(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, we're here in Galatians chapter 5 and look down at verse number 22 where the Bible reads, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. And so we're going to be starting a long sermon series on the fruits of the Spirit and you know each of these fruits, there's nine different ones listed, every single one of them you can look them up in the Bible and there's a lot of information that you can learn and this is honestly a really important series to just have our own spiritual growth because we need to be continually growing each and every passing day. But today's sermon is going to be basically an introduction on the topic. Now turn to Proverbs 11, Proverbs 11 real quickly. Now the first thing I want you to understand here today is this, that the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of the Christian are not the same thing. And when you look at this word fruit, there's a lot of confusion amongst various different churches because people make statements that if you're really saved you're going to bear fruit. And so the question is what do you mean by that? Because the word fruit means a lot of different things in the Bible but the fruit of the Christian and the fruit of the Spirit, these are not the same thing at all. Notice what it says in Proverbs chapter 11 verse 30, Proverbs 11 verse 30, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise. So notice what it says in Proverbs 11 verse 30, the fruit of the righteous or the fruit of the saved person is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise. What the Bible is teaching that as a saved person your fruit is when you win other people to the Lord, when you're a soul winner, when you win souls to the Lord. This is not the same thing as the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Christian or the fruit of the righteous is what you as a saved person produce. Now turn back to Galatians 5 and you say well why is this such an important topic? It's important because you will hear preachers say things that if you're really saved you're going to bear fruit. Now what they usually mean by that is if you're really saved you're going to do good works and be a good person. That is what they're saying. But you know they use this term if you're really saved you're going to bear fruit but when you're talking about the fruit of the righteous or the fruit of the Christian that is to win souls to the Lord. Look most saved people win zero souls to the Lord in their life. They do nothing for God. They never win anybody to the Lord and so they're bearing zero fruit. It does not mean that they're not saved though. Now I've got a picture here of an apple and I looked at a fridge here this morning and we don't have any apples so I decided to print off a picture. But this is a picture of an apple isn't it? Let's say for example this was a real apple okay and let's say for example I brought this here today and then after the service I ate this apple. Now it would not produce any other apples would it? But was it still an apple? Even though it didn't produce any fruit it doesn't mean that it is not an apple. Most apples produce zero apples that doesn't mean it's not an apple though. Most Christians produce zero Christians it does not mean that they're not a Christian. Just because you're saved there's no guarantee you're going to bear fruit. And so this idea that if you're really saved you're going to bear fruit well certainly that doesn't mean that you're going to win souls to the Lord because last I noticed very few people are saved in this world. And so most saved people bear zero souls to the Lord they win nobody to the Lord. But if they mean that if you're really saved you're going to do good works well this is why that's so foolish. Even unsaved people do good work sometimes. Before I was saved I did good things. I didn't go around and just kill people and get drunk. No I did nice things. I would mow my neighbor's grass you know this elderly lady for free you know just to help her out. Unsaved people they have love in their life sometimes. Unsaved people they have joy. Unsaved people they have peace. Sometimes unsaved people they have long suffering. So before people are saved they do good things. Look you're not a reprobate like the Calvinists say before you're saved. Before you're saved you're not saved but it doesn't mean that you're just a child of the devil. You do good things okay and after you're saved yes you do good things as well but look just because you're saved that's not a guarantee you're going to do more good things. It's not a guarantee you're going to become a better person because whether you're saved or unsaved you do some good things and saved people it doesn't guarantee that they're going to win souls to the Lord. Now turn to Luke chapter 8, Luke 8 and so people throw out these generic terms like well if you're really saved you're going to bear fruit it's like well what do you mean by that? Are you saying that if you're really saved you're going to become a good person? I would love to see the Bible verse that says that because you know when a drunk person gets saved they are still a drunk person. They don't just magically have this desire to live for God. No their flesh still desires what's wrong. Nothing has changed. Now in Luke chapter 8 when we look at the parable of the sower it's going to really talk about bearing fruit to the Lord and I want you to notice these four groups of people and in verse number 9 in Luke chapter 8 the Bible reads and his disciples asked him saying what might this parable be and he said unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God but to others in parables that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this the seed is the word of God so Jesus is going to speak a parable and he's going to explain this parable so they can understand this. Verse number 12 those by the wayside are they that hear then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved. So in verse number 12 it talks about somebody who would hear the gospel but they would not believe it and in other places you see they don't understand it and so they do not get saved. It's not that they're rejecting the word of God but they hear the gospel and they don't believe it and so they don't get saved. So in verse number 12 these are people that never get saved. These are not saved people. Verse number 13 they on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy and these have no root which for a while believing in time of temptation fall away. And it says in verse number 13 they receive the word with joy. Now in the bible when it says that you receive the word that is terminology for someone who gets saved. The bible says as many as received him to them give you power to become the sons of God. So when you receive Jesus Christ or you receive the word you get saved according to the bible. So they receive the word with joy. It's not just that they receive the word but they do it with joy. What that is telling you is they don't just get saved but they actually do something with