Gal 5:22–26 — The Fruit of the Spirit

Review

We come now to Galatians 5 verse 22 concerning the fruit of the Spirit. A famous passage that many of you have probably heard, maybe even memorized, these nine fruits of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. You can put them in three sets of three each, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

This is a wonderful passage for us to reflect upon and to think about how the Lord wants us to live and to think about the virtues that are the positive side of the 10 Commandments. And how do we know that? How do we know that this is the positive side of what the Ten Commandments are calling us to? The Ten Commandments are written in a negative form. You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, and so on. But the positive side, what are the Ten Commandments calling us to positively, are essentially described here in these virtues. Not that each one is corresponding with one commandment, but that all taken together, We are seeing what it means to fulfill the law.

Exposition

Galatians 5:22–23a: The Fruit of the Spirit

How do we know that that is what Paul is saying? There’s a couple of clues in the context here that would suggest that. The first clue is that these fruits of the Spirit are in contrast with the works of the flesh in verses 19 through 21. And the works of the flesh, we mentioned last week, can be correlated with several of the commandments. For example, the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, those would connect with the seventh commandment. Idolatry, sorcery, those would connect with the first commandment, and so on.

And so the fact that several of the commandments are indicated here in the opposite of the fruit of the spirit, namely the works of the flesh, that shows us that Paul is thinking it’s still in terms of the fulfillment of the law. The second clue in our context that these are the positive side of the 10 commandments taken together is back in verse 13 and 14. Where Paul said, you were called to freedom, brothers, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another.

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now there, in verse 14, he simply picks out the word love as being the fulfillment of the whole law. But in our passage, the Fruit of the Spirit passage, he begins with that same key word love, and then he fleshes out what that means. Love isn’t just simply love, it’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness. He’s fleshing out in a more full-orbed way everything that he has in mind when he speaks of love.

All of these virtues. Are perfectly embodied and exemplified in Jesus Christ. Are they not? We’re looking at a picture of Christ himself when we see these fruits of the Spirit. And we shouldn’t think that it’s only these nine. It’s like there’s an et cetera at the end. All of the things that you can think of. You could bring in here all of the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, where he talked about love being the fulfillment of the law, but he also fleshes it out with the Beatitudes.

For example, mercy is not mentioned here explicitly in Galatians 5.22, but clearly that’s one of the fruit of the Spirit that even Jesus himself talked about when he described what it means to live a life that is in accordance with the kingdom of God, that is the virtues that are exemplified in Christ, the perfect law keeper. Christ is the one that perfectly kept the law for us. He didn’t need the negative side. He didn’t need to be told to not commit idolatry and to not commit adultery. He was perfectly devoted to the will of God, perfectly exemplifying within his being these attitudes, these qualities, these virtues that are the fulfillment and sum of the entire law.

It’s interesting, if you think about it, you can somewhat go through some of these, and you could somewhat connect them with various of the commandments. For example, the second fruit of the Spirit, which is joy. Try to think in your mind, which commandment would be the most connected with that? Wouldn’t it be the first commandment?

To worship God. To have your whole being filled with the desire for the glory of God. Joy, a joyful heart, a joyful spirit, is a spirit that is filled with praise of God. I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced this, but if you’re going through a really difficult time, some terrible trial is happening in your life, and you’re somewhat downcast, doesn’t it help to just start praising the Lord? Pull out your hymnal and pick out a hymn or a song of praise, and just, Praise the Lord for all that He is and all that He has done. It reorients your heart away from yourself and your problems to God and to all that He is and all that He has done for us.

Joy is a form of worship. Of course, this also would apply even to some of the commandments that are more related to our horizontal relationships with one another. Joy is incompatible with having a murderous heart. A heart that is angry and full of vengeance towards others. If you have a heart of joy, you’re not going to be meditating upon anger and hate. So you could see how the sixth commandment would also be exemplified there in the second fruit of the Spirit. How about peace? What does that mean? Peace with God? Peace with man? I think it’s both. Peace with God.

