Speaker 1: The following resource is brought to you by Real Life Community Church in Richmond, Kentucky.
Speaker 1: We hope you're both challenged and encouraged by this message from Pastor Chris May.
Speaker 2: This scripture is found in Galatians, chapter 5, verse 16 through 25.
Speaker 2: But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, for 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 you want to do.
Speaker 2: But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Speaker 2: Now the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and the things like these.
Speaker 2: I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Speaker 2: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Speaker 2: Against such things there is no law, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Speaker 2: If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
Speaker 2: Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Speaker 2: You may be seated.
Speaker 3: Amen.
Speaker 3: Thank God for His Word.
Speaker 3: Thank you, jan.
Speaker 3: Well, the Christian life is not merely about a change in behavior, but it is about the transformation of the whole being.
Speaker 3: It's about a transformation of the heart.
Speaker 3: Tragically, many people in the world, even many Christians, have reduced the Christian faith to following a certain set of do's and don'ts.
Speaker 3: Maybe you've heard this old adage I don't drink, cuss, smoke or chew and I don't hang with those who do.
Speaker 3: For many, that's the essence of the Christian faith.
Speaker 3: And, to be sure, the Bible says much about living holy lives, and there are clear do's and don'ts in the New Testament.
Speaker 3: But the essence of Christianity goes beyond behavioral changes.
Speaker 3: Beloved, when you are born again, when you are brought into Christ, do you know?
Speaker 3: The Bible says you are a new creation.
Speaker 3: It doesn't say you just live better.
Speaker 3: You are a new creation, you are part of a new kingdom, you are brought into a new humanity, made more genuinely and authentically human.
Speaker 3: You are, as we saw last week, indwelt by the Spirit of God, and so what that means is this, the Spirit of God.
Speaker 3: And so what that means is this real followers of Jesus do not just act differently, oh, beloved, they are different, amen.
Speaker 3: So for the last five weeks we have been in a study of John, chapter 15.
Speaker 3: And we've been looking at this idea of bearing spiritual fruit.
Speaker 3: Seven times In John 15, jesus talks to his disciples about the necessity of bearing fruit.
Speaker 3: We've unpacked the idea kind of our thesis for that series was that as Christians, we are not of the world but we are for the world which.
Speaker 3: We are for the world, which means we do not have an escapist mentality.
Speaker 3: Lord, just take me out of this place.
Speaker 3: No, jesus in John 17 prayed for his disciples God, I do not pray that you take them out of the world, leave them here, but keep them from the evil one.
Speaker 3: He said in that same prayer to the Father he says as you have sent me into the world, so am I sending them.
Speaker 3: You and I are on mission.
Speaker 3: We are to bear spiritual fruit, which means that we're to provide spiritual sustenance in a dry and barren land and in the context of John 15, that means that we as believers carry on the ministry of Jesus' earthly works.
Speaker 3: That means we go around proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.
Speaker 3: It means that we bring healing to people's broken lives.
Speaker 3: It means that we feed the hungry and tend to the poor and the needy, the most marginalized in our society.
Speaker 3: That's what it is to bear spiritual fruit.
Speaker 3: I want to springboard off that John 15 series and begin a new series today on the fruit of the Spirit.
Speaker 3: So we're going to continue to unpack this idea of what it means for Christians to bear spiritual fruit.
Speaker 3: So today I'm just going to kind of give you an overview of Galatians 5 in the verses that we read.
Speaker 3: And what I want you to see is this I want you to see that spiritual fruit is not just external, but it is internal as well.
Speaker 3: As a matter of fact, what happens is God changes us internally and then good works, good ministry, flows out of our changed hearts.
Speaker 3: So that's kind of the thesis for today those who are truly in Christ are changed wholly and deeply.
Speaker 3: And so I quickly want to just give you four aspects of Christian change, or Christian transformation.
Speaker 3: Namely, christian change is internal, it is inevitable, it is incremental and it is inseparable.
Speaker 3: We're on the I train today, all right.
Speaker 3: So number one Christian change begins internally.