their salvation. These are people that get saved, they come to church, they get baptized, they're starting to grow, they're starting to change their life but it says these have no root. And when you look up the word root in the bible it's often referring to being rooted and grounded in church. See a lot of people get saved and they might visit a new church, they might start to make changes. It doesn't mean they're fully rooted in that church. Through the years this church is going to have lots of people that come here and they're here with us for a little while and they're kind of here but then they kind of just fade out. That's just the way church works. If you've been part of church you've seen people they come, they go, they come, they go. And it's sad because you know you want the church to grow, you're hoping people will live for the Lord but people come and they fade out of church. That's just the way it works. And so people come, they don't get rooted often times and then what the bible says here is they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now when it says which for a while believe it does not say which for a while believe the gospel. It says which for a while believe. These are people that after they got saved, after they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ they're believing these new doctrines, they're changing their life and they believe for a while but in time of temptation they fall away and when you get out of church you're going to stop believing the sorts of things that you believed when you were in church. What am I talking about? When you're really living for God you feel guilty about watching the television. When you're really living for God you feel guilty about listening to rock music but when you're not in church and you don't you know you're not really trying to live for God you don't feel guilty about the things that you watch or listen to because everybody else is doing that. So you don't feel bad about it but see when you're in a church like this you're going to feel guilty about living a worldly life. That's just the way it works and see when people leave a church like this you will always notice you can go to their Facebook and see where they've really changed their beliefs these last couple years because they used to be real fundamental and conservative and now that they're out of church it's like they don't even really care about the things they used to. They've completely changed because they're walking in the flesh now they're not walking in the spirit. That's just the way it works. Any one of us if we got out of church today we would start to backslide and start living a worldly life. That is the way it would work. Every single person whether it's me or anybody else in this room if you're not in church and hearing the preaching of the word of God you will live a worldly life and quite honestly the people that listen to a lot of sermons online but don't come to church I promise you they live a much more worldly life as well. You say why? Because when you're in church the preaching hits you a little bit harder than when you're listening online. And when you're listening online you can easily just kind of tune me out for a couple minutes if you don't like what I'm saying but you guys can't tune me out because you're here and I'm preaching it. But see when you're out of church and just listening to sermons online look you can easily tune that out and say well let me just check what's going on on Facebook I'll tune into the sermon five minutes from now. That's the way it works and you know honestly you know when you're in church though you will feel guilty about that stuff but when you get out of church you will fade out of those things and you will change what you believe. So when it says which for a while believe it's not referring to the gospel because that was settled when you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you made an eternal decision to believe on Jesus and you're indwelled with the spirit of truth but just because you're saved and in church the things you learn in church and the stances you take you're not going to believe that forever if you fade out of church. Look if you in this room were to fade out of church all of a sudden you'd start being a little bit nicer to the LGBT so you're in a church like this you know how wicked it is. If you're reading Genesis 19 you know how bad it is you walk outside you see Vice Gonda on TV you know how bad it is but you get out of church and everybody else is watching it you start to think it's kind of funny too. I'm sorry but I don't think guys wearing dresses is funny and it doesn't matter how often you see it but when you're out of church you will not have the same beliefs as when you're in a church like this. Notice what it says in verse number 14 and that which fell among thorns are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection. In verse number 14 the Bible speaks about people that they're choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. Part of them wants to live for God but because of the fact they have one foot in the world and one foot in living for God they're basically choked by the world. The cares the riches and the pleasures. Look a lot of people they're not in church they're not living for God because of the riches of this world. They care more about money than they do about the things of God or they care more about you know having free time they care more about the things they watch than they do about living for God and they bring no fruit to perfection. Is that saying that they never do any good works whatsoever? They're never nice to anybody. They're never kind to anybody. No it's saying they never win souls to the Lord. So we're talking about the difference between the fruit of the Christian and the fruit of the Spirit. See here in Luke 8 14 it's referring to the fruit of the righteous or the fruit of the Christian winning souls to the Lord and when you live a worldly life you're probably not going to win souls to the Lord. That's the way it works. You're not going to feel like living for God. You're not going to feel like going soul winning if you're living a worldly life. That does not mean that you never do anything nice though. That's ridiculous. But in Luke 8 14 it's referring to the fruit of the Christian or the fruit of the righteous. Notice verse 15 but that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart having heard the word keep it and bring forth fruit with patience and see the Bible says the person that's going to win souls to the Lord is the person who hears the word of God. They have an honest heart. They have a good heart which means they hear something they don't like and they change based on what the Bible says. They hear something that kind of steps on their toes and they're honest about it in their own hearts and say I need to just change. I'm wrong. The Bible's right. They have an honest and good heart and they hear the word and they keep it and they bring forth fruit with patience. You see if you do not have an honest and good heart you will not