 Chapter 5, let's begin reading here in Galatians chapter 5 at verse 19. I'll read to verse 21, 19 through 21, and we'll get into our study. We're looking at the war within. That's basically what we're looking at. We're looking at the flesh and the spirit. It begins here in verse 19 by saying, Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul has been speaking here, and as we've been going through Galatians, especially chapter 5, we've noticed that Paul has been speaking concerning the battle, the battle between the flesh and the spirit of God. And he had stated that the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. When he said the spirit lusts against the flesh, that means to turn upon a thing. It means to long for, it really is speaking of like an internal tug of war that takes place. There's a battle, an internal tug of war for domination and for victory. The flesh is lusting against what God wants to do, is struggling against that, and the spirit of God working within is overcoming the flesh. And that's the picture that we have. It's describing really what we would call an inner battle, that war that rages within a human being. Because every day we battle daily with our desires that run contrary to the work of God in our life. Every day we go through tough things. Every day we go through struggles. Every day. Yesterday I had a meeting that I had to go to in Costa Mesa, and you know to get there by 9 o'clock you have to leave early. Obviously all of you who drive into Orange County or drive into LA or whatever, you do that every day. My heart goes out to you. It goes out to you. I mean I left my house and within five minutes I'm in a traffic jam, and it took me about 30 minutes to go about five miles, six miles, and I have to get to Orange County at 9 o'clock. And so I'm beginning to get stressed as I'm driving, and before you know it, I'm looking at cars around me suspiciously. Are you going to try and get this lane? You can't have this lane. This is my lane. That kind of mentality, and before you know it, and I'm thinking okay, you're a Christian. And so I'm texting confession time about how that the Lord isn't going to allow me to be moved, and I'm discovering that for sure because I haven't been moving in this car at all. And I finally get off the freeway. I get off the 57, and I actually buy where it intersects to right by Anaheim Stadium, Angel Stadium. I get off there and I make my way to Harbor, and then I take Harbor and I follow Harbor all the way to MacArthur. All of you know that route, and then I pull into the parking lot. I was going to Costa Mesa, Calvary Chapel, and I pull into the parking lot, and it's like 15 minutes to nine, and I'm thinking, man, I made it on time. The stress and everything I just went through. I made it on time, and it only took me like an hour and a half to get there. And then I read my email, and it says your meeting's at 9.30. So I'm sitting there for 45 minutes, you know, and my flesh is just, oh, I'm telling you, my flesh is, oh, it's just right there. And I'm going to a meeting talking about the Lord and how good God is. I'm Tex, but I have to be honest with you, I'm a man of flesh. I understand this tug of war. So do you. I understand this. I want to have peace, and I want to have patience. I want to have these things, Lord. But at the same time, I need to be somewhere at 9. I left early. I think I'm going to be late. And so there is a war that goes on. There's a war that is constantly going on. It's a war of the spirit and a war of our flesh, and we battle with that. And this is contrary to what God wants to do in our lives. In Romans chapter 8, verses 6 through 8, it says, to be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. The carnal mind is enmity against God. The carnal mind is hostily opposed to the Lord. There's a hostility. It's not just a rejection. There's an actual hostility towards the things of God. And so when we act on these desires, well that is what is referred to as works of the flesh. That's what Paul is speaking about here when he speaks of the works of the flesh that are evident. The flesh. When you read the flesh, well the flesh is that part of a believer that functions apart from and against the Spirit of God. Now when that flesh is rising up and seeking dominance, it can be very frustrating for those who want to honor the Lord. Paul when he was writing concerning this war within in Romans chapter 7, all of us are familiar with this verse, verse 15, he says, what I will to do that I do not practice, but what I hate that I do. Paul was very familiar with this battle that takes place within this, this war of the Spirit, this war against the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit. And even though we may be born again, we still retain a desire as well as a predisposition to sin. We have a new nature, that's true, but that new nature has a desire or predisposition to serve the Lord, but at the same time you have that old nature. So we have an old nature, we have a new nature, and they battle. The old nature in Scripture is often referred to as the old man. That's that nature that resists the