Speaker 3: Look at with me at verse 17 again, for 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.
Speaker 3: Now, when Paul talks about the flesh here, the Greek word that he uses can often mean the physical body, and that's often how it's used in the New Testament.
Speaker 3: But here Paul uses the flesh metaphorically to describe the sinful nature of human beings.
Speaker 3: Christians have two natures.
Speaker 3: We have the spirit dwelling within us, that nature of holiness that comes with the indwelling spirit of God, but then we have that old being, that old sinful nature that tries to raise up its ugly head from time to time.
Speaker 3: But an internal change this is what I want you to see.
Speaker 3: When you become a Christian, there's an internal change that happens.
Speaker 3: And so when you look at the text here, it says the flesh and the spirit are opposed to each other.
Speaker 3: Now, get this to keep you from doing the things that what you want to do.
Speaker 3: There is a change in desire when you become a believer.
Speaker 3: Unbelievers have no desire to follow God.
Speaker 3: They have no desire to obey God's commands, to glorify God.
Speaker 3: They're about self right.
Speaker 3: But a believer this is a beautiful thing.
Speaker 3: God doesn't just, when he calls us into his kingdom, brings us into his kingdom by his grace, through Christ.
Speaker 3: He does not just give us a set of rules, but he actually softens the heart and hearts of man and he changes our hearts as believers in such a way that we become bent towards following God's law.
Speaker 3: So we actually want to follow the Lord.
Speaker 3: It's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 3: Change, transformation that happens in the Christian life begins internally, by the Spirit of God.
Speaker 3: Now, when Paul mentions the works of the flesh, there are external sins here, but there's a lot of internal sins.
Speaker 3: So externally you've got sexual immorality, which is sex outside of marriage, sex outside of monogamous heterosexual marriage.
Speaker 3: Anything outside of that is, you know, is sin according to the Bible.
Speaker 3: Drunkenness, that's a sin.
Speaker 3: And just in case any of you are confused about this, sorcery is a sin.
Speaker 3: Just in case you're going home and using magic potions or what have you.
Speaker 3: Somebody's pointing at their neighbor.
Speaker 3: See, I told you right, jan.
Speaker 3: Why are people pointing at you?
Speaker 3: I'm just joking, totally a joke.
Speaker 3: Those are external sins, but there's also internal sins here.
Speaker 3: Think about this Impurity, adultery, enmity, jealousy, sensuality.
Speaker 3: You know it is possible to conform to some degree outwardly to what looks like biblical values, just morals, but yet have a heart that's far from God and, by the way, that doesn't really please the Lord.
Speaker 3: So you go back to the Sermon on the Mount, remember Jesus.
Speaker 3: He just kind of shocks the audience by saying to them if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven, your righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees.
Speaker 3: Now, why would that be shocking to them?
Speaker 3: Well, because the Pharisees were the religious leaders of that day, I mean, they were the spiritual elitist, all right.
Speaker 3: So the onlookers would look at them, the faithful Jews, and they would go.
Speaker 3: Man, if anybody's close to the Lord, it's those guys.
Speaker 3: But when Jesus came on the scene, he said in Matthew, chapter 15, he said to them you praise, quoting Isaiah you praise God with your lips, but your hearts are far from him.
Speaker 3: You know the Pharisees, as Jesus taught in Matthew 6, they were all about praying, but they wanted to do it on the street corner so they could sound spiritual and people would wow, man, what a religious vocabulary you have.
Speaker 3: Right, they gave, you know, charitably gave alms, but they wanted to do it to be seen as generous, for the applause of man.
Speaker 3: And so motive to God matters as much as the acts that we do, I mean, think.
Speaker 3: Go back to the Sermon on the Mount one more time and you think of what Jesus said.
Speaker 3: He said, you've heard it said don't commit adultery, that's part of the law.
Speaker 3: And he says you don't commit adultery, like good job, that's a good thing.
Speaker 3: But he says if you lust after a woman in your heart, you're guilty of breaking the law.
Speaker 3: Think about that.
