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in Galatians chapter 5 and we've been going to do a study on Sunday nights on the subjects of the Holy Spirit. The series is called By My Spirit and it's really been a systematic study of the Holy Spirit and we are now in the ninth week of this study and it's been a very doctrinal study and you know something that we should be doing is learning very practical things from the Bible, from the word of God, but we should also be learning some doctrinal things and we should be not carried about with every wind of doctrine. We should know what we believe and why we believe it and so we've been studying the Holy Spirit and I hope you've been taking notes and learning. It really has been a systematic study of the Holy Spirit. Some people pay good money to learn these things at Bible college and you're learning it for free and you're not getting all the heresy so there's been no dispensationalism, there's been no weird doctrinal heresy, but we've been talking about the Holy Spirit and we learned about the person of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is God, the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, the work of the Holy Spirit, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament versus His role in the New Testament, the filling of the Holy Spirit is what we talked about last week and this week we're going to talk about the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Now it's good that we are talking about the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the ninth sermon in this series because there are nine fruits of the Holy Spirit so I don't know what that means, but we talked about the Trinity in the third sermon of the series so we're just making references to those numbers I guess, but I want you to understand a few things about the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit is something that you hear a lot about and people talk a lot about. You'll often see it, people will hang it up on their walls at home, they'll see a lot of decorations that will have the fruit of the Spirit, but I want to teach you about the fruit of the Spirit and I want to teach you some things about the fruit of the Spirit before we actually get into the actual fruit of the Spirit. So if you're taking notes and I would encourage you to take notes, on the back of your bulletin you do have a spot to, on the back of the course of the week, excuse me, you have a place to take some notes down and I want to begin by talking about the producer of the fruit of the Spirit. Who is it that produces the fruit of the Spirit? And this may seem silly, but I want to make this point and there's a reason why I'm saying it. You're there in Galatians 5, look at verse 22 and I want you to notice what the Bible says. The Bible says this, but the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such, there is no law. I want you to notice and understand that when we are talking about the fruit of the Spirit, we are talking about just that. It is the fruit of the Spirit. The producer, the one who produces this fruit in our lives, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, those things are produced by the Holy Spirit. You might be wondering, as opposed to what? And here's what I want you to understand. Most Christians today have the idea of the fruit of the Spirit, they have a misunderstanding in the sense that they read the fruit of the Spirit and they interpret it as the fruit of Christians. Now keep your place during Galatians 5, we're going to come back to it, but go to Matthew chapter 13, first book in the New Testament, should be fairly easy to find. Today you will have people who will talk about the fruit of Christians and what we produce, and they'll say, well, we'll know you're a Christian, we'll know you by your fruits, right? Doesn't the Bible say, by their fruits ye shall know them? And when they're talking about the fruits that they are hoping to see as evidence for salvation in your life, they'll say, well, as a Christian you're supposed to produce fruit, and then you ask them, what fruit? What is the fruit that you are expecting to see in the life of a Christian? And they will reference back to Galatians 5, 22, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. The problem is that the Bible is clear that this is the fruit of the Spirit. This is not the fruit of a Christian. Matthew 13, are you there? Notice verse number 8. Now in Matthew 13 we have the famous parable of the sower, and when you get to verse 8, we have the good ground. Now nobody disagrees in the parable that the good ground is a Christian, that he's a safe person. I want you to notice what it says. Matthew 13 and verse 8, it says, but other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit. And they'll say, see, Christians bring forth fruit. But I want you to notice what it says. The fruit that was brought forth by Christians was some in hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. So I want to ask you, if the fruit of the Spirit is somehow really the fruit of the Christian, and what they mean by that when they teach that is that we should be able to identify whether somebody is saved or not by whether or not they have these characteristics in their lives, and they'll say, well, this is the fruit of a Christian. Then let me ask you something. When it says a hundredfold, what does that mean? Does it mean that the Christian is going to produce a hundred love? When it says sixtyfold, does that mean that, well, some Christians are going to produce sixty joy, some of them are going to produce thirty long-suffering, and some are going to produce a hundredfold of gentleness? And I want you to understand that throughout the Bible, and I'm not going to take the time to go through the references because we have a lot to cover tonight anyway. You're there in Matthew 13. Go to Matthew chapter 7. Throughout the Bible, it is very clear that everything produces after its own kind, and the fruit of the Christian is not love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. That is the fruit of the Spirit, and we're going to talk about that, and we're going to talk about how you can have what the Spirit produces in your life, but I want you to understand that the fruit of the Christian is the same as the fruit of anything else. Everything brings forth after its own kind. An apple tree brings forth apples, and a Christian, a dog, dogs bring forth dogs, cats bring forth cats, and I'm not preaching on evolution yet, that's next week, but the point is this, that we as Christians, we produce Christians. We go out and we labor together with God. We preach