We are reconciled to God through the work of Christ. Peace with God is another way of talking about the assurance that we have, that we are forgiven. That God is not an angry God against us, that He has fully forgiven us in Christ and credited the righteousness of Christ to us, and so we are reconciled to God. As Paul says in Romans 5 verse 1, having therefore been justified by faith, we have peace with God, a peace that passes understanding. So you could say that peace really summarizes the first four commandments. The Sabbath commandment is talking about peace, resting in the Lord, resting in all that he has done for us, knowing that Christ has fulfilled the covenant of works and so he has brought us into the everlasting Sabbath rest. Although we’re not yet in heaven, yet judicially heaven is already our possession. So even now we are experiencing the peace of Sabbath rest with the Lord. But peace also has a horizontal dimension. Peace again would connect directly to those commandments dealing with our relationships with our neighbor, the sixth and seventh and so on.

Someone who has peace in their heart toward others is not going to be committing adultery against others or committing murder against others or lying and deceiving or seeking to take away what belongs to them. And so you can go through each of these virtues and you can see how they are not like separate distinct things as if one virtue corresponds with one commandment, but rather you take them all together Just take all of these virtues and then imply it, et cetera, at the end there. You can bring in everything that is Christ-like, everything that is pleasing to the Lord, both in terms of our vertical relationship to God and our horizontal relationship with our fellow man, summarizing the first four commandments to love God, and the last six to love our neighbor as ourselves. All of these virtues taken together, mutually reinforce one another, and help us to see what we are called to positively in the Ten Commandments. So Paul says, but the fruit of the Spirit, in contrast with the works of the flesh that are obvious, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.

on that one there, the word is actually the word faith. The word faith can sometimes mean faith in the sense of trusting in God, but it can also mean faith in the sense of being trustworthy and being faithful in your relationships with others. And I think that it’s both. I think this word here includes both. You could translate it as faith slash faithfulness. And then going on, gentleness, self-control.

Galatians 5:23b: “Against Such Things There Is No Law”

Against such things, there is no law. Now why does Paul add that last phrase? Against such things there is no law. To be honest with you, that phrase, that last little clause there at the end of verse 23 is somewhat a head scratcher. What is he saying there? What does he mean by that? Against such things there is no law.

And I looked at the commentaries to try to get some ideas of what the commentators thought. The best solution that I found was one commentator who said, this is a rhetorical device called understatement. It’s a rhetorical device called understatement, where you say something in an understated way with somewhat of a smile on your face. Because you’re trying to say something that’s much greater than this.

He’s saying, against such things there is no law. Yes, it’s not only are these not against, the law is not against these things, this is actually the fulfillment of the law. So it’s an understated way of repeating what Paul had said earlier back in verse 14.

The whole law is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And that’s why I pointed out, I think that, That’s the reason why Paul begins with love as the first fruit of the Spirit, and then when he adds these other fruits of the Spirit, he’s saying, let me just flesh out what love is. Let me flesh out all the aspects of love, and in a fuller way, in a more full-orbed, fleshed-out way, so that we can see it as being exemplified in the perfect law-keeper, our Lord Jesus Christ.

So when he says, against such things there is no law, he’s saying, yes, indeed. Not only is the law not against these things, if you do these things, you have fulfilled the law. This is the very thing that the law is trying to promote. This is a very important thing to understand about the Ten Commandments, is that the law, summarizing the Ten Commandments, so we’re not talking about the ceremonial laws, but the moral law of God is not only dealing with external behavior. It is possible to read some of the commandments that way. You shall not murder. It’s only talking about the external behavior of murder. But it’s not just talking about the external behavior. It’s also extending to and probing down into the desires of the heart.

Paul says this in Romans 7, where he says that the law is spiritual. Romans 7 verse 14. Meaning it’s spiritual because it gets down into the depths of our spiritual qualities, of our soul. The very qualities and virtues of our heart and our soul that the Lord is seeking.

And Paul points out that you could easily, simplify, and if you were a literalist, you could easily misunderstand, especially the first nine commandments, and take them in a very literalistic way, that they’re only talking about outward behavior and not dealing with the heart.

But he says, remember the 10th commandment. What does the 10th commandment say? You shall not covet. And Paul uses the Greek translation called the Septuagint, which translates that command as, you shall not desire. You shall not have sinful desires. So the 10th commandment is actually looking back on all the previous nine and saying, you shall not desire the sinful desires that are the root of each of these nine commandments. Not only shall you not murder, but you shall not have the desires and the heart attitudes and the coveting that would lead to murder. Not only shall you not commit adultery, but you shall not have the inner heart desires and sinful fleshly passions that lead to the committing of adultery.

