sun. There are many who for a while endure, but when tribulation and affliction come, they fall away.
We should learn to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. We should run with patience the race that is set before us.
We need to be filled with the Spirit in order that we may bear the fruit of long-suffering.
V. THE SPIRIT OF MEEKNESS
"The fruit of the Spirit is * * meekness." As patience is akin to long-suffering, so humility is akin to meekness.
1. The Lord Jesus Christ was perfect in meekness. What a contrast between the Lord, the Creator, and man, the creature! The flesh does not care to humble itself, and yet Jesus Christ, who was very God of very God, humbled Himself and was found in fashion as a man.
The Lord Jesus was the Possessor of all things, and yet He was willing to abide with no place to lay His head. The Lord Jesus was without sin, and yet He was willing to be numbered with the malefactors, and to suffer for sinners. The Lord Jesus had been ever worshiped, as the seraphims cried, "Holy, holy, holy"; and yet He was willing to accept shame and spitting from the rudest of men.
2. The believer should follow in the footsteps of his Lord. We read, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." What was the mind of Christ? It was the Spirit of meekness. He was "meek and lowly in heart." Should we not also be meek and lowly? Should we not willingly bend our head under His yoke? Should we not be willing to suffer as He suffered, and to bear shame as He bore it?
Moses is known as the meek man. Are we also meek? Are we willing to be reviled, and revile not again? Are we willing to turn the other cheek?
May God grant that each one of us may live in all humility of Spirit and in all meekness of heart.
VI. THE SPIRIT OF GENTLENESS
So many of us make our boast toward God. We center our self-praise in our great fetes of service, or perhaps in our fidelity to the faith. Are we able with equal assurance to assert the fact of our gentleness, and of our goodness?
The fruit of the Spirit is faith; it is also love, and joy, and peace. The fruit of the Spirit, however, is more than all of this. It is gentleness.
The life that shines most brilliantly for the Lord Jesus, is the life that is lighted with love and joy, and tempered with gentleness. The life that counts most for God is a life that contends for the faith without being contentious; that goes forth to war, without bitterness.
Predominant in the Divine nature, as revealed in Christ, was the Spirit of gentleness and of goodness, of which we are now speaking. The Lord knew how to go about doing good. He knew how to pronounce anathemas, while, at the same time He was saying, "How oft would I have gathered thy children together!"
The Lord Jesus was gentle without being effeminate. He was kind without yielding the truth. He delighted in gathering the little children into His arms. He rejoiced in comforting the broken heart, giving the oil of joy for sadness, and speaking peace to the troubled heart.
The Lord Jesus on the Cross, in the most trying hour of all, dealt with gentleness toward the enemy. The populace were surging His Cross, wagging their heads against Him. They encompassed Him with the Spirit of ravening wolves. They poured out upon Him the indignation and wrath of their Satan-driven hearts. What then did Jesus? He prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
If we knew more of the fruit of the Spirit, we would know more of gentleness.
AN ILLUSTRATION
NEW LEAVES PUSHING OFF THE OLD
"Old leaves, if they remain upon the trees through the autumn and winter, fall off in the spring." We have seen a hedge all thick with dry leaves throughout the winter, and neither frost nor wind has removed the withered foliage, but the spring has soon made a clearance. The new life dislodges the old, pushing it away as unsuitable to it. So our old corruptions are best removed by the growth of new graces. "Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." It is as the new life buds and opens that old worn-out things of our former state are compelled to quit their hold of us. Our wisdom lies in living near to God, that by the power of His Holy Spirit all our graces may be vigorous, and may exercise a sin-expelling power over our lives: the new leaves of grace pushing off our old sere affections and habits of sin.
With converts from the world it is often better not to lay down stringent rules as to worldly amusements, but leave the new life and its holier joys to push off the old pleasures. Thus it will be done more naturally and more effectively.
Lord, let Thy life in me push off the relics of my former death, that I may put on the new man, and manifest the energy of Thy grace. C. H. Spurgeon.