like this church. You say why? Because you'll be offended very easily because I say a lot of things that will offend somebody if they're not willing to just believe what the Bible says. You must have an honest heart. Be honest with yourself by whether you're right with God or not and you hear the preaching and you change. Look I've been in church for a long time and there's a lot of sermons that stepped right on my toe. You say what do you do? Well what you do is you stay in church and make the changes that you heard in the sermon. That's what you do. You have an honest and a good heart and that is the secret to bringing forth fruit with patience. But in this sermon series we're not talking about being a soul winner. We preach those sermons but we're talking about the fruits of the Spirit and that is not the same thing as the fruit of the Christian. Now turn in your Bible to Galatians 5. Galatians 5. And what I want you to understand is that when you get saved is the second point. There is no guarantee that you will become a better person after you get saved. There is no guarantee you're going to be a better person or fulfill these things more often than before you got saved. You know being saved does not magically change everything because you're indwelled with the Spirit of God but you have the same flesh and you still have the choice am I going to walk in the flesh or the Spirit. Notice what it says in Galatians 5 verse 16. This I say then walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And so what the Bible says is if you walk in the Spirit you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh but if you're not walking in the Spirit what it's telling you is you will fulfill the lust of the flesh. And see if you're someone who used to be a drug addict or a drunk and you're not walking in the Spirit you will fulfill the lust of the flesh. You will still drink alcohol. You'll still do drugs. Why? You're not walking in the Spirit. And so if you want to make changes in your life you must walk in the Spirit. There's no guarantee you're going to walk in the Spirit. Look we're not Calvinists. There's no guarantee you're not forced to live for God. The Holy Spirit doesn't force you to do things. You have the option to walk in the Spirit or to fulfill the lust of the flesh. Now turn to Exodus 34. Exodus 34. And so you have to understand that you know the way you make changes in life are not simply by getting saved but it's when you start reading the Bible, you start going to church, you start memorizing the Bible, that is what's going to cause you to make real changes in your life. Look when I got saved I didn't just magically change everything I desired. That took years to get closer to God and slowly make changes. Before I got saved my favorite rock music was Aerosmith. Guess what? The day after I got saved my favorite music was Aerosmith. It wasn't Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. When I first got saved I still wanted to listen to Aerosmith. I don't want to listen to Aerosmith today but that didn't happen overnight. That takes time to make changes in your life. It doesn't happen automatically. The Bible does not teach that. Now in Exodus chapter 34 we're going to look at a story here and there's a lot of symbolism being mentioned here but I want to show you the result of getting close to God. Notice what it says in verse 27, and the Lord said unto Moses, write thou these words for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. And he was there with the Lord forty days, verse number 28, and he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He did neither eat bread nor drink water and he wrote upon the tables of the words of the covenant the ten commandments. And so he's with the Lord for forty days and forty nights. Notice what it says in verse 29, and it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses hand, when he came down from the mount that Moses wished not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. When it says he wished not, what it's saying is he did not realize that his face shined as he was with the Lord. Okay now this did happen. This is a real story but God is trying to teach you symbolism. Basically Moses was close to God for forty days and forty nights and the result was that he physically changed. He was physically close to God and he physically changed. What the Bible is trying to teach you is this, when you get spiritually close to God, you will spiritually change. Basically people will not recognize the new you. Because in verse number 30 what the Bible reads is this, and when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to come nigh him. And so Aaron, his own brother, is afraid to get close to Moses. Why? Because he looks different. His face literally changed. Now if you get close to God, we're not Pentecostals either, your face is not literally going to change. Okay? But if you get close to God, if you read the Bible a lot, if you memorize the Bible a lot, you will change and be a different person. You say why? Because you're not walking in the flesh, you're walking in the spirit. And the people that know you are going to say, I don't even recognize brother Rafi, I don't even recognize brother Dustin, they're like a completely different person. You say why? Because they are a completely different person. When you're walking in the spirit, you're a completely different person than if you're walking in the flesh. And what I'm trying to show you is this, that getting saved does not just magically flip the switch where you want to live for God. Once you read the Bible, once you memorize the Bible, that is what flips the switch. That is what makes you start to really change in your life, and people will not recognize you anymore. Honestly, you could take a 40 day challenge in this room, and if you started reading the Bible a lot more for 40 days, you started memorizing the Bible a lot more for 40 days, you start praying a lot more for 40 days, I promise you at the end of 40 days, they're going to say, brother so and so is a little bit different, sister so and so is a little bit different. Why? Because all you're going to be talking about is the Bible. That's what you're going to be interested in. See when you're living for God and you're reading the Bible, what's going to come out of your mouth? The Bible. What about if you're watching movies all day, what's going to come out of your mouth? See when you get close to God, there's a change that takes place. This is not automatic though when you get saved. Now turn back to Galatians 5. And so you have to understand this, when we get people saved going door to door soul winning, they get saved, if they never come to church, they're not going to be much of a different person a couple years from now. There's probably going to be no change whatsoever. That does not mean they didn't get saved though, because being saved is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Being saved is not living a good life, but if somebody gets saved and they never come to church, they're not going to make any changes in their