The law is spiritual. It extends even to the desires of the heart. And when the law forbids an outward sin, it also condemns the inward desires that would lead to that sin. And by implication then, If you really meditate upon the Ten Commandments, in terms of the Ten Commandments, in terms of the desires of the heart, by implication then, when the law forbids us to have a sinful desire that would lead to an external sin, it is also calling us positively to the contrary attitudes. That is the opposite of coveting, the opposite of sinful lust and sinful desire.

It’s calling us to what? The very things that Paul is laying out here in a positive form in Galatians 5, 22 to 23. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, you could add faith and faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

And that’s why he then concludes with that understatement for effect. Against such things, there is no law. Because these are the fulfillment of the law. If you have these things, And of course, none of us has them perfectly, but in Christ we see them perfectly exemplified. He is the one that perfectly kept God’s law. He not only abstained from the sins that the law forbids, but then he exemplified perfectly in his life, in his heart, in his attitudes, he exemplified these virtues.

Part of the reason Paul says, “Against such things there is no law,” in this understated way is that the law cannot create these attitudes of the heart. By implication, it calls for them and declares how we should live, but the law itself can only demand and set forth the standard. It cannot change the heart or address the underlying desires of the flesh that lead us to break the Ten Commandments.

The law appeals to your will. It says your will must do these things. You must operate your will. You must use your will in order to obey God. But the problem is that our will is in the power and the grip of the flesh. That’s what Paul’s been talking about in the previous few verses we looked at last week, where he says that the desires, this is verse 17, the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. Your will is too weak.

You don’t have the power in your own will to accomplish these things. And so that’s why Paul here is appealing to the wonderful reality of the Spirit of God. It is only because of the indwelling Spirit of God that we are able to produce these attitudes. The law itself can give us the standard. It can paint for us a perfect picture of what a godly law keeper looks like. And by implication, it can even set forth the positive ideas that we’re supposed to pursue. But it cannot change your heart. It cannot give you the power to do those things. It cannot change your heart and your will. It can’t give you new desires. Only the Spirit can do that.

Galatians 5:24: The Flesh Crucified with Christ

The Spirit of the living God who dwells within us is the one that is working in us to change our heart, to change our will, and to produce in us these fruits of the Spirit. Notice that Paul, immediately after describing the fruits of the Spirit, doesn’t talk about the Spirit again. He will in verse 25, but before verse 25, in verse 24, he goes back to Christ in our union with Christ. You somewhat would expect him to go like this. The fruit of the Spirit is all of these things, And thank God we have the Spirit working in us to help us with this. That’s not what he says. He’ll get there. In verse 25, if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. But before he does that, he goes back again to the gospel. He goes back again to our union with Christ.

Verse 24, those who belong to Christ, Jesus, have crucified the flesh with its blood. Passions and desires that one statement there in verse 24 is Fleshed out if you want to know what that means that we’ve crucified the flesh It’s fleshed out more in Romans in Romans chapter 6 in Romans 6 verses 1 through 11 Paul talks about our union with Christ the in union with Christ we have been crucified with Christ and our old man and that is our flesh, which is not just our own individual sinful nature, but also the entire sinful nature that is embodied in our relationship to Adam.

Adam has sinned and plunged the whole human race into the power of sin and death. And so he’s saying that our old man, which is that whole Adamic life under the power of sin and death, but also as it’s exemplified in each one of us in our own individual sinful hearts. That whole reality has been crucified with Christ. It has been done away with.

And so Paul here in verse 24 is talking about this reality of our crucifixion with Christ by virtue of our union with Christ. It is a fact, even though we still struggle, even though if we just look at ourselves, we think, I don’t know, it seems to me like my flesh is still very much alive. But if we just look at ourselves, we’re not looking at the reality of who we are in Christ. And that’s why Paul is saying it’s a fact by virtue of our union with Christ.

Those who belong to Christ, that’s simply another way of saying union with Christ. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. He’s making it as a statement of fact. He’s not calling you at this moment at least. He does call us to mortify the flesh, to put to death our sinful deeds and desires. But the statement here in verse 24, it’s a fact that is true of us in union with Christ. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh. Not that you crucified the flesh, but because you’re identified with Christ by faith, your flesh has been crucified. It has been crucified. The passions and desires of the flesh have been fundamentally defeated. It doesn’t mean that they’re completely gone. But they’re fundamentally judicially done away with in Christ.

Maybe one way to think about it is if you’ve ever seen videos of people hunting animals, the kill shot has already happened, the animal’s dead, but there’s still some twitching happening. I think that’s the way it is with us. Our flesh has been crucified. The kill shot has already happened. We are dead. Our old man is dead in union with Christ. How do we know that? Christ has been crucified. And Christ has died. And he’s been raised again. He’s no longer dead. So it’s a definitive fact.

