The Fruit of the Spirit: Part 6 - Faith

Galatians five is where we will begin. And then in just a moment, we will be over at Psalm one and then we'll go from there. Galatians five and we'll read once again verses twenty two and twenty three. They are listed the fruit of the spirit Verse 22, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such, there is no law.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Once again, we thank you Lord for your word. We thank you Lord for the fruit that you produce in our lives. As we walk in the spirit, as we look to you in faith. Lord, you can do in us and through us.

Things that we never ever thought possible. For Lord, greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. Lord, we thank you for the Holy Spirit you have given to your children. We thank you for the opportunity to testify in our words and in our actions of the grace and mercy and power and love of Jesus Christ our savior. May others see Jesus in us more every day.

And Lord, we pray that Jesus would be exalted today. Here in this service. Lord, that you might draw all men unto yourself. In Jesus name, we do pray. Amen.

We have been studying for the last few weeks, the fruit of the spirit. We started back several weeks before that on the baptism of the spirit, filling of the spirit, walking in the spirit, and now, the fruit of the spirit. We studied the first three, love, joy, and peace. We looked at long suffering, gentleness, and goodness and now we are to the seventh fruit of the fruit of the spirit this morning and that is faith. Yes, even faith itself is something that is produced in us by the power of God and through the spirit that he has given us.

We cannot even claim our faith is our own. It is something produced in us by the God who made us, died for us, and has saved us and it cannot be stretched, stressed too much the importance of spending time in the word of God. The sword of the spirit. If we are to produce the fruit of the spirit. Let me say that again.

It cannot be stressed too much the importance of spending time in the word of God, the sword of the spirit as it's called in Ephesians six. If we are to produce the fruit of the spirit, we will not produce the fruit of the spirit at least not in the manner that we should if we are not in the word of God. One cannot said to be truly walking in the spirit if we are not walking according to his what? Word. To his word that he has given to us.

If you look in Psalm one and if you look in Psalm one, I'm going to tie this back in in just a minute with faith. Psalm one verse one. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly. Nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

It's interesting there in Psalm one that David chose to use the tree as an example and to use the fruit of the tree as an example. I I had a tomato I was going to bring in here today that somebody gave me but I I forgot it's still in the kitchen. So, you'll have to just imagine fruit. Is tomato a fruit or is it a vegetable? Anyway, alright.

Okay. So, but but there's a purpose in this illustration and it's a very powerful metaphor that God has chosen here to express the importance of being daily in the word of God and pondering it. Meditate means to chew on it for a while. It means to ponder it. It means to keep it before your eyes until it changes.

The way you think. And therefore, the way you live. To keep it before your eyes until it changes the way you think and thereby also the way you live because that's God's purpose. That's God's desire to conform us into the image of his son. The fruit of the spirit is part of that process of us being changed and conformed into the image of Jesus Christ, our savior and as we meditate and ponder on the word of God, day by day by day, God renews our mind as he talks about in Romans chapter 12 and verse two.

Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the what? The renewing of your mind and as God renews our mind and he retrains our mind to think the way that God thinks, to see the world as God sees it, to grow in our faith, then it changes our life and the way we act. But it's a process. When you got saved, when I got saved I was nine years old, that was an event in time. I became a what?

A Christian, I became a child of God but the the being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, that's a what? A process. That takes time. And God has used his word, uses his word to retrain our minds. When I when I was in well, I I was graduated from college.

I was a youth pastor in Georgia and I had one kid in my youth group who liked to play golf. Now, had never played golf in my life. And and so, I went with him to play golf. Well, I found out that I did absolutely everything wrong. There was nothing I did right.

I didn't hold the club right. I didn't swing right. I didn't look right. I didn't do anything right. And so, over the course of the next ten years, I was retrained.

I was retrained how to hold the club, how to swing the club. And in the end, rather than scoring a 120 on on 18 holes, I got down to where I scored about 95, which is still a pretty pitiful score. But But day after day or with me it was more like week after week or month after month, now it's year after year, about three times I get to play. As I followed instruction of others who knew what they were doing, I had to retrain the way I did things so that they were successful, so that they accomplished something, so that I improved. I've said this before, I don't put a big banner out in front of the church that says come as you are.

