Valley Spring Primitive Baptist Church
Established in 1882 outside of Llano, Texas
Valley Spring Primitive Baptist Church
Works: Eph 2, Phil 2, Gal 5 | Bill Moseley | 7.12.26
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Please continue to be prayerful that what might be said this morning would be uh first of all of the truth, second of the spirit, and third of the glorification of our Heavenly Father, which has loved us with an everlasting love. I want to set before you two passages of scripture or two pieces of evidence, if you will, uh to contemplate and verses in the Ephesian letter. Second chapter of Ephesians. And then I want to come back to or go over to the Olympian letter. And then to the Galatian letter. I think that's where we want to go toward. Let me get my markers in place here. Okay, in the Ephesian letter, the second chapter, uh, the Apostle Paul is establishing for the Ephesian church, which he had uh he had planted that church, he had been through there and preached to them, and in the setting up of the church, he had taught them uh in-depth doctrine, uh, the doctrine of our salvation by the work of Jesus Christ, and which is of the love of the Father that has been bestowed upon us through the work of his son, that he so loved the world that he gave that only begotten Son to come into this world to live a perfect life under the law, not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. And he by his works hath saved us. By his works, he we are saved by works, but we're saved by the Lord's work. He's the only one that could do the work because he was perfect, he had no sin, there was no iniquity found in him. Throughout all his thirty-three years he had lived from birth to the day of his crucifixion, the perfect fulfilling, fulfilling keeping of the law. It says, Not one jot nor tittle of the law shall fail, except it be fulfilled. And he he did uh fulfill the law, and therefore now we're under a new law, which is the law of Christ. We're under the law that is greater than the law given by Moses, it says the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. So Jesus Christ was the only one that could do the work necessary to fulfill God's righteous demand. God demanded works, but we couldn't do it, and the law was there to prove we couldn't do it, because none could keep the law. It wasn't given to justify man. There was nothing in the law that would justify us because it was weak through the flesh, it wasn't weak in its truth. Matter of fact, the strength of the law is that it proves what sin is, and it proved what would be necessary to fulfill that righteous law of God. The Lord gave us that law as a schoolmaster, and part of the work of the schoolmaster was to show here's what perfection is. It's gonna take perfection to keep this law, but keeping the law was required in that God had been offended by the work of one man, Adam. This is a doctrine of original sin, that by that action of one man, by the disobedience of one man, this is the fifth chapter of the book of Romans, that by the offense of that one man, death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. And so their our sin is the proof, is proof that the sin of Adam had passed down through the generations, the vessel never got any better than was born of that seed. But when God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made of that of that virgin Mary, that chosen vessel to bear the Son of God, she was uh she conceived of the Holy Ghost. He wasn't born after the seed of Adam, he was born of the Holy Ghost. The word that was with God, the word that was God, the same was in the beginning with God, that word was made flesh, and he would come into this world to do works and to do a work, a work of satisfying God's righteous judicial law, that it would take a perfect sacrifice. The law taught sacrifices, the law gave us many sacrificial prescriptions to be offered about different things, but it always it always required the death. The blood was required under the old law, but not one drop of the blood offered under the old testament law ever satisfied God's mind. It never satisfied what he required. It would take not the blood of bulls and goats, but by his own blood, by his own work, he would come and he would offer himself the Lamb of God, John says, that taketh away the sinner of the world, that Lamb of God, that in the Revelation letter we find that he stood before the very throne of God as a lamb, as it had been slain. The picture was always there from the very beginning. After man's transgression, one of the first things that happen is that there is a blood sacrifice of an animal to get the skins to put a covering on the disgraced and dead man. Dead man and his wife Eve, they both were under sin and had to be covered. And their works, their actions was not sufficient. As a matter of fact, as the very thing that they used to try to cover their action, their situation, their position, it was fig leaves, and we know what happens when you pull a leaf from a tree, it withers, it crumbles, it deteriorates, and maybe even irritates. It is a reminder, death is a reminder that we're broken vessels. So we find here Paul establishing this death and trespasses and sin. That's a real thing. Death and trespasses and sin is not just a theological