And therefore, by virtue of your union with Christ, it is also true of you. And it is a fact, then, that we must lay hold of by faith. Even though we still feel the twitching. But we need to lay hold of this reality by faith and say, that is not the truth about me. In the eyes of God, because of my fundamental union with Christ, that is not the truth about me. We must reckon it by faith, as Paul says in Romans 6, 11.

Therefore, consider or reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God in union with Christ. So interestingly, isn’t it, that Paul here is talking about the fruit of the Spirit and how it’s only by the power of the Spirit within us that we’re able to produce the fruit of the Spirit. But before he then calls us to walk in the Spirit and to keep in step with the Spirit, which he’ll do in verse 25, before he does that, He goes back again to the fundamental facts of the gospel that are hard to believe because when you look at yourself, you don’t think it’s true, but they are true in Christ. And so he goes back and he reminds them of the fact that all of the works of the flesh that he has just described beforehand in verses 19 to 21, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, enmity, strife, all of these works of the flesh, Those have been crucified. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh by faith with its passions and desires. Then he goes in verse 25, therefore, if that is true, verse 25, if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

There’s an intervening implied transitional point between verse 24 and 25, which is what? The resurrection of Christ. Verse 24 says, those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, and we have been raised with Christ. That’s the implied little step there. It’s fleshed out more in Romans 6. But here it’s implied because of verse 25.

Galatians 5:25: Keep in Step with the Spirit

So if it’s true then that we live by the Spirit, if it’s true that we have now been raised with Christ and are living by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. If we have been given new spiritual life, the resurrection power of the Spirit, which was at work in Christ in raising Him from the dead, is now in us, in raising us from the dead spiritually. And so if we are alive spiritually by the work of the Spirit of Christ living in us, then let us also keep in step with the Spirit. That is, let us align ourselves with the Spirit. The spirit has its own desires. Remember that? It’s interesting in verse 17. Paul said that the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. That’s in the middle of verse 17. Did you know that?

The spirit has desires? Just as your flesh and our old life in Adam and that whole sinful life in the old Adam had lots of desires and sinful attitudes and desires that are opposed to God, the Spirit also has desires. And the desires of the Spirit are at work within us. Let us then keep in step with the desires of the Spirit. Let our lives be carried along by the power of the Spirit of Christ within us so that we might live in a way that pleases the Lord and the fruit of the Spirit might manifest itself in us.

Doctrine

The Work of the Spirit and the Work of Christ

I think it’s really interesting the way in which Paul connects the work of the Spirit with the work of Christ. And the way he just moves back and forth between these two things. He begins by talking about the Spirit. This whole context has been the Spirit, the Spirit, the Spirit. Verse 16, walk by the Spirit. Verse 17, the desires of the Spirit. Verse 22, the fruit of the Spirit.

He’s been talking all about the Spirit, but then, he, in his own mind, can just immediately slide into talking about Christ. We see that, first of all, even before he mentions Christ by name, we see it in verses 22 and 23, the very fruit of the Spirit that he lists there.

Are we not seeing Christ-like qualities? How can you not think of Christ when you see these wonderful fruits of the Spirit? This is Christ Himself. This is perfectly exemplified in Christ. And then, because Christ is on his mind after describing these Christ-like virtues, he then talks about our union with Christ in verse 24.

We belong to Christ. Our identity, our being, is defined by who we are in Christ, not by your sinful flesh that is still having those twitches and kicking somewhat. It’s not defined by that. It’s defined by who you are in Christ. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

And then he comes back again to the Spirit in verse 25. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. The Spirit and Christ are so closely connected in Paul’s theology, in Paul’s thought. This is probably the number one error of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement, is that they focus so much on the Spirit as they define it, that it’s severed from Christ.

It’s severed from the work of Christ. It’s severed from the reality of the gospel and our union with Christ in His death and resurrection. And so they end up focusing upon all of these external things like speaking in tongues or having some sort of illumination or even revelation from God telling you to do this or that. But it’s completely severed from the gospel.

The Spirit as Christ’s Reward

It’s severed from who we are in Christ. What is the connection between the Spirit and Christ? It’s that the Spirit is the reward that Christ receives because of his completion of the law. There are two passages in Galatians prior to this one where he shows that. I already read the one in Galatians 3 verses 13 and 14 for the assurance of pardon where it says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law so that we might receive the promised spirit.