life. That doesn't mean they're not saved though. Notice what it says in verse 17, for the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary to one or the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. And see the Bible says the flesh lust against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. See your flesh desires a lot of things that are wrong, but the Holy Spirit desires nothing that's wrong. The Holy Spirit wants things that are right. The Holy Spirit, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, but that's not your flesh though. See your flesh desires things that are wrong and if you want to change who you are, you must start reading the Bible and memorizing the Bible and praying and it will cause you to have changes and the fruits of the spirit will become evident in your life, but these fruits of the spirit are not automatic just because you get saved. Once you start living for God, that's when the change actually takes place. Now turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians 5, and you say why is this so important? It's important because you know a lot of us have heard a lot of sermons from people and they basically, pastors will make you doubt your salvation because you don't notice big changes in your life. They'll say well you know if you haven't made changes in your life, if you don't desire to live for God now, you know you might not even be saved. If you don't have this change where you want to live for God, then you might not even be saved. Look when I got saved, I didn't change my desires. Now I've changed my desires through the years, that didn't happen automatically. What happens when you start living for God, but when you first get saved, there's not just this magical change that takes place. What you have is you have the flesh and you have the spirit. If you walk in the spirit, you'll desire what's right. If you walk in the flesh, you'll desire what's wrong. It is your choice which path, which way you're going to go. And look, you could sit in our church for years and I could preach sermons like this, but if you don't actively decide to start reading the Bible, you don't actively decide to start memorizing the Bible, you're not going to desire what's right. You're going to still desire your old, sinful, fleshly desires that you've always desired. In 2nd Corinthians 5 verse 17, the Bible reads, 2nd Corinthians 5 verse 17, therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, all things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. Now this is a very misunderstood verse in the Bible because most people will preach this verse and what they're going to tell you is this, that see, when you get saved, things are become new, so you're going to want to live for God and read the Bible and memorize the Bible and just everything's going to be new. Well, there's a problem with that interpretation. Here's the thing, nobody thinks that when you get saved, you're a perfect person. You're never, very rarely will you meet someone who thinks that you actually become perfect. I've met a few people that actually believe, I met someone else so many who told me they hadn't committed to sin in like 15 years. I was like, you haven't told a lie in like 15 years? And he's like, no. And it's like, all right, well have a nice day. It's like, you're obviously not going to get saved if you can't understand the first point, you know, for all of sin, usually people get that, you know, it's like, well, yeah, I've sinned before. You know, every once in a while you'll meet people that believe you can become sinlessly perfect, but that's pretty rare, okay? So what would you understand is this, if this is referring to you just starting to live a good life when it says all things are become new, what that would mean is this verse would be saying you become perfect when you get saved because all is new, the oldest passed away and you never desire to drink. You never desire to do what's wrong. That is not what this verse is saying though. What it's saying is that when you get saved, you're in dwell with the spirit of God and that is new. All things are become new. So you have the spirit of God, but look, you have to understand you still have the same flesh. Your flesh does not change. The difference is you're in dwell with the spirit of God. So your flesh still desires what's wrong, but now all things are going to become new. You become a child of God. You're in dwell with the spirit of God and your spirit desires to do what's right, but your flesh still desires to do what's wrong. There is no changer. That's what the Bible says, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow there by. It's a command by God to desire to read the word of God. Why? It's not automatic. When you get saved, your flesh doesn't change and you have the desires that are right. Your spirit wants to do what's right, but your flesh doesn't want to do what's right. And so look, if you're someone who, let's say you used to drink a lot of alcohol, you know, honestly, that's something that your flesh still has in there. And that is a sin you could fall back into one day. Now if you've never gone down that road, you're probably never going to struggle with that. But if you've gone down a road in your life, then quite honestly, that is still in there somewhere. And you better make sure you're walking in the spirit because you could find yourself committing sins you've never committed before. And look, I know people that committed sins after they were saved that they never committed before they were saved. Look, David did not commit adultery before he was saved. I mean, he didn't commit adultery. He committed adultery after he was saved. Now we don't know exactly when he got saved, but you know, it was after he was saved, he ends up committing adultery. He ends up committing murder. And I know people in my life that, you know, got saved when they were 18 years old or 20 years old and they committed sins far worse after they were saved. You say, why? Because you still have the desires of the flesh. And if you're not walking in the spirit, you're going to walk and fulfill the desires of the flesh. Now turn in your Bible to Jonah chapter three, Jonah three. And so when people say that, well, if you're really saved, you're going to bear fruit. What they usually mean is that you're going to start living a good life. And what's funny about that is people that believe salvation is completely free and you don't have to change your life at all. They usually live pretty separated lives compared to the other people out there. People will say, you've got to make some massive change in your life. Usually they're not really living a separated life. You say, why is that? Because when your standard is basically perfection, you're going to lessen what right and wrong is. See, the Mormons will always say, be therefore perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. And they basically claim if you're saved, you got to walk towards being perfect. And basically you're going to live a really good life. And so what you'll notice is that Mormons