Spirit of God's work in us. It produces that internal struggle, and it makes it difficult for me to serve God without distraction. Paul in Romans 7, 18 and 19 said, I know that nothing good lives in me that is in my sinful nature in my flesh, for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do. No, the evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing. It is a battle within. When you read church history, there are the early writers, the early pastors and elders. They're called the church fathers, and the early church fathers taught that Christians have two distinct natures. Again, they're normally referred to as the old and the new man. In Ephesians 4.22, Paul said, put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. In Colossians 3.9, he said, do not lie to one another since you've put off the old man with his deeds. And that's speaking of that old nature, but there's the new nature that we have, and that's the nature that we receive when we're born again. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation, old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. That is that new nature that we have when you got saved. And you receive that new nature at conversion. In 1 Peter 1.23 it says, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever. 2 Peter 1.4 says, by which you've been given, which has been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. So on the one hand, you have a new nature, which has been created after God in Christ Jesus. It's a new nature. You're born again. You have longings and desires that were at first not natural for you, because you have that old nature that longed against the things of God, and that's what creates the problem within. So that's what Paul is writing about. He's contrasting what is called, and I want you to notice it's the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. It's interesting to me that one thing has to die for the other to really progress. Have you discovered it's easier to grow weeds than it is flowers? I have. I'm very good at it. It's easier to grow weeds than it is flowers. As a matter of fact, in my house, there are weeds that actually grow right through the concrete. Isn't that amazing? You can go out there, and you can plant something, and you can water it and make sure that it's fertilized, and all turn the soil, and it just dies. Then you go out there, and there's this weed, and you stomp on it, and you pull on it, and you rip it out, and you walk away, and a week later you go out, and it's going, I'm back. It doesn't go away. It doesn't go away. They'll grow right through the concrete, and I've discovered that my flesh is like that. You have to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit, but the flesh naturally produces these evil desires, and Paul is speaking about that. Paul is speaking about these things here, and he says in verse 19, the works of the flesh are evident. When he says the works of the flesh are evident, that word evident simply means they're plainly seen. They're easily recognized, and he begins to speak, and he doesn't give an exhaustive list, by the way, he only gives 15 works of the flesh, but as he gives these works of the flesh, they're very familiar to us. As we look at these 15 works of the flesh, I want you to note this, he's going to break them down into what we would call four groups. Four groups you have in verse 19, what are called sensual sins. Sensual, what is that? Well, the word sensual speaks of physical passion. Some have referred to that as animal instinct, if you will. It pertains to a lack of moral restraint. When we look at that in just a moment, that's what he's speaking about. In verse 20, he speaks of idolatry, which has a spiritual connotation, and in verse 20, as well as 21, he speaks of sins concerning personal relationships that produce a strife in the body of Christ. And then he concludes by speaking about drunken sins. And so that's what we'll be looking at. And obviously, this isn't something that we really want to spend a whole lot of time looking at. I'll just give you some basic things that he says, and just give you a little insight into it, hopefully. But again, he says verse 19, these are the works of the flesh. These are the energies of the flesh. This is what's natural to the old man. This is what comes out of us without any provocation. It's there. It's always at the surface and just wanting to dominate. The works of the flesh are evident. And then he names them, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness. Adultery, unlawful sexual intercourse. It speaks of extramarital sexual intercourse with someone other than your spouse. Adultery is a work of the flesh. And though people like to present it as being romantic, the Bible presents it as being destructive and sinful. Proverbs 60, rather, 6 verse 32 says, whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding, and he who does it destroys his own soul. It's one of the commandments God gave when he said, thou shalt not commit adultery. And it is a work of the flesh, no matter how Hollywood romanticizes it. Adultery is always destructive and is always