And then again, in Galatians 4, you see the same connection between the work of Christ and the Spirit, where he says in Galatians 4.4, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And as proof, as evidence that we are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. There you see the whole Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The key in Paul’s theology is that before we even talk about our own experience of the Spirit, we have to think about what the Spirit means for Christ.

Christ is the one who has fully kept the law. Christ is the one who took the curse of the law in our place. And when he was raised from the dead, he was receiving the reward for his fulfillment of the covenant of works. He was raised from the dead by the power of the Spirit, and then He was ascended into heaven where He received the gift of the Spirit, not only to give to us, but also for Himself. His very body was transformed by that eschatological transforming Spirit. What are we seeing when we see Christ raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand?

We’re seeing the beginnings of the eschatological new creation. Hasn’t yet happened in fullness. The whole cosmos is still under the curse of sin and death, but it’s begun already. The new creation, the end times, the fullness of the full cosmic Transformation of this whole universe to be this glorious temple for God to dwell in the midst of his people has already begun in seed form in the very resurrection of Christ’s own body. Paul sees the connection between the Spirit and Christ’s resurrection glory as so strong. He sees that bond as being so powerful that he’ll even say something like this in 1 Corinthians 15.

He’ll say that Christ became a life-giving Spirit. With a capital S, not that he’s a life-giving spirit with a lowercase s, as if he’s some kind of a spirit being. No, he became the life-giving spirit. He embodied within himself the eschatological fulfillment of everything in the new creation.

And so, that is what Christ has received because of his merit. He has earned that reward. He has earned heaven by his fulfillment of the law, both in his passive obedience and bearing the curse of the law, and his active obedience of fulfilling the positive requirements of the law, as exemplified here in the fruits of the spirit. He has earned the reward.

He has earned the spirit, the eschatological new creation spirit. And now, From that position in heaven, He has poured out that Spirit upon His people, upon the church, so that we, as the transformed people of God who’ve been given new hearts, the Spirit comes within us and transforms us, first giving us saving faith in Christ, kindling in us that true saving faith, but then also transforming us and giving us spiritual life. That spirit is the spirit of heaven. That is the new creation, operating ahead of time, even now, in these, what Paul calls earthen vessels.

He says we have this treasure in these clay vessels. We’re still living here in this fallen world. Our bodies are marred by sin and the curse and struggles with death. Sickness and even death. We’re living in these clay vessels that are brittle and breakable and not very beautiful. But we have this treasure, we have the eschaton, we have heaven already by the Spirit living inside of us.

And we’re already beginning to live and bring forth that heavenly life. That we will live, that we’ll have forever in heaven with the Lord, where there will be no more sin, there will be no more twitching. There will be no more of that remnants of sin. It’ll be completely, perfectly devoted. Our lives will be perfectly devoted to the glory of God, worshiping the Lamb, worshiping the triune God, and communing with God forever in heaven. But already, because of the gift of the Spirit, which is Christ’s reward, we are already beginning to live that life now.

And if there’s no sign of any hints of that treasure within your earthen vessel, if there’s no inkling of that spiritual heavenly life within you, then that is a sign that you are not one who belongs to Christ. That’s what Paul said in Romans 8 verse 9. He says, if you belong to Christ, if the Spirit, he says, those who belong to Christ have the Spirit. And if you do not have the Spirit, then you do not belong to Christ.

This is the doctrine that Paul wants us to understand, that the transforming work of the Spirit within us, that is bringing to life within us these fruits of the Spirit that are heavenly life within us, this is Christ’s reward. And so that then affects how we live the Christian life and how we go about seeking to do these commands here. When Paul says in verse 25, if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep and step with the Spirit.

Application

Reckoning by Faith

We have to be careful that we don’t turn these fruit of the Spirit, this list of qualities of love, joy, and peace, into a new law, as if now it’s simply you going out and trying to do it. I’m just going to try to be joyful now. That’s not how it works. Rather, instead, we must begin with, first of all, reckoning by faith the reality of our union with Christ. That’s why Paul has the verse 24 in there.

Believe, even though everything in your own experience and your emotions and your life seems to contradict it, believe that your sinful flesh has been crucified with Christ and believe that you do have the spirit of Christ within you. The very fact that you believe in Christ is evidence of that. No one can believe in Christ, no one can have saving faith in Christ apart from the work of the Spirit within them.