Speaker 3: And then he says the same thing with murder.
Speaker 3: You haven't killed anybody, like I hope that's you, like good job, high five your neighbor.
Speaker 3: But listen, he says if you hate your brother, you're guilty of breaking the law.
Speaker 3: And so let's say it like this the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart and thank God, by his grace, he gives us a new heart in Christ, amen.
Speaker 3: So Christian change, it's eternal, internal, and this is really important.
Speaker 3: Let me let me show you why.
Speaker 3: Let me just give you an example that's really relevant to our service today.
Speaker 3: So we spotlighted the, the, the pregnancy help center, great ministry, and I know most of you here, some new faces and the ones whom I know.
Speaker 3: You are staunchly pro-life, and that's a good thing, as I am as well.
Speaker 3: But let me ask you this what's the heart behind your stance?
Speaker 3: Is it the fruit of the spirit.
Speaker 3: Is it birthed out of love, like do you care for the unborn truly and the pregnant women who, as I prayed, feel overwhelmed and ill-equipped to bear a child?
Speaker 3: Or is your stance just a way to promote a political party it's worth thinking about?
Speaker 3: Or, by the way, here's another reason you might do it to bolster your own moral superiority.
Speaker 3: Like you know, you've got your own sin, so if you can just say, oh, how could somebody do this sin?
Speaker 3: And by you preaching against that, it just bolsters your own moral superiority.
Speaker 3: Is your stance birthed out of a gentle, impatient heart, or do you blast opposition on Facebook?
Speaker 3: It's quiet in here.
Speaker 3: Does your position come from kindness?
Speaker 3: Are you willing to help mothers considering abortion?
Speaker 3: Not just preach to them, but help them?
Speaker 3: Christian change is not, or let's say it like this the Christian life is not moralism.
Speaker 3: Those are two different things.
Speaker 3: Moralism is not the gospel.
Speaker 3: Christian change begins internally is not the gospel.
Speaker 3: Christian change begins internally and then that internal change flows over into good, visible works externally.
Speaker 3: Are you with me?
Speaker 3: Number two Christian change is inevitable.
Speaker 3: It's inevitable.
Speaker 3: Notice what Paul calls this fruit.
Speaker 3: He calls it the fruit of what, this fruit?
Speaker 3: He calls it the fruit of what it's not a trick question the fruit of what?
Speaker 3: The Spirit.
Speaker 3: Now, as we've learned over and over, we as Christians are indwelt by the Spirit, and so what Paul is reminding us is that Christian virtue is not something, it's not a foreign object that we have to somehow try to obtain.
Speaker 3: As believers, do you know that the fullness of the character of Christ and Christian virtue is within you, it is available to you.
Speaker 3: That's an amazing thought, isn't it?
Speaker 3: Believers who are indwelt by the Spirit have everything they need for transformation to resist temptation to display Christian virtue.
Speaker 3: In John 15, just to recap just a second what we've talked about for several weeks In John 15.
Speaker 3: Jesus, as I said seven times, tells his disciples he talks about Bearing spiritual fruit, but what is so interesting about that text Is, in all seven times, none of those seven phrases About bearing fruit are imperatives.
Speaker 3: They're not commands.
Speaker 3: He never tells the disciples you bear fruit as an imperative.
Speaker 3: However, there's another phrase that Jesus uses 11 times Abide in me, I am the true vine, you are the branches.
Speaker 3: If you abide in me, you will bear fruit.
Speaker 3: So here's the thing Fruit bearing, external or internal, is not something we have to try to.
Speaker 3: You know, a branch doesn't try to bear fruit.
Speaker 3: It just is connected to the right tree and it's going to bear.
Speaker 3: If it's connected to an apple tree, it's going to bear apples, it's going to bear that fruit.
Speaker 3: So if you and I want to bear fruit, it's not that we just try harder and try harder, but we abide in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3: If you are a Christian, here's what I want you to see Christian change is inevitable, because if you have the Spirit, you have the fruit.
Speaker 3: Amen, amen.
Speaker 3: I want to share one more thing before I move to the next point.