don't live a very separated life. They don't see anything wrong with listening to rock music. You know, I had a good friend of mine in college who was a Mormon and look, you know, they listened to music the world listened to and they did not consider it a sin. You say, why? Because when your standard is a ridiculous standard, what you do is lessen what sin is so you can crawl over and look like you're a good person. And see, when you hear people say things like, you know, just repentance of sins preachers, your standards of right and wrong are very different than ours because they have to be lessened for them to be good enough. Okay. Now notice what the Bible says here in Jonah chapter three and a great example is with Calvinists because Calvinists say there is no such thing as a carnal Christian. There's no such thing. You can listen to the most famous Calvinists and they will make statements that if you're saved, you will never be a carnal Christian. You'll never desire what's wrong. There's going to be a major change in your life that there's no such thing as a carnal Christian. There's a problem with that when Paul said he was carnal. There's a problem when Paul wrote to the church of Corinth and it said they were carnal. And so obviously in the Bible, you see carnal Christians, but notice what it says in Jonah chapter three. And let me turn there myself. Jonah chapter three, verse number nine, Jonah three, verse nine. One second. Did not have this in my notes. Jonah chapter three, notice what it says in verse nine. You can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not. Now notice in verse number nine, the Bible speaks about God turning and repenting. See most people think the word repent means to turn from your sins. But in verse number nine, it talks about God turning and repenting. Was God a sinner? No. So was he repenting of his sins? I mean, who can tell if God will turn and repent? Look, God doesn't have any sins. God is perfect. The word repent does not mean to turn from your sins. It means to turn, but you could say to turn from any manner of things. It can refer to sins, but it doesn't always refer to sins. In fact, it usually doesn't because in the Bible, the one who repents the most is God and God is not a sinner. But notice what it says in verse number 10 and God saw their works that they turn from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not. Because God saw their works that they turn from their evil way. And so according to the Bible, verse number 10, turning from your evil way is works. See if you teach that someone has to quit drinking to be saved, that is works salvation. It takes work to quit drinking. If you say somebody has to quit smoking and turn from smoking to be saved, that is works salvation. It takes work to quit smoking. It takes work to quit drinking. If you say somebody has to start reading the Bible to be saved, that is works salvation because it takes work to make changes in your life. Look, turning from your evil way according to the Bible, that is works. God saw their works. What did he see that they turn from their evil way? Look, saying that you must turn from your sins or repent of your sins, that is a works salvation. Now let me say this, that some people will use the word repent and they might not really know what it means and they might just say a phrase and not really mean it. Even within like-minded churches, some of the pastors have said before that a long time ago they used the word repent and they didn't mean it like it sounded. But basically they were saying, hey, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They go through all these verses and then at the end, and so now if you just repent of your sins and believe on Jesus Christ, you'll be saved. And they didn't mean that you have to quit drinking or quit smoking, it's just something you hear in church so often that you repeat it. Look, even when I first started going soul winning, I used the word repent without even thinking what I was saying. Why? Because I wasn't really taught very clearly what the Bible says. And so some people might use that word and not really understand what they're saying and not be teaching a false gospel, but look, if we're saying that somebody has to quit drinking to be saved, that is works salvation. If we're saying they've got to change their lifestyle, that is works salvation and quite honestly, that's a lot of work because it takes a lot of work to make changes in your life. In fact, we saw that Moses was with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights. And if you want to make changes in your life, it's going to take a lot of Bible reading. It's going to take a lot of memorization. It's not something that happens overnight. Notice at the end of verse 10 it says, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not. So according to verse 10, God repents. Once again, God is not a sinner. He is not turning from sins. You say, why does it say evil then? Evil means when you do harm to someone, God will destroy cities from time to time. He says, I will destroy Nineveh unless they change their actions and he decides not to destroy it. He repents of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not. It wouldn't have been a sin for God to destroy Nineveh because he does that two books later, but he would have been doing evil to them because he did harm to them. He killed them. But that's obviously not a sin because that was God's righteous decree to destroy Nineveh. But what I want you to see here in verse 10 is God is repenting. If repenting means to turn from your sins, then God's a sinner. And quite honestly, he repents more than anybody in the Bible. And so saying that repentance is to turn from your sins, that is not biblical. The word repent means to change or it means to turn. It does not mean to turn from your sins, though. You can turn from any manner of things. Look, when the Bible says repenting and believe the gospel, it's not saying turn from your sins and believe on Jesus. What is it saying? It's saying quit trusting in your idols and your Catholicism and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can't believe on Jesus if you're trusting all your Catholicism. You must make a choice. You cannot believe in some other religion and believe on Jesus. You cannot believe in Buddhism and then believe on Jesus Christ. You must make a choice. And so when you get saved, you turn from what you believed before and you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but you do not have to turn from your sins. You have to turn or change your mind about what you believe, but you do not have to turn from your sins and change your lifestyle. Now turn in your Bible to Galatians 5. You know, quite honestly, you know, there are a lot of people out there that want to get saved. I mean, everybody wants to be saved. Nobody wants to go to hell. But quite honestly, they think that they must change their entire lifestyle to be saved. They think that they must be really sorry for their sins and quit drinking and quit smoking. And a lot of them in the back of their