a sin. He speaks of fornication. Fornication is an interesting Greek word, pranea. It actually is a word that can be used to describe a variety of illicit sexual activities. It can be used in description of adultery. It speaks, again, of having sexual intercourse outside of the bonds of marriage. It can be used in reference to homosexuality and lesbianism. It even can be used in reference to sins like bestiality. It's fornication. And the Bible in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 3 says, this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication. So it doesn't matter to God if you call that person your fiance, it is still fornication and it is still a work of the flesh. He speaks of uncleanness. Uncleanness is sexual impurity. It's a sexual indecency. It speaks of those filthy thoughts and filthy desires and those filthy actions. This uncleanness can speak of addiction to pornography and a variety of sexual sins that include violent molestation of others and rape. And he says this obviously is a work of the flesh. He speaks of licentiousness. Now that's an interesting word. We don't use that word anymore. When's the last time you heard somebody on the news say Charlie Sheen is guilty of licentiousness? Did anybody hear that? Because he's been on the news an awful lot lately. You know, I was reading something on him and I really, it's not like he fascinates me. It's just he's very tragic and I heard him in an interview and I read the same interview where he says I'm living with my goddesses and that's because he's got a Donis's DNA. Interesting man. But his goddesses, one of them is a porn star. He calls Rach and the other is a model called Natty. And right now he's saying I'm living in domestic bliss. What we have is we have an entire society and I'm not going to be labor this, I think it's obvious to us all. An entire society that has been fully given over to sexual sin, just absolutely, fully given over to sexual sin. We celebrate it. We celebrate it. Pornication, uncleanness, adultery, licentiousness. It is very, very normal in this society and young people who are growing up in this see absolutely nothing wrong with any of it. Nothing wrong with any of it. And the children, our children who are five, six, seven years old, they're growing up surrounded by that as their atmosphere. That's what's teaching them. That's what they think is going to be normal later on. It's going to be very difficult to reach this younger generation that has been raised with this as being normal. But he speaks of it as sexual sin. He speaks also idolatry. When he speaks of idolatry, that's any evil practice associated with idolatry. Idolatry is that which substitutes something for God. There is, the Bible teaches, one God. There is one creator of the universe and God alone is to be worshiped. God made it very clear from the very beginning in the book of Exodus when he started to give the law to the children of Israel that you can't worship two things equally. And God says, I demand your exclusive worship. In Exodus chapter 20, verses four and five, he says, you shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them. Well, the flesh is constantly open to replacing God with a homemade God. That happens all the time. When you look at the history of the nation of Israel, you will see that God had displaced nations because the nations were fully getting over into idolatry. And God said, you are unique. You have one God. Here, oh Israel, the Lord thy God, he is one and you're going to worship him. He said with everything within you, all of your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength, everything. He said, you are to worship me. That's what he says in Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four. That's what he says when he gives us the Ten Commandments. I am the Lord thy God, you shall have no false gods before me. He laid that down as the marching orders to the nation of Israel. But the nation surrounding Israel were filled with idolatry and very often when the Israelites would come into contact with these other nations, they would be influenced by the other nations with idolatry. Paul is saying that idolatry is the work of the flesh. When you read the prophets, when you read Isaiah, when you read Jeremiah, and you look at the things that they have to say concerning idolatry, they actually will say things that are sarcastic, if you will, related to them. The man goes out, he cuts down a tree. He says, with a portion of the tree, he uses the wood for kindling so he can cook his food. With the other portion of the same tree, he carves it into a god, overlays it with gold, and bows down before it and says, you are my God. When the psalmist is speaking about idolatry, he says they have eyes, but they cannot see. They have ears, but they cannot hear. They have noses, but they cannot smell. They have mouths, but they cannot speak. They have hands, but they cannot reach out and touch. They have feet, but they cannot walk. And he says, the psalmist says, and those who make them are like them, because you become like what you worship. So God is saying, I am the living