Though we certainly would invite anyone to come to church as they are. But I don't put it out there because it's of taken by some people to mean stay as you are. And though I would love for you to come as you are, I don't want you to stay as you are, and neither does God. He wants you to be conformed to the image of his son. It's a process, a process.

And a main part of that process is meditating on the word of God so that God retrains our thinking, retrains our thinking. David restates the same principle in Psalm one nineteen nine through 11. If you want to turn there, Psalm one nineteen nine to 11. There David writes, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. Some of you weren't there yet.

I'll read it once more. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? Change his way. We all start out going which way? The wrong way.

We need to be retrained to go the right way. Wherewithal shall young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

David said, thy word have I hid in my heart. What does that mean? It means I meditate on it. I ponder on it. I memorize it.

I make it part of my life. I make it part of my thought process. So, I'm faced with decisions throughout the day, I have God's instruction right there in my head. Maybe I can't remember every word. Maybe I can't quote the verse but maybe I'll remember the principle that God taught in that verse.

That the holy spirit will use in my life. To empower me, to do the thing that honors the Lord and draws other people to him. Here, David states that he hides God's word in his heart that he might not sin against God which is very similar to Paul's statement in Galatians five sixteen where he says, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You see how the two are very similar? Isn't really truly possible to be walking in the spirit if we're not hiding God's word in our heart.

They're one and the same. Psalm one nineteen one zero five, just over a page or two in your Bible, Psalm one nineteen verse one zero five, David writes, thy lamp, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Indeed, the word of God is a light that points the way to God and instructs us how to live in the will of God. Walking in the spirit and thus producing the fruit of the spirit in our lives. His word is the light that points the way.

The instruction that guides us in our path that God has set before us. In Romans ten seventeen, it says, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Faith in our life comes by hearing. By hearing what? By hearing the word of God.

Now, the word hearing there just doesn't simply mean that it hits your eardrum, okay? What it means is receiving. Receiving by faith. Receiving the word of God. Truly hearing it and as we receive the word of God, with an open mind and heart, God gives us faith.

God strengthens our faith. So, as we look specifically at the fruit of faith, We also are reminded that what strengthens that faith, what grows that faith, what brings that faith is the very word of God. One of the fruits of the spirit produced increasingly in the life of every child of God should be the fruit of faith and that's what we'll look at the remainder of our service today. Faith. In this word faith, we find two traits intertwined.

First, a growing faith, confident belief, and trust in the Lord. The first thing when you read faith immediately, you think of faith in who? Faith in God. Faith in the Lord. Faith in his word and one of the fruits of the spirit that the spirit will produce in our life as we read the word of God and as we walk in the spirit, more and more in greater abundance is a growing faith.

A stronger faith and trust in God. The second thing, and this word definitely implies this in the Greek is that of fidelity and faithfulness to God. Not only a faith in God but a faithfulness that is thereby produced in God. Faithfulness to him and a faithfulness in our service to him. So, let's look at the first one.

A walking Christian is one growing in his faith and trust in the Lord day by day. A Christian walking in the spirit is one who is growing in their faith. Not just has faith but what is growing, increasing in their faith in the Lord. Day by day. That is the fruit of the what?

The fruit of the spirit. Second Thessalonians one three. Please listen as I read. Second Thessalonians one three. Paul writes, we are bound to thank God always for you brethren.

As it is meet or fitting because that your faith groweth exceedingly and the charity of everyone of you all toward each other abounded. Paul is excited. He is excited as he writes the second letter to the Christians at Thessalonica and one of the first things that he writes is this, he says, I am bound to thank God always, brethren. And I I thank him. Thank him.

Because I see you, your growth in the faith in Jesus Christ. I am excited, Paul said, because I see you growing. I speak, I see the spirit producing. Faith in your life that is strong and increasing day by day. Paul is very grateful for the growing, vibrant faith of the Thessalonians Christians That demonstrated the work of God in their lives.

For that's what the fruit does. It gives evidence. It demonstrates the work of who? God in our lives. Not my work.

It's God's work. God is the one who is producing the fruit in my life and particularly this fruit of faith. The Bible states emphatically, the just shall live by faith. This is a continuing process for every child of God, not a completed one at salvation. It is a continuing process.