minds are saying, hey, one day I'm going to do this, but I can't do that right now. I still desire what's wrong. And you know, the great thing about what the Bible says is that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but of everlasting life. You see, the person that believes on Jesus Christ and stays a drug addict till the day they die, they go to heaven. The person that believes on Jesus Christ and they don't change their lifestyle at all, they go to heaven. God does not require you to change your lifestyle to be saved. What he requires is that you believe on him that he died and paid for your sins. Now, my story personally is this. I did not really want to change my lifestyle after I got saved. The reason why I changed is because I started going soul winning. And when you start going soul winning, I remember just vividly one time I was going soul winning and I remember I talked to someone about the gospel and they did not get saved. And in the back of my mind, what I wondered is what if I was a little bit more godly and knew the Bible a little bit better? Would that person have gotten saved? And so I started to read the Bible more. And you know, once you're going soul winning, it just changes you. Because you realize that the actions I do will affect whether or not people go to heaven or hell one day, whether or not I'm living godly, whether or not I'm zealous for church and zealous in reading the Bible, and it makes you realize, man, I better decide to dedicate my life to God. Because you will not be a zealous soul winner while being a worldly person. You must make a choice. Most people choose to be a worldly person. That does not mean they're not saved. It just means they're not going to bear any fruit in terms of winning people to the Lord. Now notice what it says in Galatians 5. And the third point I want you to realize is this, that when it comes to the fruits of the Spirit, these are opposite of the works of the flesh. These are warring against one another. Galatians 5 verse 19, now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like of the which I tell you before, as I've also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Now people look at these verses, and people that teach a work of salvation will actually turn here and say, well, see, if you're doing these things, you won't inherit the kingdom of God. So let's go to Revelation 21 real quickly, and we'll come back here in a second. Revelation 21. That's actually really common in the Bible, though, where God will list a lot of things and say, if you're guilty of these things, you will not go to heaven. He's not saying that you must be perfect to go to heaven or change your life completely. What he's saying is that if you've committed these sins at one time in your life, you are guilty and you need a savior. And so, yes, you know what, if you die and you have those sins on your record, yes, you will go to hell. But if you believe on Jesus Christ, you become completely cleansed, you're spiritually perfect or pure. Notice what it says in Revelation 21 verse 8, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Revelation 21.80 goes through a list of a lot of terrible things. It mentions murderers, it mentions abominables, sorcerers, a lot of really wicked sins, but then it says all liars shall have their parts. Now, how many murders does it take to be a murderer? One murderer. So if somebody in this room killed somebody, we would call them a murderer for one murder. How many lies does it take to be a liar? It just takes one. Is there anybody who's never lied? Well, the Bible says that God be true, but every man a liar. Everybody has lied. And look, when people get saved, every single one of those people will lie again in their lives at one point or another. Everybody, every single person after you get saved, you don't become perfect. You still lie from time to time. And so when it's saying all liars shall have their part, it's not saying that if you don't start living the perfect life, you're going to go to hell. No, what it's showing you is that you're guilty and you need a savior. Well, the same thing applies. Go back to Galatians five in Galatians chapter five. Verses like this show you that you need a savior. And notice how it's said in Galatians five, verse twenty one, because in this list, look, we are guilty of these things from time to time. It mentions in Galatians five twenty one, envyings. Every single person in this room is envious from time to time of other people. If in the back of your mind you say, man, I wish I had more money. I wish I had so-and-so's job. Look, that is being envious and that is a sin. And so we're all envious from time to time. It mentions in verse twenty strife. Look, all of us get in unnecessary fights from time to time. Now, I'm not saying fistfights. OK, hopefully you don't do that. But all of us from time to time get angry. We have a bad attitude. We get in an argument with someone. All of us from time to time have strife. Look, we are guilty of these things from time to time, even after we are saved. And when it says if you do these things, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. It's true. And you are guilty and you need a savior. But every single person in the world needs a savior. Once you get saved, that does not mean that you just change your life completely. If we are honest with ourselves, we are envious from time to time. We do lie from time to time. We're not perfect after we get saved. And so I want you to understand here in Galatians five is that you have the fruits of the spirit and you have the works of the flesh. And see, if you are walking in the flesh and not walking in the things of God, you are going to be filled with idolatry in your life, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, stripes, traditions, heresies. These things are going to be very evident in your life if you're not living for God. Look, as a saved person, if you never go to church and you never read the Bible and you never memorize the Bible and you never listen to any preaching whatsoever and you are in the world 24 seven, you're at a job where you see tons of people that are sodomites and you never have any Bible in your life whatsoever. You will start becoming a worse person. You will start fulfilling the works of the flesh because you are not walking in the spirit. And every single person in this room, if you want to be a good person, you need to walk in the spirit. And what you need to understand is this is a battle between the works of the flesh and walking in the spirit. You must decide what way you're going to walk. These are two sides. You say, well, you know, I'm walking in the spirit, but I never come to church. How are you walking in the spirit? There are two sides here. There are two battles. You say, man, I'm with you, but you're never here. No, you're not with us. This is reality. And look, I'll tell you what, the people that always listen to online preaching, but they never make it to church. I don't get it because there are two sides. You must make a choice. Look, you don't enter a basketball