the Gospel. The Word of God brings about a birth, a new birth, a new life. Someone is born again, and what do you produce a hundredfold of? What does God desire for you to produce a hundredfold of in your life? He desires for you to produce a hundredfold Christians, sixtyfold Christians, thirtyfold Christians, and I want you to notice that when we talk about the fruit of the Spirit, we're not talking about an evidence of your salvation, because the fruit of the Spirit is you reproducing yourself, just like physically when a man and a woman have a child and they reproduce themselves, what do they reproduce? Well they're in love, so they reproduce love. No, they reproduce a child. They reproduce a human being. Why? Because everything brings forth after its own kind. So human beings reproduce human beings, and Christians spiritually reproduce Christians, and people say, well doesn't the Bible say, by their fruits ye shall know them? But look, you always need to be careful about pulling out statements out of the Bible, out of their context. So let's look at, yes, the Bible does say by their fruits ye shall know them. Let's look at the context in which God says that. Matthew 7, look at verse 15. Matthew chapter 7 and verse 15 says this, beware of false prophets. I want you to notice the context. Okay, it's not even Christians. It's false prophets. It's bad preachers. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Verse 16, here's the context. Ye shall know them by their fruits. So how do we judge, how do we identify a false prophet? You identify them by what they produce. You identify them by their converts. Didn't Jesus say that the Pharisees were making twofold more the child of hell than themselves in those that they were proselyting and the converts that they had? He says ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? He's saying, look, thorns don't produce grapes, and thistles don't produce figs. Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewed down and cast into the fire. Verse 20, here's the context. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. So when someone says by their fruits ye shall know them, and they're talking about whether or not somebody's a Christian or not, somebody's saved or not, they pull that statement out of its context. Because the context is about false prophets. You don't know false prophets by their fruit. And by the way, you don't know any prophet by their fruit. You know, today I hold the position of a pastor, a preacher, a prophet. If you want to figure out whether I'm a good guy or a bad guy, you say, how would I figure that out? Do you figure that out by watching my life to see whether I'm loving and caring and kind? Because listen to me, if you watch Joel Osteen, you'll think he's loving and caring and kind. But he's a false prophet. If you watch Billy Graham, you'll think he's loving and caring and kind. But he was a false prophet preaching a false gospel. So you say, well, what does it mean? Here's what it means. If you want to know if I'm a good guy or a bad guy, a false preacher or a right preacher, here's how you examine me. You just inspect the fruit. You inspect what we produce. Look, walk around here on a Sunday morning. Go around and just randomly ask our church people, hey, do you know for sure if you died today, are you on your way to heaven? And look, obviously we have guests. Obviously we have visitors. Obviously we have new converts that come, and they don't know all of the answers to all the questions. But I promise you this. You talk to most people that call Verity Baptist Church their home, and they're going to tell you, yeah, I know I'm saved. It's not of works. You can't lose it. I didn't turn over a new leaf to get it. It's a free gift. Why? Because that's what we preach, and that's what we produce. Look, we go out soul winning in the streets of Sacramento, and I knock doors of people who, sometimes over the last eight years, I may have knocked the doors of 100 members of one church, and every single one told me, you can lose your salvation. Well, you know what? That tells me a lot about that preacher. I inspected the fruit, and the fruit told me he's preaching a false gospel. That's the context by the fruit ye shall know them. So don't get caught up in this idea that we can identify Christians based on whether or not they are loving or joyful or long suffering or any of those things, because here's what you need to understand. That is not the fruit of a Christian. That is the fruit of the Spirit. And whether or not the Spirit is doing a work in your life is totally up to you, but it does not determine whether you are saved or not. Let's go back to Galatians 5. Let me explain this a little further. The producer of the fruit is the Spirit, not you. If you have this fruit in your life, it is because the Holy Spirit is doing a work in your life, not you. Let's talk about the production of the fruit. The producer is the Holy Spirit. How does it get produced? What's the production? Notice Galatians 5, verse 16. Then I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Now, we're going to talk about the fruit of the Spirit, but this chapter also talks about the fruit of the flesh. Notice verse 17. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Notice verse 18. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. So look, he's saying the people that he's going to talk about in Galatians 5, they don't just have the Holy Spirit. They are walking in the Spirit. They are being led of the Spirit. They are allowing the Spirit to guide them. And then he says, but there are other people who are being led, other Christians who are being led of the flesh. They're not walking in the Spirit. They're not allowing the Holy Spirit to move them. They are allowing their flesh and their own desires to move them. Well, what is their life going to look like? Look at verse 19. And I want you to understand this, because in verse 17, he talks about this internal struggle for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Please understand this. If you are saved, there is, and there will be, and there will be until the day you die, an internal struggle, an internal fight inside of you. It's called the old man versus the new man. It's called the cardinal man versus the spiritual man. It's called the Spirit versus the flesh. Until the resurrection, until the rapture, until God takes away this flesh and gives you a new glorified body, you will struggle with the lust of the flesh, and they will be combating each other inside of you. So if you ever feel that struggle inside of you, where you want to do right, but then your flesh doesn't, your Spirit wants to read the Bible, but your flesh wants to sleep in. Look, that's normal. And what you do with that struggle will determine a lot about whether you will succeed or fail in the Christian life, but realize that there is an internal struggle in the Christian life. You say, what if I give in to the flesh? Then here's what your life will look like, verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variants, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. Look, he's saying Christians can live like this. You say, why? Because a Christian has the ability to not walk in the Spirit but to walk in the flesh. But what about a Christian who chooses to walk in the Spirit, like verse 16 says? What about a Christian who chooses to be led of the Spirit, like verse 18? What about that Christian? What will be produced in their life? Verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such, there is no law. Look at verse 25. If we live in the Spirit, and I want you to notice what it says. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. And here's what the Bible is teaching. You can live in the Spirit and not be walking in the Spirit. Because when you got saved, and this is a point from another sermon, but when you got saved, you got sealed with the Holy Spirit of God, every Christian lives in the Spirit, with the Spirit, with the Holy Spirit, indwelling you. But like we talked about last week, not every Christian is filled with the Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit, you have to walk in the Spirit. You have to be led by the Spirit. We talked about that last week. I gave you real practical things you can do to experience the filling of the Holy Spirit. But the point is this, you can have the Holy Spirit and not be walking in the Holy Spirit. You can have the Holy Spirit and not be being led by the Holy Spirit. Now you're there in Galatians, go to Ephesians, just the next book over, Ephesians chapter 4, and look at verse 30. While you go there, let me read to you from 1 Thessalonians 5.19. You know this verse, you've heard it. The Bible says, quench not the Spirit. Now I want you to think about this, okay? Because today we have people that will say, oh no, if you don't have love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, you're not saved. Because this is what the Holy Spirit will produce in your life. And this is what they'll say. They'll say, if you have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will produce these things in your life. Here's a problem with that. 1 Thessalonians 5.19 says, quench not the Spirit. You are commanded not to quench the Spirit. Remember, one of the emblems or the pictures of the Holy Spirit is that He is a fire of revival, a consuming fire in your life, but you and I have the ability to quench the Holy Spirit. Now look, if we couldn't quench the Holy Spirit, why would God command us not to do it? So don't think that, if I have the Holy Spirit, then these things will be produced in my life. No, you can live in the Spirit, but that doesn't mean you're walking in the Spirit. And the only way that the Spirit can produce the fruit of the Spirit, then you must walk in the Spirit. You must be led of the Spirit. You must be allowing the Holy Spirit to lead you in your life. Are you there in Ephesians 4, verse 30? Ephesians 4.30 says this, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. See, it's possible for you to have the Holy Spirit and to grieve the Holy Spirit. Oh no, if you've got the Holy Spirit, He's going to produce these things. Then why would God tell us not to grieve Him? Why would God tell us not to quench Him? There's one reason He tells us that, because you can grieve Him and you can quench Him, and just because you live in the Spirit doesn't mean you're walking in the Spirit. So please understand this, the fruit of the Spirit, and this is what I really want you to understand, and we're going to jump into the fruit of the Spirit here in a second, but the fruit of the Spirit is not evidence of salvation. The Bible is clear that the evidence of salvation is your testimony. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. That's what the Bible says. That's why we ask people, do you know for sure if you died today, are you on your way to heaven? And based on how they answer that question, we know whether they're saved, because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And they tell us what they believe. And when someone says, yeah, I think I'm on my way to heaven, and then we ask, oh great, what gives you that confidence? What are you trusting in to get you to heaven? Well, you know, I used to drink alcohol, and I used to be into drugs, and I used to do this, and now I don't do that. Hey, you know what? That's great, but that's the wrong thing you're trusting, because quitting alcohol and quitting drugs isn't going to get you into heaven. Well, you know, I got baptized. Great, but you're trusting the wrong thing. Well, you know, my grandma was a Baptist preacher. Okay. I don't even know where to start with that one, but you know, again, that's not what saves you. What are you trusting in to get you to heaven? Man, I asked Jesus to save me. I put my faith and trust in him, and there's nothing I can do. I just accepted the free gift of salvation. Okay, well then you're saved, because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. So you say, well, what is the fruit of the Spirit? What does the fruit of the Spirit, what does it teach us about ourselves, or what does it prove? Here's what it proves. The fruit of the Spirit is evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in your life. So it doesn't tell us whether you're a Christian or not. Your testimony tells us whether you're a Christian or not, but the fruit of the Spirit will tell us whether you are a Spirit-filled Christian, or whether you are a carnal Christian. It doesn't tell us whether you're saved, it just tells us whether you're right with God. It doesn't tell us whether you're saved, it just tells us whether you are allowing the Holy Spirit to lead in your life, or whether you are allowing the flesh to lead in your life. So let's look at the fruit of the Spirit. What is it? Now you're there in Ephesians, I want you to stay there, go to Ephesians 5. And what I'm going to do is as quickly as I can, we're not going to spend, honestly, we could spend nine weeks going through the fruit of the Spirit, and maybe one day we will. Maybe one day, you know, in a different series, we'll spend nine weeks really dissecting each one of these. I'm not going to do that tonight, I'm going to try to give these to you quickly. But I want you to notice, and I want you