Speaker 3: Now, this is going to shock you.
Speaker 3: My mentor told me this a few weeks ago and I had to sit with it for a minute.
Speaker 3: You do not have to pray for love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Speaker 3: You don't have to pray for those things.
Speaker 3: Why?
Speaker 3: Because in Christ, you already possess them.
Speaker 3: What you have to do, what Paul says, is walk by the Spirit, which means you've got to yield yourself to Christ.
Speaker 3: That's the prayer.
Speaker 3: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Speaker 3: Thy kingdom come.
Speaker 3: Thy will be done.
Speaker 3: Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.
Speaker 3: It's Lord, may I yield myself to you today, daily you have to crucify the flesh.
Speaker 3: Think about that.
Speaker 3: Change, change, christian change is inevitable.
Speaker 3: But number three, christian change is also incremental.
Speaker 3: This is important.
Speaker 3: All the fruits of the Spirit are part of our new nature.
Speaker 3: Yet growth is incremental, botanical growth.
Speaker 3: Right, it's incremental.
Speaker 3: You don't see Christian change, or at least the evidence of that, and maybe even internally you don't feel the evidence of that transformation, of that new creation all at once.
Speaker 3: But the longer you are a Christian, the more and more internally and externally you should.
Speaker 3: You should see evidence and sense evidence of that transformation.
Speaker 3: Romans 8 Paul says that daily we are being transformed into the image of Christ.
Speaker 3: Every day that you walk with the Lord you ought to look a little more like Jesus.
Speaker 3: Amen.
Speaker 3: We call this, by the way, if you want a theological term, I'm sure you do progressive sanctification.
Speaker 3: It's the process, the daily process of becoming more like Christ.
Speaker 3: Let me read you first, peter 2, verse 2.
Speaker 3: Okay, you, listening, smile at me.
Speaker 3: Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk.
Speaker 3: Paul's telling believers.
Speaker 3: Just like newborn infants, you long for the spiritual milk.
Speaker 3: Now watch this that by it you may grow up into your salvation.
Speaker 3: Now you are a new creation.
Speaker 3: You are, I hope, saved.
Speaker 3: Yet Peter says you're to grow up into that salvation.
Speaker 3: So how does that happen?
Speaker 3: Let me give you an illustration that will help you understand this.
Speaker 3: So a few years back my German shepherd passed away.
Speaker 3: So we went to get a new one months later from a breeder that we've bought several dogs from, and he says I've got this male dog about 12 months old that you're really going to love.
Speaker 3: So we go and we look at this German shepherd and see if this is going to be a good fit.
Speaker 3: And body-wise the shepherd for a male looked pretty small.
Speaker 3: But we ended up taking him home and we realized real quickly he had these massive paws that made him so awkward.
Speaker 3: He was like tripping over his own paws everywhere.
Speaker 3: Think about that.
Speaker 3: Then he had these massive German shepherd ears on this little bitty head, and here's what we said by looking at his paws and his ears.
Speaker 3: Here's what we said he's going to grow into those and he's going to be a big dog.
Speaker 3: And that is absolutely the what'd you say.
Speaker 3: He's giant, he's giant.
Speaker 3: And so here's the deal that.
Speaker 3: Just take that illustration and think about the Christian life.
Speaker 3: You have the fullness of the fruit of the spirit.
Speaker 3: You have the fullness of Christian virtue, the character of Christ.
Speaker 3: You have the fullness of salvation.
Speaker 3: Every spiritual blessing is yours in Christ.
Speaker 3: But you've got to grow into that, grow up into that salvation, day by day, looking more and more saved.
Speaker 3: How many know there's some Christians that are saved and don't seem like it.
Speaker 3: Or they seem saved, even mad about it.
Speaker 3: Right, we ought to, day by day.
Speaker 3: Here's the thing Change is incremental.
Speaker 3: But if you are not changing, if you're not changing towards holiness, like if that may be a sign that you're actually not a true born again Christian, that's worth thinking about.
Speaker 3: Number four Christian virtues are inseparable.