God, and the works of man's hands are not gods at all. And so the Bible is exclusive when it comes to our reverence and worship of God. That's why even in the New Testament, 1 John 5 verse 21, John would say, little children, keep yourselves from idols. And so that's a work of the flesh. Now, notice sorcery. Sorcery. When you look at that, you think of sorcery and maybe you think of Mickey Mouse with his little hat and his robes and the sorcerers of Prentice, and we've pretty much demystified sorcery. You might find this interesting. Most of you probably already know what the word is. It's in Greek. The word that is translated in the New Testament, sorcery, is the Greek word pharmacaia. Pharmacaia is where we get the word pharmaceutical or pharmacy from. When he's speaking concerning sorcery, we need to understand something about sorcery, because during the days of Paul, drugs were used in connection to rituals and religious rites. They believed that the drugs would open their mind, expand their consciousness, and make them open to communicating with spirits. When I was in the world at the age of 15 to 20, and I was experimenting with the drugs and everything, that's what we were saying at that time. That's what was being said to us in the 60s related to LSD. If you open up your mind, you tune in, you turn on, you drop out, if you open up your mind through taking psychedelic drugs, these hallucinogens, then you're going to come into contact with the other side. You remember the doors? Anybody here remember that group, Jim Morrison and the doors? You remember the song Break On Through to the other side? That actually was a German philosopher that they were quoting. The doors were from UCLA. They were actually theater majors there, and they formed a group, and one of them had been in a particular German philosophy class that was teaching this particular German philosopher's philosophy, and he was the one who gave to Jim Morrison and the rest of the guys this concept of breaking through to the other side. They wanted to get from the material world into the spiritual world, and that's how it was during my day, and part of the answer that we received through groups like the Moody Blues and others was that you take drugs. The Beatles were very big on that. All of you know that ancient history, and it was the way that you did it. You smoked pot or you dropped psilocybin or mescaline, you dropped some acid, whatever it was, and you would be connected to the other side. That isn't a new concept. That was during the time of Paul, and Paul during that day said pharmacaya is a work of the flesh. You're yielding yourself over to the ritualistic drug-taking and in altering your consciousness, you're opening yourself up to demonic spirits, and so that is to be forbidden. When I first got saved, I had people telling me God created everything and he created marijuana for our good, because the Bible says that the herbs were created by God, because we used to call marijuana herb. And so if you have herb, that's okay, because God created herbs. And so I looked in the Bible, and I didn't find any scripture that says you shouldn't get high on marijuana, and I wasn't really convinced by the argument, I just found it interesting. And then I began to grow later on in the Lord, and I began to do word studies, and I began to realize that, and you'll see this if you come on Sunday night to hear 1 John, when we get into chapter 2, I can tell you ahead of time, you have commands in Scripture, and you have what is called the word, the word. I'm going to show it to you. Let's turn to 1 John. I'm going to veer for a moment. I want to show you this. 1 John chapter 2. We'll travel to John's land for a moment. I want to show you this in Scripture, because somebody might say, oh, that's your opinion. And 1 John chapter 2, begin in verse 3. Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He who says, I know him and does not keep his commandments as a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. I want you to see two things. Notice verse 3, commandments. Notice verse 4, commandments. Notice verse 5, his word. Don't think for a moment that he's just referring to the commandment says word, because that's not what he's doing. Here's something for you. There are specific commandments that you receive in Scripture. Thou shalt not, or thou shalt. You find them in Scripture. But you also have what is called the spirit of the word. So your parent and your kid comes to you and says, I'm going to be going over to hang around with some friends. I'm going to go and hang around with Bill. And as a parent, you look at your son and you say to your son, you know, I really don't want you to go to Bill's house. I really don't want you to go to Bill's house. Now you're making it very clear that you don't trust Bill. So you might even say, I don't trust him. I really don't want you around him. I don't want you to go to Bill's house. So your son says, he's a good guy. And you say, no, you may think he's a good guy, but I see past him. I don't want you to go to Bill's house. You can drive, you can go and hang around and stuff with your