position, it is a reality of life. That when we are conceived in this world, everyone that is born of the seed of Adam receives that not just a sentence, but that condition. That condition of dead and trespasses and sin. What does that mean, death and trespass and sin? That is a position of offense against God. You're before God and God there is a there is a separation. That's what a death is, is a separation from that body. When a body dies in this in the caporal, we get a good glimpse of what death is. That there is a separation that happens of the soul and spirit of man leaves that vessel of body and is separated from the body. That is what death is. Death and trespasses and sin is that we are conceived in iniquity and in sin, and we are shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. It happens at conception that that death of everyone born of Adam is an offense against God. There is a separation. That's the death that God said in the very beginning, that original sin. He said, For in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. He lived 900 and some odd years longer in the body. But I'm gonna tell you, friends, he was separated that very moment of his transgression against God. They were not in the same position. They were separated from God, and nothing they could ever do could undo, and let me say it again, nothing they could do could redeem themselves back from that bad position that they were now in. They are in death and trespass of sin. They are, as it were, buried under sin. They were kept captive under sin. There's no unbiding the fruit. When they disobeyed God, God could not look upon them in a connected way as before. I don't know how many times God had visited with Adam and Eve before they transgressed. Adam recognized God when he came walking in the cool of the day. But Adam and Eve after that transgression were separated from God, dead in trespasses and sin. No getting yourself out of that. Once the vessel is broke, it's broke. It's gonna take a power to fix it, and there's only one that could fix it, both in soul and spirit, and in body. Both, all of that had to be fixed, Brother Jim. It wasn't that he's just gonna take the soul and spirit and leave the body like it was. No, it's gotta be a complete work. God does a complete work, he came to do a complete work. In his soul and spirit, he would bear our sins, his body would die and go to the grave, but the fixing comes when he said it is finished on the cross, he had offered his soul to God through the Holy Spirit, and he didn't offer that to me, he didn't offer that to you, he offered that offering to God, and God accepted that offering. How do I know God accepted that offering? How do I know that God uh received that work enough that it fixed our soul and spirit? Because he went to the grave, the body was taken. He said, Let me let me go back on the cross, he says, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. Now he had told the apostles, No man taketh my life from me, I lay it down. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. And my friends, he told us on the cross, it is finished. Bow his head, father, father in thy hands are commanded my spirit, and he bowed his head and gave up, he gave up the ghost. I'm gonna tell you, soul and spirit went back to his throne in heaven. But his body was taken and where Joseph was taken and buried into a tomb. And it lay there for three days and three nights, and then they came to anoint the body on that last that that third day. They came and they found that the stone had been rolled away. They wondered who's gonna who's gonna take the stone away. Well, when they got there, that's all been taken care of. He has risen from the dead, from the dead. He is risen from the dead. His body was not dead any longer. I'm talking about his body. That body that was crucified, died upon the cross, gave up the ghost, left the body, they wound the body and put it in the grave, sealed the stone. Even the Jews had put their safest watch to make sure no one was, you know, they were doing, they were doing a good thing in that they proved no tamper with that heaven, no tampering's gonna happen. But my friends, it would not stop God because God raised him. He said, Christ, whom you have crucified, God hath raised him from the dead. That body came out of the tomb. And friends, that body was seen by a multitude of witnesses for 40 days after his passion. Seen alive, they ate with him, they touched him. John said, in whom we have touched and handled and eaten with. We know he was alive. He wasn't a figment, he wasn't a ghost, he was flesh and bone. He said he was flesh and bone. Hath the spirit have flesh and bone, as you see me have. Reach your hand and put it in my the nail prints in my hand. Put your hand here and thrust it into my side. That the the spear had been put in. They were satisfied, dear friends, the witnesses that we hear their testimony. And God proved that he had accepted that offering on the cross by raising him from the dead. And here, 2,000 years later, my friends, he still has a people that are witnessing to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. I haven't seen him by eye, I haven't heard him by ear of the natural ear, but I'm gonna tell you by an eye of faith and by an ear that can hear. I know my