game and they ask, what side are you going to play on? And say, well, I'm just going to be kind of on both teams. No, you must pick a side. Put on a light shirt or a red shirt, you must pick a side. You can't be just kind of on the fence of this. Look, in the story of Moses, we sing that song, Who is on the Lord's side? You could not decide on that day. Well, I'm kind of on both sides. No, you had to make a choice. And if you don't realize we're in a battle, I don't know what to tell you. There is a spiritual battle going on where the God of this world, the devil is fighting against the actual God. He's against the things of God. He's fighting against the things of God. And you must decide what side you're on. It does not make sense to me how people say, man, I'm man, I'm I'm a Christian. I believe all these things, but you never come to church. But that is the first part of being a Christian. You're showing the world what side you're on. You must decide what side you're on. You cannot just be in between on this because these sides are opposite of one another. And if you're not coming to church, then yes, you are rocking in the flush that Sunday that you're not coming to church. Now, I understand that people sometimes have reasons why they miss church. And I understand that sometimes people are not able to come for various different reasons. I understand that. But I want you to understand that, you know, people make a lot of reasons why they can't come to church. When I was at Verity Baptist Church, other than when I was out of town on vacation, when I was in town, I missed three church services in three and a half years. One church service I missed, I was sick. Now, I want you to understand that in three and a half years, I got sick more than one time. I just missed church one time for being sick. You know, you say why? Because on times when I woke up and I was tired, I didn't consider that being sick. Quite honestly, it wasn't hard for me to go to church because I enjoyed going to church. I like church. Those are my friends. That's my family. That's my spiritual family. I want to be in church. It wasn't hard for me to come to church because of the fact I like being in church. So one time I missed church because I was sick in three and a half years. The other two times I missed were on Sunday because my wife was in labor and we went to the hospital, you know, a couple hours before church and we found out, you know, the baby was coming. And so I did not go to church on that Sunday. I was there when my wife delivered. I was there when our son was delivered. Those are the only times I missed church in three and a half years. Now, you said, Brother Stuckey, are you saying that you never had reasons? Look, I had times where, you know what? Honestly, I didn't feel like going to church. Look, every single one of us, we have Sundays where we wake up and we do not feel like going to church. Look, and the truth is the truth. All of us, no matter how much you love God, there are some Sundays you're tired, you're exhausted or you just don't feel like going to church. There are some Sundays where you just say, man, I just want to take a day off. I just want to rest. But you know what? I did not do that. I still went to church even when I didn't feel like it. There are times in my life where I was going through a lot of trials and stuff like that. And when you're going through trials, it's very easy to skip church, isn't it? You say, man, if I could just. But that's the worst thing you could do. That's only going to add to your problems in life. Look, I don't get how people can just miss church just because I just don't feel like going. And yes, it's weird because in past history, everybody went to church. Yeah, everybody, whether it was a Catholic church, whether it's a Baptist church, everybody went to church somewhere. I don't get. And, you know, honestly, it's difficult because we go somewhere and get a lot of people saved. And most of those people, they don't go to church anywhere. Most Catholics, they don't go to church. They don't take church seriously. And they get saved and they say, well, you know, you know, they just don't come to church. Now, you run into some people that you got saved months ago and they're still just not going to church anywhere. It's like, why would you not go to church? But that's the culture we live in today. But for those of you that know what the Bible says and you've heard that verse preached so many times, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. And yet you still miss church. I don't get that. It doesn't make sense to me because of the fact there's a battle going on. And you must decide what side you're on. Look, when I got saved at the age of 18 years old, about eight months later, I got into church. And look, after that time, I stayed in church. I don't understand the mentality of actually missing church. I remember when I was 19 or 20, and I remember I skipped church one time and I felt really guilty about it because I skipped to go to a soccer game. My dad and I went to a U.S. Mexico soccer game. And I was a new believer at the time, but I remember feeling guilty about that. But that's something I did when I was a new believer and I was at a pretty lame church. I really don't get when you have a good church here, why it's hard to come to church because these are your friends. This is your family. This is the kind of preaching that's going to get to you. You must decide what side of the fence you're on. Turn to Romans seven, Romans seven. But look, I don't question the salvation of those people that never come to church. I question how much they really want to live for God as much as they might be active on Facebook. But I don't question whether or not they're saved, because being saved is just believing the Lord Jesus Christ. But your actions will show what you really care about. That's the truth. You can say all day that you really love, you know, church. But if you don't come to church, you know, you really don't. That's the truth. Notice what it says in Romans seven, verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I want, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I can sin under the law that it is good. Now, then there is no more I to do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. And so what Paul said in verse 14 is I am carnal. Now, I think all of us would probably agree that Paul the Apostle is one of the greatest believers who ever lived. And Paul the Apostle said, I am carnal. He said, I don't believe in carnal Christians. Paul said, I am carnal. This is not Judas Iscariot. This is Paul the Apostle saying, I am carnal. So how are you going to tell me that the doctrine of the carnal Christian is one of the biggest errors in Christianity? That's what you're going to hear famous Calvinists say. Well, Paul said, I am carnal. And in first Corinthians three, he talked about a church being full of strife. And he said they were carnal. They were carnal Christians, but they were Christians. You say, why? Because being a Christian is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now