Speaker 3: Isn't it interesting here that Paul says that he calls it the fruit of the spirit, and it's in its singular form, but then he lists nine fruits.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is actually in the singular form.
Speaker 3: And so why is that?
Speaker 3: Is it a mistake?
Speaker 3: Some of you you know some atheists might say something like see, the Bible has errors.
Speaker 3: It's like.
Speaker 3: No, it doesn't.
Speaker 3: There's a reason for this.
Speaker 3: Scholars believe that Paul uses the singular form of fruit because all the fruit of the Spirit necessarily grow together by God's grace, and that's vitally important.
Speaker 3: Let me just show you why.
Speaker 3: If I do acts of goodness.
Speaker 3: Goodness is the fruit of the Spirit.
Speaker 3: But I'm not meek or righteous.
Speaker 3: You know why?
Speaker 3: That my good deeds will not be Christ exalting, they'll be to boast my own ego.
Speaker 3: So I'm only going to help people, not because I just I'm loving and want to serve them and glorify God.
Speaker 3: You know why I'm going to help people if I'm not meek?
Speaker 3: Because it makes me feel good when I help people, just like the Pharisees.
Speaker 3: It's called vainglory.
Speaker 3: It's an old English word, outdated I know, but we can be vainglorious.
Speaker 3: In other words, we only do good deeds, or at least primarily, because of the way it makes us feel and what's in it for us, and that's something we've got to guard from.
Speaker 3: And what's in it for us, and that's something we've got to guard from.
Speaker 3: And one way to test that is when you do something kind, are you okay with not getting recognition?
Speaker 3: Are you okay with someone not saying thank you?
Speaker 3: If I'm loving but not gentle, I will not speak the truth in love, as the Bible says, but I'll speak it with harshness.
Speaker 3: So just go to your Facebook page today and see if perhaps those things are out of balance.
Speaker 3: If I grow in kindness but not self-control and patience like that kindness is going to be short-lived.
Speaker 3: And, by the way, I'll only do things for you, I'll only be kind to you if I'm not patient.
Speaker 3: I'll only do things for you, I'll only be kind to you if I'm not patient.
Speaker 3: I'll only do things for you if you accept them and grow as a result, like, if you don't change, I'm not wasting my time with you.
Speaker 3: That's what it is to be kind but not patient and not have self-control.
Speaker 3: Here's what this means.
Speaker 3: You don't get to pick kind of cherry, pick certain fruit of the Spirit and, like you know, I'm loving.
Speaker 3: So I'm not so much in self-control, but you know I don't have so much self-control, but at least I'm loving, at least I'm gentle.
Speaker 3: Let's say no, these graces must necessarily Let me say that again these graces must necessarily grow together.
Speaker 3: Alright, so there it is Four virtues of Christian, or, excuse me, four aspects of Christian virtue, or four aspects of the fruit of the Spirit.
Speaker 3: Let me close by talking just for a minute about how we can change deeply, how we can see progress in this, and we've already talked about yielding to Christ.
Speaker 3: But I want to close with two important principles.
Speaker 3: If you're going to grow in these graces, you've got to do two things You've got to feast and some of you are like, oh yeah, potluck, you've got to feast and you've got to fight.
Speaker 3: You've got to feast and you've got to fight.
Speaker 3: So feasting Botanical growth needs water.
Speaker 3: Yes, to grow in Christian virtue we must have water.
Speaker 3: Now, in the New Testament, water can mean or represent different things.
Speaker 3: So, like in Revelation, it represents chaos in one part, and then it represents God's sovereignty, as you see the smooth and glassy sea in another part.
Speaker 3: It often in the Gospels it represents the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3: Rivers of living water flow from us, right.
Speaker 3: But you know also sometimes that the water represents the Word of God.
Speaker 3: Let me give you an example.
Speaker 3: In Ephesians 5, I believe it's verse 26, paul is writing and he's speaking to Christian husbands as the leaders of their home Husbands, you should be the spiritual leaders of your home and he says wash your wife, not literally.
Speaker 3: He says with the cleansing of the water, of the Word.