friends. I don't want you to go to Bill's house. All right, Dad, I won't go to Bill's house. So what happens? He comes home the next day you're talking to him and you say, what did you do last night while we hung around at Jim's house? Who was there? Well, Fred and Mike and Bill. Then wait a minute. I told you, I didn't want you hanging around with Bill. And what's your son say? No, you didn't. You said, you don't want me to go to his house. We didn't go to his house. He came where I was. Anybody here ever do that to your parents? I did. If it's not 100% accurate, I was within the letter of the law. My dad, you know what I meant by that. In the Bible, you have commandments. Thou shalt not. Very clear, but you also have word and that word is the spirit of the commandment. So when God says, be not drunk with wine, which is dissipation or a lack of self-control, what is the word there? How does that apply? Well, he's saying do not let anything influence you. And a natural thing influence you when you're drunken with wine. They used to think that you were actually possessed by a God of some sort of spirit. That's what they believed at one point that drunkenness was. You were actually possessed because you were so different. You spoke differently. You acted differently. So they would say that you were actually worshiping back us or one of the gods, the Greek gods at that time. And so Paul is making it very clear when he says, be not drunk with wine, which is in excess or dissipation. Be not drunk with wine because what happens is you're yielding yourself to the control of an influence outside of the spirit. So be not drunk with wine, but rather be filled with the spirit. If you're going to have influence that is moving you, make it God's spirit. And so the word of God teaches us that there are things that we should or should not do that are very specific. And then there are other times when the word of God gives to us simply something that gives to us insight into what we ought or ought not to do. Now when it comes, and you can turn on back to Galatians chapter five, those of you who turned with me to 1st John, when it comes to sorcery, he's speaking about this being open to mind, altering drugs, pharmacaya, and he says, do not use that. Interestingly enough in Revelation 22 verse 14 and 15 it says, blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral, murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie. Pharmacaya. Now he goes on here and he speaks concerning personal relationships. He speaks of hatred in verse 20, contentions and jealousies. He speaks of outbursts of wrath, selfish ambition, dissensions and heresies, envy and murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like. So when he speaks of this, this is the stripe that occurs within the body of Christ. Remember in chapter five verse 15, he had said, if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. Well, hatred, you're not to be filled with hatred, hatred. Hatred is an attitude of constant angry hostility. You're not to have contentions. Someone who has contentions is a person who is willing to be in arguments constantly, who chooses sides, somebody comes and says something to them and they choose sides and take the side of the person who came and told them. There's an interesting scripture in Proverbs 18 verse 17 though. It says the first to present his case seems right till another comes forward and questions him. Yeah, the person who gets you first gets your ear first, influences you. Always be aware that there is more than one side to every story. Always remember that. Remember that somebody's only going to tell you what they want you to believe and what they want you to hear. That's how it works. They're going to try and convince you of the rightness of their argument, but there's always another side. Somebody who's into contention is a person who chooses sides easily. He speaks of jealousies. That is an envious rivalry. He speaks of outbursts of wrath, which is fiery flashes of rage. He speaks of selfish ambition, which is that desire to knock people out of the way so that you can have preeminence. He speaks of dissensions. That's a party spirit. He speaks of heresies, which is division. He speaks of envy, which is that displeasure arouse when someone has what you want. Envy and jealousy. Interesting, very similar and yet different. Jealousy is a friend of yours, got a new, we'll say a new car, and you say to yourself, and I wish I had that. And it's not just, I wish, I wish I had that. Envy is worse than that because envy is, I wish I had that and he didn't. And that's an ugly attitude. It's a displeasure arouse when someone has what you want. Murder, obviously, is the ultimate division of a person's heart. These are all things that come from within. And then he speaks of the drunken sins, drunkenness and revelry. Drunkenness is probably in reference to what took place at that time in their pagan orgies. You know, we have those here in the United States. New Orleans is well known for Mardi Gras and other things like that. Throughout the world there are various pagan things, in Oktoberfest and all where people