shall be saved. Notice what it says in verse 22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. And see, what we have is we have the spirit of God and we have the flesh. We have the inward man and we have the flesh. Yes, the inward man desires what's right. The flesh does not desire what's right. It is our choice which direction we walk. And look, someone who's out there and they're just getting drunk every day and never coming to church, they probably don't have much of a desire to live for God. And so when somebody's in church, though, and they're walking in the spirit, it's going to cause a change in their life, not simply because they're saved, but because they're actually getting close to God. Now, turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians. Actually, turn to Colossians three, Colossians three. And so the last thing I want to look at here today is I want to look at the best one word definition of the fruits of the spirit, and this is kind of an interesting topic if you would like to study this. I want you to notice in Colossians, chapter three, verse 14, Colossians three, verse 14. The Bible reads in Colossians three, verse 14. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Charity is the bond of perfectness. Now, when it says the bond, bond means basically combined together. You think of a chemical bond, things being brought together. And it says the bond of perfectness in the Bible. The word perfect basically means complete. So basically, it's the bond of completeness. And what charity is, is a combination of various different attributes. And these combined to basically make it perfectness or completeness. Now, I believe the best definition for one word of the fruits of the spirit would be the word charity. OK, and I'll show you why I believe this. But turn to 1 Corinthians 13, 1 Corinthians 13. Now, remember, charity is the bond of perfectness. So what it's saying is charity is a combination of a lot of different things. And when you read 1 Corinthians 13, it's going to mention a lot of things that charity is. Now, this is something that you can study. I've done a deep study on this before of whether or not charity and the fruits of the spirit are synonymous. But if they're not synonymous, they are very close to one another. And I'll show you a few reasons why. But I want you to notice in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and notice it says charity in 1 Corinthians 13. This is not the love chapter. It uses the word charity. Every word in the King James Bible is there for a reason. It's the perfect inspired word of God and it uses the word charity. I know all the other versions use the word love. The Bible uses the word charity for a reason. Notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 4. It says charity suffereth law. Now, if you look at the fruits of the spirit and you line up the nine fruits of the spirit with what is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13, what you're going to see is a lot of correlations or a lot of overlap. The most obvious is in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 4, where it says charity suffereth long because one of the fruits of the spirit is long suffering. That is a direct correlation. Now, honestly, I don't have time to go. Maybe one day I will preach a sermon on this. You know, I have notes on my computer about this. But what you'll notice is that if you look up all the words fruits of the spirit and look up every single time they appear in the Bible, what you'll see is sometimes a couple of fruits of the spirit will combine with a few of the statements in charity because obviously the fruits of the spirit, they overlap quite a bit. And so sometimes you'll take a few of them and combine them to 1 Corinthians 13. And you're trying to combine all these statements into the fruits of the spirit and you'll see a huge overlap. The most obvious is when it says charity suffereth long because obviously that statement and long suffering are completely synonymous. It's the same thing. But what you're going to see is there's a lot of overlap. Notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 4 as well, where it says charity suffereth long and is kind, charity envieth not. Now, remember, the fruits of the spirit are the opposite of the works of the flesh. They are warring against one another. One of the works of the flesh is envyings. And so charity does not envy, but what's opposite of the fruits of the spirit, the works of the flesh, envyings is part of that. Charity envieth not. And so understanding that the works of the flesh and the fruits of the spirit are warring against one another are basically opposite from one another. What you're seeing also charity envieth not, it's interesting how it also appears in the list of the works of the flesh. So if you want to do a deep study, you know, I think it's an interesting topic. If you line up 1 Corinthians 13, Galatians 5, honestly, it's a pretty deep study and I never came to a final conclusion. But I do believe that if the fruits of the spirit is not just synonymous with charity, it is very close to the word charity in the Bible. And so this is just an introductory sermon. But quite honestly, you know, we hit a lot of things today. We understand a lot of the myths. You know, people say if you're really saved, you're going to bear fruit. That's not what the Bible teaches. You certainly aren't guaranteed to win souls to the Lord. That takes time to learn how to do that. It takes effort. But what I want you to understand is this sermon series, it's going to be a very important sermon series, though, because quite honestly, a lot of times, especially in a church like ours, we fight against all these false religions because they're always warring against us. But look, there is no end to the false religions to fight against. They are always going to be there. We can't just preach every single sermon against a false religion. There are so many in the Philippines. And, you know, by the time we finish that series, there's going to be like 20 more. That's just the way it is. There are so many, you know, Christian denominations here. We don't want to spend all of our time just fighting and warring against us. Yeah, we preach the sermon series against the dark history of the Roman Catholic Church. We preach the sermon series against the Pentecostals. We also need the sermon series, though, on our personal and spiritual growth, because quite honestly, it's a lot easier to learn knowledge than it is to learn charity and the fruits of the Spirit. And quite honestly, it's a series that all of us, including myself, it's pretty important for us. Let's go to the word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to read from your word and see what the Bible says about the fruits of the Spirit. Help us during the sermon series, God, to apply these things to our lives and try to each and every passing day to have more love in our lives, more joy, more peace and all the different fruits of the Spirit. God, we just pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.