Speaker 3: The Word has this cleansing effect on us, and so if you want to grow in Christian virtues, if you want to see those more evident in your life, the fruit of the spirit, then you have got to be a student of the word and you don't just read it to check off a box, but feast on it, delight in it, love it.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 3: So I challenge you this week.
Speaker 3: You want to grow in these graces.
Speaker 3: Read the word, read the word, read the word.
Speaker 3: Number two Not only do you have to feast, but you have to fight.
Speaker 3: You have to fight.
Speaker 3: Tim Keller has really helped me here.
Speaker 3: He talked about this.
Speaker 3: He said that every human being is in a spiritual battle.
Speaker 3: So when you become a Christian, it's not that you no longer have a battle, but it's a different battle.
Speaker 3: So unbelievers, non-christians, are in a battle against God.
Speaker 3: Romans 5, I think it, says that.
Speaker 3: You know, before we came to Christ, we were enemies of God.
Speaker 3: There's no neutral ground.
Speaker 3: You're either for Him and in His kingdom, or you're against Him and part of the kingdom of this world.
Speaker 3: So unbelievers are in a battle against God.
Speaker 3: When you become a believer and you're born again, you're no longer an enemy of God.
Speaker 3: Thank the Lord.
Speaker 3: You're brought into his kingdom, brought into his family.
Speaker 3: But now you could say you're in a battle with self or an internal battle.
Speaker 3: Okay, so it's just a different fight.
Speaker 3: The flesh is wrestling against the spirit.
Speaker 3: And so here's the good thing You're not alone in the battle.
Speaker 3: The spirit is wrestling the flesh.
Speaker 3: But then Paul says you've got a battle to walk by the spirit.
Speaker 3: Here's the thing.
Speaker 3: Jc Ryle wrote a tremendous book on holiness years ago.
Speaker 3: I read it a few years ago and here's what he says he writes a Christian is known get this not only for his inner peace but for his inner warfare.
Speaker 3: Let me help some people today.
Speaker 3: If you struggle with temptation, some of you feel like you probably question your salvation sometimes, because I'm just tempted so much.
Speaker 3: Temptation does not mean that your faith is not genuine.
Speaker 3: It doesn't mean that you are not a Christian.
Speaker 3: But I'll tell you this the mark of a Christian, one of the marks of the Christian, is that you fight temptation.
Speaker 3: You fight it Like if there's no battle.
Speaker 3: If Paul says this, he lists the lust of the flesh and he says if anyone who does these things sexual immorality, sensuality, impurity, drunkenness, and on and on and on he says enmity, strife, all those things.
Speaker 3: And on and on and on, he says enmity, strife, all those things he says those who do those things and a better translation is practices those things will not enter the kingdom of God.
Speaker 3: So if you freely oh, I love God, but you're just living in sexual immorality with no concern for what the Bible says, and you're not putting up a fight.
Speaker 3: What that shows me is that your heart probably hasn't been changed, which means you're not born again.
Speaker 3: I'm not trying to scare you this morning, but it's worth thinking about.
Speaker 3: We talk about nominal Christians all the time.
Speaker 3: That's a sign of it.
Speaker 3: Quiet again.
Speaker 3: So I love what Keller says here.
Speaker 3: He says the fight of a Christian is a good fight.
Speaker 3: Paul talks about fighting the good fight of faith, and here's what he says Get this he pointed out that non-Christians are in a fight against God, of which they cannot win, but Christians are in a fight against God of which they cannot win, but Christians are in a fight that we cannot lose because of the Spirit of God that is man.
Speaker 3: That's tremendous news.
Speaker 3: The main fight, the main fight, hear me, that we have to engage in, is actually a fight of desire.
Speaker 3: It's a fight of yearning.
Speaker 3: Let's say Paul says the lust of the flesh.
Speaker 3: You know, the flesh lusts after things that are contrary to the Spirit, so that you do not do the things you desire or want to do.
Speaker 3: It's a battle of desire.
Speaker 3: All right, this is really important.