gather together and they just get drunk. During that time they would do that. It was an orgy that they had as they got drunk and they were revelries and that would be the drinking parties that people have that last long into the night. When you're speaking about people who are doing that, they're getting drunk, they're engaging in crude behavior. It speaks of this desire to drink and get drunk and all of that is a work of the flesh. Now someone says, what's the harm of that? Well, Paul would say in verse 21 in his summation of these things and I want you to see that. He says, those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. That's what's wrong with that. Those whose lifestyles are earmiked by that will not inherit the kingdom of God. Now notice when he says those who practice such things, that word practice speaks of a continuous behavior because a continuous behavior reveals the character of a person and the basic character of an unregenerate person is to practice those works. It's just evidence that they're not saved and so God assesses a person's character on what he practices, not an occasional action. You see, as much as you might want to be a great strong and solid Christian, you like I are still in the flesh and that means that there are going to be times that you just flat out fail. We all do. But that's not the habit of your life. That's not what you do every morning. You don't wake up in the morning saying, today I'm going to mess up on purpose. Most of us don't do that. There's this battle, there's this war, there's this desire to do the right thing and then there's this inability sometimes to perform that which you desire. And because I yield myself over to the desire and fail at that, well that's not the habit of my life. That is something that can happen. What I'm supposed to do according to Romans chapter 6 verse 11 is to reckon myself to be dead indeed to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. I have to learn to die daily to pick up my cross daily and follow Him. And as you do that, I've discovered that these sins are less evident in your life. They're less, they're not there to the extent they used to be because you grow past those things by dying daily. Now in contrast to the works of the flesh you have the fruit of the Spirit. Notice verse 22. He says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such he says there is no law. Works of the flesh are naturally produced. The fruit of the Spirit finds its life in the Spirit of God. And it's interesting how he speaks of the works and he contrasts that with fruit. Something about fruit that we know is this fruit is edible. Fruit is intended to give life and fruit is normally for others. The fruit tree when it produces that orange or that lemon or whatever it may be that apple, that apple or orange or lemon isn't produced for the tree is it? It's produced for somebody else. And when you go to your tree, if you have one in your backyard and it's producing this luscious fruit and you take that fruit off and you take it into the house, you wash it, cut it up and you eat it. That fruit was not for the tree, that fruit was for you and that fruit produces life. It's something that you eat, it's edible, it's something that is good and that's what the Spirit does. You see the energies of the flesh produce death. It can lead up to murder is what he was saying. He's saying all of these sexual sins and everything it can lead up to murder, it can lead up to death but not so with the fruit of the Spirit. The flesh has identifying traits but so does the work of the Spirit of God and the fruit is something that produces a life that is strengthened by the Spirit of God. Now I want you to notice something here. I'm sure you already have been taught this or know that but I want you to see this. Notice again in verse 22 how he says this. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. Do you notice that fruit is singular? Notice he didn't say fruits of the Spirit. He said the fruit of the Spirit. Now I've always found that interesting. It's singular. So he gives to us the fruit of the Spirit singular yet this fruit of the Spirit is described by eight words. Why would that be? The reason is because love has certain characteristics. And so when he says the fruit of the Spirit is love you can just basically you could say that is the fruit of the Spirit but the fruit of the Spirit is love which is characterized by these things. So what is love? Many years ago we had a baby sitter at my house taking care of my children. They were very small and she I think was around 13 years old or so at the time and I was driving her home. And as we're driving home it was about a 30 minute drive. I was taking her to her house. I said to her would you do me a favor? And she said what? I said could you tell me what love is? And she's 13. Could you tell me what love is? She said sure I can. I said good. I said tell me what it is. We drove home and about a half hour and she kept on saying well love is kind of like it's love is a it's like a feeling but no it's an emotion. I said what is love? For a half hour she finally gave up. She