It doesn't say simply the just are saved by faith. It says, the just live by faith. First of all, it brings us eternal life. But when you get saved, your life on earth doesn't end. Your new life in Christ just begins.

And it is a life not of works. Is the life not of duty? It is a life of what? Faith. As God produces a stronger and stronger faith in our lives.

The athlete, we've been having the Olympics this week. So, I might go back to athletes several times. If you don't like sports, pardon me. But an athlete doesn't get up one morning and say, okay, I'm going to be a 5,000 meter runner. And just boom, they get out there, they run 5,000 meters and they win a gold medal.

Does it work that way? No, it doesn't work that way. Somewhere along the line, they discover that this is something that they want to strive to do. And then they get up every day and they run, and they run, and they run, and they run, and they and they get stronger, and they get stronger and they get faster and they get more endurance and day after day, they become more and more that athlete that one day might stand on that podium and receive that reward. The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 12, there is a race that is set before us and it tells us to lay aside every weight in the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.

Christ ran his race here on this Earth. He succeeded. He won the crown. And he made eternal life possible. For all of those who come to him by faith.

God calls his children to follow him. He said, if any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. And one of the ways we follow him is by growing in our faith in him and in the Lord Who is our guide? Who is our instructor? Who is our savior?

Who is our everything? That we might be that athlete spiritually speaking, that one day stands before the Lord to hear well done, thou good and faithful servant. To one day have crowns to lay at his feet. It is our privilege, not our duty. It is our joy and not our burden.

Christ took the burden upon himself on Calvary. He did the hard work. He simply gives us the opportunity to run the race in his name and by his strength. As a child grows in his or her trust in their parents and others, they learn to lean upon them for help, for guidance, and security. So, the Christian learns not only to lean upon Jesus but to obey and follow him in our lives.

We learn to trust him more. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not into thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and then he what? Shall direct thy path.

And as Christians, we should be learning day by day to trust him more and as we learn to trust him more, we'll thereby follow him better. Because we trust in his instruction because we know that he knows what he's talking about, that he really does care and that he'll never lead us astray and therefore, we can trust him. There was an athlete yesterday that won, I think it was a 1,500 meters. His name is Matthew Centrowitz. Anybody see that?

Interesting name, Centrowitz. He won the 1,500 meters. He was the first American to win the gold medal since 1908. That's a long time ago. And it's interesting, his father before him was an Olympian.

I I I didn't hear if he won medals or not. But it was his father that trained him as a young man to be a runner. And though I am not in favor of tattooing, I thought it was interesting when he finished the race. He has a tattoo on his chest that says, like father, like son. Like father, like son.

Now, I don't think God wants us to tattoo that anywhere on the temple of the Holy Ghost which we are, I think it should be evident in our lives. That young man, among other things, won that race because he learned to trust his coach who also happened to be his what? His father. We have a better coach. Yeah.

We have a better father than any earthly father could ever be. And he has offered to train us. He has offered to empower us, to guide us. When that young man crossed the finish line and they interviewed him, he said, I never thought, never ever crossed my mind that I could win. He was racing the race to do his best.

He didn't know he would win. But in Jesus Christ, we know that we have the victory and that God will finish what he started in us. We will look to him and learn to trust him as our coach and as our father. And as we grow in our faith, we come to the second part of this fruit. As we grow in faith, We also increase in faithfulness and loyalty to our Lord and to others.

Faith produces faithfulness. Faith produces faithfulness in our lives. In first Corinthians four two, Paul wrote, is required in stewards that a man be well found what? Faith. Faithful.

Now, there are many things you can think of as required in stewards that a man be found diligent or man be found capable or a man be but but he said what? That a man be found faithful. You know, it isn't up to us to produce the things in our life that aren't there. It's not for up to us to try to be somebody else. It is our privilege to simply be faithful and to trust in the Lord and let him produce in our lives.

The person that he wants us to be. I remember as a youth pastor, I'd go off to youth conferences and I'd get all these wonderful ideas and I would come back to the church and I would say, look, I'm going to do this and I'm going to have this program and I'm going to do and it's all and it's just going to be so great and then I figured out after a couple years of doing that. But not all of that worked. Because see, I wasn't this person and I I wasn't that person and and my church was different from their church and my team group was different from their team group and not everything they did would work for me. God didn't want me to try to be them.