Savior lives and abides on his throne in his victory, having swallowed up sin. And he holds me and he holds you in his hand. You're engraved upon the palm of his hand. That's just how physical. I'm telling you, friend, there is a physical aspect of the salvation of God's people. He not only bought your soul and spirit, but he bought your body. He bought your vessel. Someday, my friends, he's going to raise that body that is sown. It'll be sown in corruption, but it'll be raised in glory. Sown mortal, but it'll be raised immortal. My friends, he is he has bought your body and he's coming back for it. Now listen to what Paul would say here. The second chapter. And you hath he quickened, that means made alive, and you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Where in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. That second verse equals the works of the flesh. That equals the works of the flesh. We'll look at that hopefully in just a few moments. But that's the proof that we were dead in trespasses because we walked like it. We had the traits of it. We had the trace of the traces of death in us, and we walked according to the course of this world. For however long it was that we were dead in trespasses and sin. We walked like it. And we still carry the marks and the and we still have the mind of that dead entity, but no longer captive to it. Just a side note. We're not captive. If you've been quickened, you're no longer captive. Because notice what he says, who were dead and trespassing. He quickened you who were dead. You were unable to do righteousness. You were unable to fix yourself. You were unable to satisfy God in any form. There was no love of God within you. There was nothing but flesh and the works of the flesh. But you hath he quickened, I'm talking to those that have been quickened. And we'll look in a moment that of how do we know that that's happened. And you have he quickened who were dead and trespasses and sin. That's why our works will never, will never satisfy God's law. It will never do to stand before the judge and say, Lord, here's what I have done. How pitiful that would be, how scary that would be to try to go for to try to go before a judge and say, Here's my evidence that I'm innocent. No, the judge sees right through that. He knows you better than yourself, to the even to the dividing of the thought and the intent. He can get that detailed on us. We have nothing to present before God's law, before God's justice. Our works, Paul would tell us, is as filthy rags before God. Whatever you make that filthy rag out, it's still filthy, and there's no good in it. And that is a picture of our righteousness. It's going to take more than that. But you were dead and trespassed, but no longer. You still have that mindset to have to deal with. He said, Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Do you understand, my friends, what that is, what it is leading to us to understand is that while in death and trespasses in sin, before the quickening, before the quickening, you were as dead in trespasses and sin as anyone that ever resides in heaven. Resides in hell. As any non-elect ever will be, you were just that enemy against God. You were just that kind of a people as those people. You were no different. I found that there were there there have been printbaptists that missed that point, that we were just as bad off and just as bad a shape, and as low and as a position of uh it's hard to even put into words, but you were no different than any non-elect ever will be. But when God does that work of quickening, he puts a change. He puts, he brings you out of that position. And I'm gonna tell you, that's the position of our first family. Our first family was Adamic, it was Adam family. That's not the TV show, it's the Adam family. We were in the Adam family, but that quickening is to take you out of that family, wash you up and clean you, take all the iniquity away, take all of that enemy away, take all that hatred away, and love you and draw you with that everlasting love and bring you into his family. You've been brought out of that Adamic family and put into the Christ family. If you want just another little picture of that, go read the fifth chapter of the Roman letter, and you'll find that there is a great comparison made between the first Adam, and listen to it, the last Adam. Because there's not going to be another Adam. If it is, I don't know what kind of shape he's gonna leave us in. But that's the good news, is there's not another federal head that's gonna mess it up. The first one messed it up, the second one fixed it. The second one, the last one did a work that would bring us out of that family, and that friend is called adoption. You have been adopted out of that Adamic family, and you have been adopted into the family of God. And my friends, there is nothing that anyone, nor even yourself, no conditions, no actions, no interference of any kind that will ever separate you from that adoption. He adopted you before the world began in covenant. He adopted you in time when he gives you that spirit of adoption called the quickening. And my friends, there's going to come a day when he's going to give you the finality of that adoption when he brings that body out of that grave, and we see the result of the full