So that’s the first thing, reckoning by faith the reality of your union with Christ, which includes the gift of the Spirit. That’s what it means to be united to Christ, because you’re united to the one who fulfilled the law and is receiving the reward of it, which is the Spirit. And so you do have these things, even though you struggle. That’s the first step, then, is to reckon the reality of who you are in Christ and the fact that you have the Spirit because of your union with Christ.

Longing for Christ to Be Glorified

But then there’s another element to it, I think, which is rejoice in and praise the Lord for this wonderful reality that your sanctification is Christ’s reward. Don’t think of it as, I need to be sanctified in order so that I might have assurance that I’m saved or so that I can go to heaven. But reverse the perspective. Christ is sanctifying you.

And that is his reward for his fulfillment of the law. I think a great passage that helps to somewhat bring this out is in Ephesians 5. In that whole section where Paul’s talking about husbands and wives, but embedded within it there’s this wonderful nugget of gospel truth where he says, in Ephesians 5.25, Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her. How is he doing that? He’s doing that by his spirit. That he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, so that she might be holy and without blemish.

He has already received the reward because he’s exalted at the right hand of God and he possesses the spirit. But there’s still more for that reward to be fleshed out. And what is it? It’s for his wedding day. He’s purchased his bride and now he’s working in his bride and transforming his bride and he is looking forward to that day when the bride is presented to him in perfection without spot or wrinkle. And so, the first step in walking by the Spirit, or being led by the Spirit, or keeping in step with the Spirit, is going back to the reckoning reality of who we are in Christ, in our union with Him, and the fact that we do have the Spirit, and the fact that our old man has been crucified with Christ. But the second thing is, delighting yourself in this wonderful reality that your progressive sanctification, which is woefully inadequate and imperfect in this life, is nevertheless Christ’s own reward working in you, and he is going to see to it that it is done. And he is going to present you to himself without spot or wrinkle one day in glory.

And so your greatest longing then should be I want to produce these fruits of the Spirit. I want to see them produced in me by the Spirit. Not for my own sake, so that I can have greater assurance or so that I can, avoid all of the problems that come from indulging in the flesh. That’s true. Those are true things that we should try to avoid the consequences of indulging in the flesh.

But the real value, the real motivation, the real longing of your heart is that you want to see Christ glorified. And you get to play a part in that. You get to play a part in that because you are the result of Christ’s work. And so your longing should be that Christ would be glorified in you as you are being transformed into his image, as you are producing and finding these qualities, these Christ-like qualities put within you by his spirit. Christ himself is being glorified as his image is being created in you by the spirit. And one way that you can do that, one way that you can rejoice in the reward that Christ has received and that He is working on and receiving through you, through the ministry of His Spirit within you, one way you can do that is through prayer.

Prayer for the Spirit’s Work

In prayer, what do we do? We confess our, just like we did earlier in the service, we confess our sins, and then we also ask the Lord to work within us by His Spirit. We ask Him for more of the powerful work of the Spirit of Christ within us. Let me just close with this one verse. Did you know that you can pray for the Holy Spirit to come?

Luke 11, 13, Jesus said this. This is Luke’s parallel to the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus gives us the Lord’s Prayer. In Luke 11, verses one through 13, Luke ends that whole section on Jesus’ teaching on prayer by saying this, if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? And you can plead the promise because Christ has already obtained that promise. He’s already received this powerful work of the Spirit.

And so you know that he will answer that request. For all the other requests that we have, like, Lord, I need a new job, or please cure my friend who’s struggling with cancer, for all those requests, we always have to say, not my will, but your will be done, because the Lord doesn’t always give us what we want. We always have to submit to his will on those requests. But here’s a request where you don’t have to say that, because you know that it’s his will. You know that He wants the Spirit to be at work within you, to transform you. Because Christ has already purchased it by His work.

And so through prayer then, the more we ask the Lord to help us, the more we ask and we acknowledge to the Lord our failures and shortcomings in living the Christian life, we acknowledge that yes, we do struggle with those works of the flesh that Paul describes there.

And even in the positive side, we fall far short of having these beautiful attributes, these beautiful Christ-like qualities. But we go in prayer to the Lord, we acknowledge our shortcomings and our failures, and we ask him, Lord, give me more of your Holy Spirit that you purchase for me through your death and resurrection. Work in me, so that you might be glorified as you transform me into your image.