God wanted me to be the best me. I could be and what that meant was this, just simply being what? Faithful. Simply being faithful. And if we learn to be faithful, as God produces that in our lives, God will use us.

There are some things I will never be. I will never be tall. I will probably never have a full head of hair unless I pay a lot of money. There are some things I will likely never be but I can be what God wants me to be through Jesus Christ. What he requires in stewards is that a man be found faithful.

In first Tim, second Timothy two and verse 22, let me read that for you. Second Timothy two twenty two. There we go. Actually, it's chapter two and verse two. Second Timothy two two.

Paul writes to Timothy and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Paul said, this is what I want you to do. I want you to search out other faithful servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't say people who could sing. He didn't say people who could preach.

He didn't say people who were athletic. He didn't say people who were eloquent. He didn't say people that were popular. He said, people that are what? Faithful.

Faithful. Faithful. Willing to follow who? Willing to follow the Lord. That's the characteristic that God, Paul here stresses to Timothy as the one that is necessary, faithfulness, faithfulness.

What does that mean? Well, a faithful person, Christian, is one who is strong in the faith and willing therefore to stand in the gap. One who is strong in the faith and therefore willing to stand in the gap. Let me read for you from Isaiah chapter six verse eight. Isaiah chapter six verse eight, Isaiah sees a vision of the Lord in heaven and the angels flying around him saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.

The whole earth is full of his glory. And then God looks down and he says in verse eight, he says, Isaiah says, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send me. Now, what was special about Isaiah?

What was so special about Isaiah that made him this perfect person? Willingness to be used of God and faithfulness in his service. We don't read that there's anything else special about Isaiah. That he was the greatest speaker that ever lived or or that he was flamboyant or that he was anything to look upon. But he was willing and he was faithful.

Therefore, God used him. Therefore, God used him. He was willing to stand in the gap for the Lord. As we grow in our faith, we should be more willing to stand in the gap and to be used by God. Another thing demonstrates faithfulness is one who is eager to serve and faithful to finish.

One who finishes the job. One who endures to the end. He doesn't give up in the middle. Turn if you would to Acts chapter 20. I know we're turning quite a bit this morning, but sometimes the best illustrations are find right found right here in the pages of scripture.

Acts 20 verse 24. Paul is on his way to Jerusalem. He believes that there is a ministry that God has there for him but even as he is headed Jerusalem, God is indicating to him that when he gets there, things aren't going to go very well and he's to expect trouble and so other Christians along the way are telling him, no, don't go. Don't go. Don't go.

There's trouble coming. There's trouble coming. Don't go. Paul says in response to that in verse 24 of Acts 20, he says this, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Paul said, not gonna stop.

I've got to go. And these warnings, they're not going to keep me from finishing the course that is set before me. There may be suffering to be found there. But Paul says, these things are not going to stop me. At the end of his life in in second Timothy, he tells Timothy that he has finished his course with faith and now he is ready to go to be with his Lord.

Paul was faithful to finish his course. He didn't allow the fears of man or life or failure to keep him. He persevered. He continued on. I, for the life of me, can't understand why anybody would want to run a marathon.

I don't understand it, I'll never understand it, and I will never run 26 miles at one time or probably in 10 times. God did not make me a runner. But I am impressed with the determination to finish the race. And even more so impressed with Paul. But even more than that, impressed with Paul's God.

For it wasn't in the flesh that Paul was this great enduring person. It was something produced in him by God as he walked in the spirit and lived by the word. God made Paul who he was as he is making us. A faithful person is one who is consistent in his daily time with God. One who is consistent in their daily time with God.

Let me read from you from Daniel chapter six. Daniel chapter six in the book of Daniel. Daniel's friends, not friends, enemies. Wanted to destroy his relationship with the king and essentially get him killed. They were jealous of his power, jealous of of the king's attention.

And so, they came up with this plan and they tricked the king into making a law that nobody could pray to any God but the king for thirty days and so when Daniel heard the law, what did Daniel do? He did what he always did. He did what he always did. Verse 10, now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went to his house and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem. He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a four time.