to think about this, and I want you in this sermon to think to yourself, do I have these characteristics in my life? And if you do, then great. And if you don't, that doesn't mean you're not saved, it just means you're not walking in the Spirit. It just means you're not being led to the Spirit. It just means that you are not filled with the Spirit. So here's what the Bible says the Holy Spirit will produce in your life when you allow Him to lead, when you walk in the Spirit, not just live in the Spirit, but walk in the Spirit. Number one, love. Love. Now you're there in Ephesians, I want you to look at Ephesians 5, and I want you to just explain, and again, I'm going to go through these quickly, so I'm not going to develop them a lot, and we can talk a lot about love throughout the Bible. The Bible talks a lot about love. But I want you to understand something, and if you're writing down notes, you can write the word love and then write these words next to it. Sacrificial and selfless. Sacrificial and selfless. Throughout the Bible, and I would encourage you to study this out on your own, throughout the Bible, you will find that the way that the Bible describes love or defines love, it defines it in this way. Sacrificial and selfless. Sacrificial and selfless. I'll give you one example from Ephesians 5. This, of course, Ephesians 5 is a famous passage about husbands and wives and how they should respond to each other. Ephesians 5, 25 says this, husbands love your wives. And then God is going to explain to us how we do that. He says, even as or in the same way that Christ also loved the church, so look, He says, I want you to love your wives the way that Christ loved the church, so we're going to learn what love is, notice, and gave Himself for it. What is it? Sacrificial. Love is always sacrificial. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. In the Bible, love is always identified through sacrifice, but not just that, also through selflessness, which is the opposite of selfishness. Look at verse 28, Ephesians 5, 28. So ought men to love their wives, notice, as their own bodies. So the men are hard-headed, right? So God has to give us two examples. He says, love your wife like Christ loved the church, which is a sacrificial love, and guys go, uh, I don't get that. So then God says, okay, let me give you something you do get. You know how you love yourself? And most men would be like, yeah, I know that one. You know that selfish love you have? I want you to have that same love, but in reverse. Not selfish, but selfless. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies, he that loveth his wife loveth himself. He says, look, love your wife the way you'd love yourself. I'm sure you get that one. You don't understand the sacrifice one, but you get the selfless one. And here's the point. Love is sacrificial and selfless. So you ought to identify. You say, how can I know whether the fruit of love from the Holy Spirit is apparent in my life? Here's how you know. Are you sacrificing and being selfless to those that you love? Are you putting them first? Are you esteeming other better than yourself? Are you being selfless or selfish? Are you sacrificing or are you expecting them to sacrifice? Because the fruit of the Spirit will produce love, which is sacrificial and selfless. You learn Ephesians, go to Colossians chapter one. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Just a couple of books over. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. The fruit of the Spirit. What is it? Love. How do I identify that? Sacrifice, selflessness. Am I being sacrificial? Am I being selfless? What's the second fruit of the Spirit? Joy. Joy. Now, the word joy means happiness, but it's a different word than happiness. And here's the difference. Oftentimes, happiness is connected to your circumstances. Even the Bible teaches this. The Bible talks about blessed is the man that, and it will tell us something that they do, right? The Bible will also say happy is the man that, and it uses those words interchangeably. Why? Because you are happy when you are blessed. And now, we could take that too far and make that a bad thing where your happiness is only connected to your circumstances, but joy is different in the sense that joy is happiness that does not find its source in the outside world or outside circumstances. Joy is something. If it's produced by the Holy Spirit, then it's something that has its source inside of you. So that joy is not dependent on what's going on on the outside because that joy comes from the Holy Spirit's work inside of you. Colossians 1, verse 24. Notice what the Bible says. Who now rejoice? You see how the word rejoice there? It's just a different way of saying the same thing. Joy, rejoice. Notice what he says. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you? Say, why would you rejoice in suffering? Well, you would only rejoice in suffering if your joy was not connected to your outside circumstances but found its source from something that cannot be affected by outside circumstances, the Holy Spirit of God. He says, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. Let me give you another example. Go to Philippians. They're in Colossians. Just go backwards one book into the book of Philippians, Philippians chapter 4. Now, here's what's interesting about the book of Philippians. Philippians is the joy book of the Bible. You find the word rejoice often throughout the book of Philippians over and over and over again. You hear Paul telling people, commanding people to rejoice, to be joyful, to be content. What's interesting is that Paul wrote the book of Philippians from prison while incarcerated for his faith. And this is what he says in Philippians 4, 4. He says, rejoice in the Lord always. Always meaning always, all of the time, always meaning the entire way, the entire time, your entire life. Rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say rejoice. You say, but sometimes bad things happen to good people. And that's true. But true joy that is produced by the Holy Spirit will not be affected by outside circumstances. True joy that finds its source from the Holy Spirit will not be affected by things going on around your life, problems with your health, problems with the health of those you love, problems with your relationships, problems with your finances, problems with your career. I'm not minimizing any of those things. Those are real things. And we go through real heartaches. But here's what I'm telling you. You can go through heartaches and still experience joy in your life when it is the Holy Spirit that is producing it inside of you. So you say, Pastor