Speaker 3: For years I've been a Christian, for about 40 years.
Speaker 3: For years I've struggled with you know, like we all do besetting sins right.
Speaker 3: You've got struggles.
Speaker 3: I've struggled with you know, like we all do besetting sins right.
Speaker 3: You've got struggles.
Speaker 3: I've got struggles.
Speaker 3: And for many, many years of my Christian life, here's how I didn't want to do those things, so I just tried to white knuckle it.
Speaker 3: You ever seen the old Saturday Night Live Bob Newhart skit?
Speaker 3: He's a psychologist, you know, and somebody sits across from him and shares the.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm doing this and I want to stop it.
Speaker 3: And he just looks at him and his advice is this Anybody know it?
Speaker 3: Stop it, stop it.
Speaker 3: That's all he says, stop it.
Speaker 3: And that was my approach to sin Stop it, stop it, stop it.
Speaker 3: And that just doesn't work long term.
Speaker 3: Doesn't work long term.
Speaker 3: But several years ago I came up on a book that changed my life Desiring God, by John Piper, and in it John talks over and over about treasuring, desiring God, treasuring Christ above all things.
Speaker 3: And here's what I learned If you're going to be successful in resisting temptation, you have to yearn for something greater than the fleeting pleasure of sin, like if you see Christ as all, beautiful, wonderful, glorious, majestic, and you see the holy life as, let's say, the, the highest aim, then you will be able to say no to passions that bring only momentary pleasure.
Speaker 3: Let me just give you an example, and I'll close.
Speaker 3: Think about many of you have matter of fact, raise your hand, if you've ever tried, you know, beginning of the year or whenever, say I'm going to eat healthier and exercise.
Speaker 3: Come on, let me ask this how many of you have failed the first week?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 3: And why do we do that?
Speaker 3: We do that because we really like fried chicken in thousand calorie Starbucks drinks.
Speaker 3: And here's my.
Speaker 3: What do you say?
Speaker 3: Stop Chocolate.
Speaker 3: Here's my pizza.
Speaker 3: Come on, somebody, right, I'm working myself up getting hungry already, fighting the flesh, right.
Speaker 3: So here's the thing.
Speaker 3: Uh, you, you, you fight these desires like all right, I'm going to eat healthy.
Speaker 3: No more fried chicken for me, no more pizza, no more starbucks, whatever.
Speaker 3: It is not going to do it.
Speaker 3: In order for you to be successful in that, here's what you have to do.
Speaker 3: All kinds of studies show this.
Speaker 3: You've got to learn to value the healthy lifestyle.
Speaker 3: Like, what would it look like if I was more mobile in the old age or had less risk of chronic disease.
Speaker 3: What would it look like if I was more able to get in the floor and play with my grandchildren?
Speaker 3: Like, can you just paint a picture of what it would look like to be healthy?
Speaker 3: God you know, even as a, a ministry, I'd be able to do ministry more effectively if I feel better.
Speaker 3: And what would it look like to have more energy?
Speaker 3: And on and on and on.
Speaker 3: And if you, if you paint that picture and you aim for that and you say, okay, like you know what it would be like to live a healthy lifestyle, then, and only then, will you be able to say no to the donuts and the cake.
Speaker 3: Have I found you yet?
Speaker 3: All right, I'll stop stepping on toes.
Speaker 3: So it is with our relationship with God.
Speaker 3: If we want to grow in Christian virtue it's a fight of desire.
Speaker 3: We've got to treasure Christ more than sexual pleasure, more than drunkenness, more than enmity, jealousy, all of those things.
Speaker 3: We treasure Christ above all things.
Speaker 3: So, by God's grace, may we grow in the fruit of the Spirit.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to know more about how you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ, or if you have questions about our church, you can email us at info at myrealchurchorg.
Speaker 1: Real Life Community Church is located at 335 Glendon Avenue in Richmond, Kentucky.
Speaker 1: We invite you to join us for worship Sunday at 10.45 am or Wednesday at 7 pm.
Speaker 1: Visit us online at myrealchurchorg.