A faithful Christian who is one as consistent in his time with God, in his prayer life, and he doesn't allow the distractions of life to keep him from that. You say, Pastor, I'm not growing. Well, maybe it's because you're not spending much time with the Lord. Somebody, a couple might come to me and say, pastor, our our marriage is not growing stronger. It's growing weaker.

We're having arguments and and things aren't going well. One of the first things that you might ask is this, how much time do you spend together? Because so often the answer is, well, not much. You see, they both work forty, fifty, sixty, seventy hours a week. Different schedules, so they're not home at the same time.

They have different hobbies and interests, different friends. So what happens? They grow what? They grow apart. And it could be that the reason that the fruit of the spirit in your life isn't abounding like it should be is because you're just not spending time with God.

For the more time you spend with him, the more like him you will become. We spend honestly too much time in other things, and often not enough time with God. Daniel grew in his faith all throughout his service it would seem. One of the reasons we have right here, nothing stopped him from spending time with his God. One who is faithful is one who can be counted on.

One who can be counted on by others. One who is faithful to church. One who's prepared to fulfill his ministry. One who keeps his word. There was a man at the church up in Georgia.

His name is Rusty. Rusty was one of our bus captains and not long after he came to church, his wife decided that she didn't want to be part of this Christian life anymore, and she left him left him, took his three kids with her, made life very, very, very difficult. There was nobody more faithful at our church than Rusty McGuire. He was faithful to his ministries, he was faithful to be there, he was just a faithful Christian, and if you needed something, you knew who to call. And though he had to weather some storms in his life, the Lord brought him through, and the Lord strengthened him in the process.

A few years ago, we were invited to go back up to Georgia for his daughter's wedding. She married a Christian young man from Pensacola Christian College, and to my knowledge, they're serving the Lord, A testament to her dad and more so to her God. One who is faithful as a parent that takes each family responsibility seriously, one who is a faithful friend and available when you need them. The bible says in Proverbs seventeen seventeen, a friend loveth all times and a brother is born to adversity. And it says in Proverbs eighteen twenty four, there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

That's the kind of friend we should be, we can become in Jesus Christ, a faithful friend, a faithful parent, a faithful servant of the Lord, one who finishes their course as God produces that in our lives. The ultimate friend though is who? Jesus Christ. For he is the friend to the friendless. He is the friend to the unlovable.

He is the one that when we were sinners, died in our place and he is the one who has said he will never leave us nor forsake us but God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died. In closing this morning, I want to ask you this question. Is he your friend? Is Jesus your friend? Now, I don't mean, is Jesus friendly?

Or does Jesus want to be your friend? Or is Jesus done something for you to be your friend? What I mean is this this morning, do you know him as your friend? Have you received him as your friend? And as your savior, and as your redeemer and as your Lord by faith because that's the only way to become a child of God is by faith.

As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God or the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. And if you will trust in the Lord Jesus, receive him as savior. He will become a friend to you like no other friend could ever be and he will never ever cease to be it for all eternity. For he is the only friend who gave his life for you. He is the only friend who can love you as he does.

He is the only one who can save you and he is the only friend who is ever faithful. Is he your friend? And Christians, as we close this morning, Are you growing in faith? I didn't say have you arrived? Paul himself said, I haven't yet apprehended.

You know what that means? He says, I haven't arrived. Still growing. Are you growing? In your faith.

Are you becoming more a faithful person? If you know you are lacking in that area, here is what you do. Read this. Read it every day. And spend time on your knees.

Because the only one who can do that for you is Jesus. And he wants to. And he will. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you Lord for your word today.

Thank you Lord for the examples we see in scripture of faithfulness and of faith and most of all, for the one who is the most faithful friend that one could ever have. So faithful and so full of love and mercy that he offers to us who were once his enemies to become his friends. Though it cost him a great, great price. Lord, I pray if there's one here today that's never trusted in you. I pray that they might do so and be safe today.

They want to come as we give this hymn of invitation and Lord, I pray for we who know Christ. If we know in this area, Lord, that we've we've been stagnant. We haven't been growing. Lord, that we would recognize that. And we would embrace you.

More tightly. That we might draw close to you in your word and in prayer that you might produce that in our lives. That demonstrate to all around us that you live inside of our heart. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.