Jimenez, how do I know if I'm filled with the Holy Spirit? Well, let me ask you something. Are you joyful? Or are you always sad and discouraged and upset and down in the dumps? And we all have those people in our lives. You avoid them, and you don't ask them how they're doing because you don't want to get into that conversation because they're never doing well, because things are never going right, because they're always throwing a pity party, because things are always tough. And look, I get it. Pity parties are fun. They are fun parties to throw, and you don't have to invite anybody else. I get it. But it is not the life of a spirit-filled Christian, because a spirit-filled Christian will experience love and joy that is not connected to the outside circumstances. Here's another one. Well, actually, you know what? Yeah, you're there in Philippians 4. Stay there. Here's the third fruit of the Spirit. It's peace. What's peace? Peace is a calm that is not connected to circumstances. So joy is happiness that is not connected to circumstances. Peace is a calm that is not connected to circumstances. You're there in Philippians 4. We just read verse 4, Rejoice in the Lord all the way, and again I say rejoice. But look at verse 5. Let your moderation, you see that word moderation there? The word moderation means the avoidance of excess extremes. It means you're not doing real well. You're not doing real bad. You're just kind of living life. Let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. Verse 6, be careful for nothing. See that word careful there? The word careful is not careful like I'm trying to be careful not to spill the soup while I'm taking it to the table. The idea is not that. The idea of the word careful there is to be full of care, anxiety, worry. He says be careful for nothing. It's the same idea when Peter would say to casting all your cares upon him, for he careth for you. It's the idea of worry, anxiety. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God. Don't miss this. Which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Here's what the Bible says. The Holy Spirit will produce in your life love, joy, peace. That doesn't mean you don't go through heartaches. That doesn't mean you don't go through trials. That doesn't mean you don't go through difficult times in your life that are stressful, that are hard. That doesn't mean that. But what it means is that you can go through those trials and have joy in your heart. And you can go through those trials and have peace of mind. It's interesting because he says, look at verse 7, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The definition of the word peace is freedom from disturbance, a mental calm. And here's all I'm telling you. If you do not have peace in your life, then you do not have the fruit of the Spirit. And I'm not trying to beat you up. I'm trying to give you nine reasons to get filled with the Spirit. Why would I want to be led of the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and have the Holy Spirit come upon me and be filled with the Spirit? Well, there are nine real good reasons you might want to be filled with the Spirit. One is so you can experience love. One is so you can experience joy that's not connected to the outside, that's not connected to circumstances, that's not connected to what's going on in life. One is so you can experience peace that people would look at and say, your life's falling apart. Why are you so calm? And here's what you'll say, well, the peace of God which passeth all understanding. You say it doesn't make sense to the world because the world only gets peace when all the ducks are in a row. The world only experiences peace when everything's fine, when everything's good, when everything's right. But see, we as Christians we can go through tribulation and experience peace because our peace finds its source in the Holy Spirit. Here's number four, longsuffering. Go to Colossians. You're there in Philippians. Just go back one book over, Colossians chapter one. Longsuffering. What does the word longsuffering mean? It means patience. Let's look at that. Colossians 1.10. It's a little more than that but let's look at it and I'll explain. Colossians 1.10 says this, that he might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful. You see that word fruitful there? In every good word and increasing in the knowledge of God. Verse 11. Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power. Notice, unto all patience and longsuffering with, don't miss this, joyfulness. The Holy Spirit will produce these things in your life, patience and longsuffering. Here's a question. Are you patient? Longsuffering is patience but there's more to it. There are actually two different words with two different definitions though they are used synonymously. Patience is to wait when you don't want to. You want things to go faster than they're going. We have this drive-through microwave culture where we don't want to wait. I want it and I want it now. Patience is the ability to wait when you don't want to. Longsuffering is the ability to be patient when you're suffering, hence the word longsuffering. Here's the definition. Having or showing patience in spite of troubles, especially those caused by other people. See, longsuffering is when I can be patient with those that are hurting me, when I can be patient with those that are attacking me, when I can be patient with those that are reviling me, when I can be patient with those. See, here's the thing. You can't live the Christian life and you cannot successfully live the Christian life without the filling of the Holy Spirit because you cannot live the Christian life without the fruit of the Spirit. You can be a Christian without the fruit of the Spirit but you can't live the Christian life without the fruit of the Spirit. Look at the famous chapters of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, where Jesus was teaching very practical, you know, rubber meets the road Christianity. What did he say? Love your neighbor. What did he say? Love your enemy. What did he say? Pray for them that persecute you. He said, I say therefore, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them which despitefully use you, you can't do that without long suffering and you can't have long suffering without the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit. So you say, how do I know if I'm filled with the Holy Spirit? Well, do you experience love or let's put it this way. Would the people around you say that you are loving, selfless, and sacrificial? Do you experience joy that is not connected to your outside circumstances? Do you experience peace of mind that