didn't really know what love is. Do you want to know something I've discovered? Most people don't. Most people don't. But Paul is telling us what it is right here. He does it more than once. 1 Corinthians 13 is an obvious passage. He speaks concerning the attributes of love. But this is describing what love is. You want to know what love is? This is it. What is love? Well he begins to speak about it. Now first I want to point something out. Love is produced by abiding in the true vine Jesus Christ. That's where love comes from. In John 15 verses 4 and 5 Jesus said it like this. He said abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing. How do you have love in your life? Men like Charlie Sheen and others who are so lost and hurt. How do you get love? Jesus gave us the answer abiding me. If you abide in me then you're going to produce fruit and the fruit that we produce is love. Now we make decisions concerning our walks every day and we make choices. I'm going to live for the Lord today. If you are a Facebook friend of mine you'll see that on my early morning entries. I will say I'll give a scripture and I'll say I'm going to try and do this today. I'm going to try and do this today. I'm only giving to you kind of a glimpse in what the Lord is doing in my heart that morning. This is what I'm going to try to do today. I'm going to walk with the Lord today. I'm going to be encouraged in the Lord to do this. This is what I'm going to do today because every day I make that decision. Every day we make choices. We abide in him and as we do so he produces something in our lives, something called love. Now if you were to ask a person today can you tell me what a Christian looks like? What's a Christian look like? Well often what people would say is they'll say a Christian. What's a Christian? Well a Christian is some they really don't know anymore. A Christian is judgmental. A Christian is real harsh. A Christian is always against everything. A Christian stands outside of marine funerals and yells that God hates the army. That's what's going on right now with people who are professing themselves to be Christians. We see it in the news. They're saying that God hates you and God hates this and God hates America and that's what they think Christians are. A Christian doesn't smoke cigarettes or a Christian doesn't drink. It's what we don't do. It's what you don't do. If you were to ask the first century individual what's a Christian look like? What's a Christian do? They would have said this. They would have said Christians they love the loving. Even pagans would defend Christians because of how loving Christians were. Even the pagans would because the Christians were the best citizens and most loving people in the empire. They were loving. Now Jesus said that. By this shall all men know you are my disciples if you have love one for another. That's how they're going to know. It's not going to be how loud you can shout and it's not going to be how many marches you can involve yourself in. It's not going to be how much money you give. It's not how much work you do. He said by this shall all men know you are my disciples if you have love one for another. My daughter Corinne was about a month old at the time. Brand new father and I was in the room. She was in her little bassinet and she had begun to make some noise. She was crying. She hasn't stopped. She's making noise. And I heard her. I was downstairs. We had this little apartment in Roland Heights and I was downstairs and I heard the baby. She was taking her nap. I remember walking up the stairs and I remember walking into that little room where my baby girl was and she's all mad and she's making all this noise. Her little face is all red and I looked down at her and as I looked down at her I picked her up and I was holding her in my hand and I remember just holding her and I was kind of rocking her and I was talking to her and you know I still remember I was looking at her and saying I love you. I love you so much and I would put her next to my face and I would kiss her and I just would rock her and calm her down and as I was doing this my sister-in-law came walking up the stairs. I could hear her footsteps as she was coming up the stairs from the front room and she walked up into the stairs and as I was looking at her at my Corinne I turned with the same look I was giving to Corinne and I gave it to my sister-in-law Rose. The same look. It just is like I just transferred it to looking at her as I was looking at Corinne. The Lord spoke to my heart. He does this in little ways for me often and I'll never forget the lesson he gave me. He said if you look at me the way you're looking at Corinne then you'll always look at others the way you just looked at your sister-in-law. If you spend time with me gazing at me and loving me you'll be able to love other people. Abide in me and you'll produce fruit. I can't produce the fruit of love. You know I have quite a number of trees that I planted in our backyard over the years. I have never walked by one of those trees and I've never seen it shaking trying to produce fruit. Never have. You don't see it. There's