others would say, I don't understand? Are you long suffering? Are you patient in suffering? Are you patient while being hurt, while being attacked, while being lied about, while being criticized, while being attacked by your enemies? Here's number five. You're there in Colossians. Go back to Ephesians. You're going to go past Philippians into the book of Ephesians. Ephesians four. We're talking about the fruits of the Spirit. Here's number five, gentleness. Gentleness. Now the word gentleness in your King James Bible, and you can study this out later if you'd like, the word gentleness simply means, it just means this, to be kind. To be kind. And the idea with gentleness is to be soft or tender. Let me show it to you. Ephesians 4 32. And be ye kind one to another. And then he uses this word, tenderhearted. What does it mean to be tender? It means showing gentleness. It means being soft. It's the opposite of harsh. It's the opposite of mean. It's the opposite of rude. Be ye kind one to another. Tenderhearted. Forgiving one another. Even as God in Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Doesn't the Bible say this in Proverbs 15 one? A soft answer turneth away wrath. You can only do that in the power of the Holy Spirit. You can only be gentle and kind and have a soft answer and be tenderhearted in the power of the Holy Spirit. And I'm not trying to beat you up, and I'm really just trying to help you, but please understand this. If we talk to your kids, and we won't, okay? We're not CPS. But if we talk to your kids and we said, is that harsh? What word describes that? Harsh or gentle? Here's all I'm telling you. Here's all I'm telling you. It doesn't mean you're not saved. It just means you're not walking in the Spirit. It just means you don't have the fullness of the Spirit. And I'm not trying to beat up you dads. I'm right there with you. This is why God tells us, provoke not your children to wrath. You say, how do I do that? Walk in the Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit. Produce the fruit of the Spirit by allowing the Spirit to have a work in your life. Why? Because when you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you, to guide you, to fill you, to produce in you, it will reduce love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness. What's number six? Goodness. Goodness. Go to Matthew chapter 19. Let me take a few minutes to explain this one. Matthew 19, first book of the New Testament. It should be fairly easy to find. Matthew 19. Goodness. In Matthew 19, we have this story known as the story of the rich young ruler. And yet the rich young ruler approached Jesus, and I want to show you this story because it defines this word good or goodness for us. Matthew 19, 16 says this, and behold, one came and said unto him. Okay, so we have the rich young ruler going to Jesus, and here's what he says. He says, good master. What, notice the words, good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life. Good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life. It's interesting, and I want you to understand the conversation that Jesus was having with this young man because there's a lot of confusion when it comes to this story because of the way that Jesus was dealing with this young man. But I want you to notice that Jesus dealt with this young man with the attitude that the young man brought to Jesus. Okay? Now, here's the problem with having a conversation with Jesus or having Jesus be the sole one who's trying to get you saved, all right? The problem is this, that Jesus knows your heart, knows your thoughts, knows everything about you, all right? So if you're going to try to engage into a conversation of wit with Jesus, you're going to lose because he's God, all right? We're actually going to have a series here soon. After Father's Day, I'm going to do a series called Encounters with Christ, and we're going to look at all the one-on-one conversations that Jesus had with individuals, and we'll learn a lot, but this is one of them. Notice what it says. He says, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Now, there's a problem with this young man. Problem number one, he did not believe that Jesus was God. Problem number two, he thought he could work his way to heaven because, notice, he doesn't say, What do I have to believe to go to heaven? What do I have to believe to have eternal life? He said, What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? So Jesus, having a little fun with this kid, verse 17, and he said to him, because Jesus knows his heart, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one. And look, everything Jesus is saying here is true because there is none that doeth good, nor not one. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If Jesus was a man, which is what this kid thought, then Jesus was not good because no one's good. Now, Jesus wasn't just a man, but this is what this boy is telling him. He says, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, and that is God. So here's what Jesus is trying to tell him. If I'm good, then I'm God. And if I'm not God, then I'm not good. But if thou will enter into life, let me answer your question. You want to ask me what you have to do to go to heaven? Well, here's what you have to do to keep the commandments. Here's the problem with that. You can't keep the commandments because you're not good. And this is the conversation that he's having, and I won't develop it. We'll talk about it in a few weeks or a few months, I'm sure. But he's pointing out to him that he's not as good as he thinks he is. But what I want you to notice from this passage is that the word good means godly because God is good. It's the good things we do are the things we do that are like God or godly. Go to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. You're there in Matthew 19. Just flip back a few pages. Matthew 5. Look at verse 16. Matthew 5 and verse 16 says this. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, your godly works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. See, goodness is godliness. So how do I know if I'm filled with the Spirit? Are you godly? Do you have good works? You don't need good works to be saved. We're talking to people that are already saved. If you've got the Holy Spirit, you're saved. But you know what? God saved you, and then he says you're saved by grace through faith, not of works. And then in that same passage, he says, but ye are my workmanship. I'm working on you. And God wants you to have good works. And the opposite of good works, I mean, read it there in Galatians 5. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. That whole list of the works of the flesh, that's the opposite of good. Number 7. You're there in Matthew. Go back to Ephesians if you kept your place there. Ephesians chapter 4. The seventh fruit of the Spirit is faith. Now the word faith means trust or confidence. When the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the way, the word believe and faith are used synonymously, it's the same thing. When the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, it doesn't mean to believe like I believe he existed. It means to put my trust or my confidence in him. Hebrews 11.1, you don't have to turn there, I'll just read it for you, says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now I've been talking a lot about faith on Sunday mornings, and I'm not going to re-preach those sermons, but I do want you to understand that faith is the confidence or trust in the things that we do not see, but it is not a blind faith because we can reason our faith, our faith will stand up to logic, and I'm not going to re-preach that. Here's the point. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The Bible says that the just shall live by faith. So you say, well, how do I know if I'm living by faith or walking by faith? The just shall live by faith, we're going to walk by faith, faith is the substance of things hoped for, and here's what you need to do. Faith is walking as if it's already happened. That's faith. It's a confidence, it is a trust in God. That's what faith is. An example of that in the Bible, we won't have you turn there, but if you remember when the centurion came to Jesus asking him to heal his son, and he wanted Jesus to come back with him, and Jesus said, I'm not going to go with you, but just go back home. I've already healed him. Remember the centurion walks back, and then a servant meets him and says, hey, your son's recovered, and he asked for the time. When did it happen? And he knew that it was at the same time, he recovered at the same time that Jesus had told him. What that centurion did was he was walking by faith. He was walking back home as if with the confidence and trust that what Jesus said had already happened or what happened, as he said. That's what faith is. So you say, well, how do I know if I'm exercising faith in my life? Do you ever walk with an unseen confidence that God will do what he said he will do? Look, every time you tithe, you're exercising faith. I'm going to give God his 10% first, trusting and believing that he will take care of the rest like he said he would. That's faith. Say, I don't tithe because I'm too afraid. I'm not mad at you. All I'm telling you is you're not filled with the Spirit. You're not walking in the Spirit because a Spirit-filled life will be a life of faith. You will walk as if it's already happened. You will walk in confidence. You will walk in trust. See, we live our lives a certain way. We raise our children a certain way. We have our marriages a certain way. We follow the biblical principles in certain ways. You know what the world is constantly telling us? You're wrong. You can't raise your kids like that. You're going to ruin them. You can't have a marriage like that. You're going to ruin them. You're going to ruin your marriage. You know, the people that have 60% divorce rate are telling us we're going to ruin our marriages. Say, well, what do you do? What do you do when you've got the in-laws telling you not to homeschool? They're not going to be socialized. And I'm thinking to myself, have you seen the kids at the public school? I'm not mad at you if you're in public school, but don't tell me that a kid with black nail polish and a hood around his head and makeup is socialized properly. That's socialization. I don't want it. I'd rather just come to church three times a week and let my kids run around with the 30 kids around here. I think they get socialized enough. The point is this, that we have to exercise faith in what the Bible says. When God says, do it this way, then we just, with confidence and trust, say, you know what? Forget what Oprah says. Forget what Dr. Phil says. Forget what the world says. And I'm just going to follow, and I'm going to walk as if with confidence and trust. But look, you will not do that. You cannot do that. You will struggle with that if you're not filled with the Spirit. The opposite of faith is fear. Remember, Jesus kept telling his disciples? He would tell them, fear not. One of the main things that Jesus told his disciples over and over in the Gospels is, fear not, fear not, fear not. And he would tell them, fear not, O ye of little faith. He says, be not doubting but believing. Why? Because they were constantly afraid. Jesus said, we're going to go to the other side of the sea. And then a storm would happen, and they're like, oh, we're not going to make it. And Jesus would say, why don't you just trust me? I told you we're going to make it. The opposite of faith is fear. So here's what I'm saying. You say, well, do I have faith? Let me ask you this. Do you have fear? Are you afraid to trust, to have confidence? Because faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, and it will be produced in a life that is walking in the Holy Spirit. Are there any Ephesians 4? Let me give you number eight. Number eight is meekness. Meekness is humility that puts others first. Ephesians 4, 1 says this, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Verse 2, with all lowliness. You see that word lowliness? It's talking about humility, lowering yourself, not exalting, but lowering yourself with all lowliness and meekness. And don't mess this with long suffering, forbearing one another in love. Isn't it interesting how these words are all connected throughout the Bible? Lowliness, meekness, long suffering, forbearing, love. What's meekness? It's humility that puts others first. It's esteeming others better than yourself. It's putting other people first. And if you don't have that, you don't have that, not because you're not saved. You may very well be saved, but you're not walking in the Spirit. You're not allowing the Holy Spirit to have control in your life. Go to 1 Corinthians 9. Are there any Ephesians? Just go backwards. Galatians, 2 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 9. Let me give you the last one. I'm talking about the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness. Here's number nine, temperance. Temperance. Now the word temperance, it's an old word. It means self-control. If you are lacking self-control, you are not filled with the Spirit. It doesn't make you a bad person. I'm just telling you, you may want to get last week's sermon and look at those four steps to get filled with the Spirit, because when you get filled with the Spirit and you walk in the Spirit and you're led of the Spirit, these are the things that will be produced in your life. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. 1 Corinthians 9.27. Notice what it says. This is what Paul said. He said, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. He says, I bring my body into subjection. I put it under my authority, under my control, lest that by any means, when I preach to others, I myself should be cast away. He says, I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. That's called self-control. And when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will produce self-control, temperance in your life. Now go back to Galatians 5 where we started. You there in 1 Corinthians? No, past 2 Corinthians, into Galatians, Galatians 5, and we're going to finish up. Let me just say this. We talked about the producer of the fruit of the Spirit. Who is it? It's the Spirit, not the Christian. The Christian does not produce these things. The Spirit produces these things. Simply living in the Spirit or being indwelt by the Spirit will not produce these things. You must be led of the Spirit or walking in the Spirit or filled with the Spirit or have the Holy Spirit of God come upon you or all those things, have the Holy Spirit poured upon you, all those things we talked about last week, in order to produce these in your life. The production comes from a life that is controlled by the Spirit, not a life that simply isn't dwelled by the Spirit. Then we talked about the product. What's the product? In this chapter, there are nine characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit. We talked about them, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such, there is no law, the Bible says. But I want you to notice, and what's interesting is that at the end of this chapter, God gives us two antonyms to the fruit of the Spirit. There's different ways to define things. One way is to use synonyms, but sometimes it's just as powerful to use an antonym, right? The opposite. So He just got done telling us, look, this is what being filled with the Spirit is going to look like, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. But then He says, just in case that was too much, let me give you two antonyms that if you've got these in your life, you know, you are not producing the fruit of the Spirit in your life. Look what He says, Galatians 5, 24. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Because remember, it's not just they that are Christ that produce the fruit of the Spirit, it's they that are Christ and have crucified the flesh, and have denied the flesh, and have put away the flesh, that are being led to the Spirit with the affections and lusts. Verse 25, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Verse 26, let us not be desirous of, here's the first antonym, vainglory. He says, if you are led of the Spirit, if you are producing the fruit of the Spirit, here's what you will not have in your life, vainglory. What is vainglory? Vainglory is boastful conceitedness. That's what vainglory is. And God says, those who are producing the fruit of the Spirit, they're not exalting themselves. They're not promoting themselves. They're not seeking vainglory. They don't care who gets the credit. They, because why? Because they've got meekness and temperance and love and joy. So He says, look, if you've got vainglory, if you're the type of person that's just constantly, I need the credit, I need people to know what I did and when I did it and when I got there, it's not the fruit of the Spirit. He says, let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, here's the second antonym, envy one another. You know that there's some Christians that envy? They envy other people. They envy the positions of others. They envy, they want their position. They want what they have. They can't be happy for someone being blessed. They can't be happy for someone. God blesses you with a new job. They're not happy about it. God blesses you with a child. They're not happy about it. God blesses you with a promotion. They're not happy about it. Here's all I'm telling you. Does that mean they're not saved? No, it just means they might be saved. It just means they're carnal. Here's what we know it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that they are filled with the Spirit and it doesn't mean that they are producing the fruit of the Spirit. Because the fruit of the Spirit will be the opposite of vainglory and it will be the opposite of envy in your life. He said, let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another. So here's a question I have for you. And I'm not trying to pick on you and I'm not asking you to answer this out loud and I'm not asking you to talk to your spouse about it. I just want you to really determine in your life how are you doing with the filling of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. How is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance in your life? Is it there? Is it real? Because if it's not, it doesn't mean you're not saved. It just means that the Holy Spirit is not in control. The Holy Spirit is not producing. The Holy Spirit is not producing fruit in your life. And could you imagine, and I'm done right here, could you imagine what would happen? And think about it. What would happen in your home if your teenager started producing love, joy, peace, longsuffering? If your wife, your husband, your neighbor, your coworker, your church member, what would happen in your life if other people produced that? Then think about this. What would happen in your life if you produced that? How would you bless others? This is where people would see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. That's why I had the number one prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for the Bible. Thank you for these studies, as we can study the Bible. And Lord, I realize that the filling of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit, it can come and it can go and it can happen quickly in our lives. But Lord, I pray that you would help us to seek to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, to seek to allow the Holy Spirit to lead, to not simply live in the Spirit, but to walk in the Spirit, that we might be able to see the production of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. We love you. We thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit. Lord, help us not to quench the Spirit. Help us not to grieve the Spirit, but help us to be led of the Spirit. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.