an orange. It just doesn't happen that way. It doesn't. You care for it. You water it. But it naturally because its roots are in the ground and it's cared for it naturally just it's abiding in the ground and it does what is natural. It produces fruit. Abide in the Lord. It's not that hard guys. It's not that big a mystery. It really isn't. Just stay close to the Lord. Spend time in His Word. Spend time in prayer. Spend time with those who love Him and watch what God does in your life. Love. Love is a supreme virtue of Christian living. It reflects a personal choice and love is one of those sure signs of salvation. Love is not simply an emotion. Love is not simply a good feeling. Love is a decision of the will. Love is willing, sacrificial service. So love is evidenced by things like joy. That word joy is used 70 times in the New Testament and it speaks of a gladness that is based on the Spirit. It doesn't come through human circumstances. It comes from abiding in Christ. It comes from having a relationship with the Lord like it says in Acts 2.28. You will make me full of joy in your presence. Love is earmarked by peace. Peace is a calmness of Spirit. That again comes from the relationship you have with God. We know that God's in control of everything and I can be at peace because I know He's in control and I'm not. And the peace of God that surpasses understanding will guard my heart and guard my mind through Christ Jesus. So I can have peace even in the face of things that really ought to be causing me to have panic. And if I was in the flesh I would. You have long suffering. Long suffering is the ability to endure things, endure injuries. You know I was talking to Marie the other day, my wife, and I said, you know patience and long suffering, two different words. A lot of times we look at them as if they're the same and they're not. They're two different words. You can be patient and wait but you're waiting for a good thing. You want something, it's going to come to you and you patiently wait for it. You wait on the Lord. You renew your strength but you patiently wait. So patience is not long suffering because long suffering has suffering in it. You endure something patiently even as you're suffering and there's a difference between the two. You have the ability to endure injury inflicted by others with a calm inner spirit and you put that on. That's something you have and the Lord gives you the ability to do so. Kindness. Let me, if you don't mind I'll share something personal with you for just a moment. Kindness is one of the, one of the traits, virtues that I am most attracted to. I, when I encounter a kind person, I love him. I might instantly love kind people. When I was a little boy we had a man who lived down the street. His nickname was Whitey. He was okay at that time. Hey Whitey, you know it was okay. He had white hair and so his nickname was Whitey. You know what he did? Every Christmas when I was a little boy he lived just a few houses down. He would put on a Santa Claus suit. It was all ripped up. It had rips all over it. He had this cheesy beard and that was all, you know these cheesy beards? I mean it didn't even look like it. It was so old. It was all just like, you know, it was messed up. He had this hat and he'd knock on the door and we, my mom would say, who could that be? And we'd go to the door and we, I don't know. And then we'd say, who's there? And then he'd go, oh, oh, oh, oh, you know, my mom would say it's Santa Claus. And we'd open the door and here comes this cheesy guy, this cheesy beard and a pillowcase with some cheap toys. And he would come in and he'd say, have you been good little boys? And we'd say, no, we didn't even try to lie. No. And he'd say, oh, and he'd give us, I loved him. He was a big man, but he was so kind. And to me, kindness, when someone has a gentle spirit, they have a kind heart. Man, I am so attracted to that spirit. You know who has the kindest heart I know is my wife. There's a secret for you. Why do I love her so much? She is so kind. My wife is kind. And it is such an attractive quality. But that's supposed to be the quality of a believer. The word kindness speaks of tender concern for others. It speaks of a gentle treatment. The word goodness. Goodness is that moral and spiritual excellence. It's known by service and graciousness. Love is faithful. It's a loyalty, a trustworthiness. It's the character of a person who can be relied on and then gentleness. That word gentle speaks of meekness of spirit. It comes from humility. It's an attitude that receives from the Lord both good and bad without complaint. And it speaks of self-control. Love has temperance. The ability to restrain passion. These are attributes of somebody who loves. And he says against such, there's no law. These are the things that are right. There's no law against doing these kinds of things. And those, he says, in verse 24, where our Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Do not let sin reign over you. Even as it says, sin shall not have dominion over you. You are not under law, but under grace. May God produce this fruit in the lives of his children.