adoption when we're taken home. Taken home to be with him in body, soul, and spirit. Well, what if they're already dead? He's going to bring those soul and spirits with him. This is in scripture, God, he will himself return, and those with him, and he'll reunite those spirit and souls with the body that's been raised, and us that are alive and remain will be caught up together with them where we shall ever be with him. There's not going to be another reign of Christ on this world. He's not coming to fix up a kingdom here, he's already got a kingdom here, he's already a king now, and my friends, he's coming to receive his glorified kingdom. Everyone that he did foreknow, he did predestinate, he called, he justified, and there's coming a day when he's going to glorify them with a glorified body, conform to the image of the Son of God. My friends, what a great work he has done. But here's what here's what he says here as we go just a little bit. Among whom all you did all these things, the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desire of the flesh, and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. That's a really bad position to be in. That sounds hopeless, Brother Jimmy. That sounds like, well, there's just no hope for us. There's no hope for any of us. And I'm gonna tell you, without the next few verses, there is no hope for any of us. There is no remedy without what he's about to tell us. He said, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved us. Not because he would see you and be uh be turned by your action to love us, but for his great love, wherewith he loved us. John was saying not that we not that we love God, but that God loved us. We love him because he first loved us. We talked about that in the lunchroom before. We love him because he loved us. There is a cause for us loving God, and that's because he loved us first. There's no turning that around the other way. It is not. In any form or fashion. My friend, God loved us without a cause, without a reason. He tells us over there about those two boars, having done neither good nor evil. Twins! Twins. Coming out hand on heel. You don't get any closer than that in a birth. Hand on heel and coming out of there, them not having done neither good nor evil. God did not predicate his love based upon anything we would do, good or evil. God already had his mind set before the world began. He loved us with an everlasting love, and with loving kindness he had drawn us. Wherewith God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, for by grace you're saved. This is basic 101, PB 101 right here. This is this is just bedrock foundation to our doctrine. If this is not true, we have no we have no stance, but this is true. Paul's telling them the truth. For by grace are you saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Friends, that's more than just the church. That's in him. He is the heavenly place. Every child of God is in that. Every child of God is in that position. That in times of that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith. Through faith. Now the question will be what faith is he talking about? Whose faith is it? Well, if you'll just have enough faith, Brother Jimmy Shook, you'll you'll God will love you. No. No, that's not what he's looking for. That's not his that's not from his perspective. It's not what your faith will do. It says through faith, and that not of yourselves. Then who is it? Who is it? Whose faith is it? It is the gift of God. What is the gift of God? Christ is the gift of God. So the faith he's looking for is the faith of his Son, Jesus Christ. What does Jesus Christ do? He lays down his life in accordance to a covenant, in accordance to a promise, in a course to keeping the righteousness that would be required to redeem us. By his faith we're saved. It says, not of works, lest any man should be. Now he's talking about you. Now he's talking about you on that. Not of works. It's not by any works that you do, but it's by the faith of Christ, and it's the faith of God in Christ. God before the world begins said, You have to die for him. Christ said, I'll die for him. And in the strength of that covenant, promise, and the Holy Ghost said, I'll witness to it. I'll see it. I'll ratify it. I will see to it that every sin is taken care of. There's not a one gonna slip by. There's not a one of those that you love before the world began, not being that glorification in the end. No, I'll see to it because I'm part of that justification in that I'll view it, I'll see it. God demanded, Christ paid, and the Holy Spirit verified. And therefore the Holy Spirit can do his work of quickening. Even those that lived before this sacrifice happened. Just think about that. If you think works will make God accept you because you believe in Christ, tell me what happens to those that lived before Christ died. I tell you, that's gotta be a hard nut to crack right there. Is if it's by our works and believing in Christ, then how do how did Enoch go to heaven? I'm gonna tell you, there's a lot of people you can say, well, I don't know about that guy. He might have not been, he might have not been a child of God. I'm gonna tell you Enoch was taken and was not. I'm gonna tell you Elijah went to heaven in a chariot, and those two men are their body, soul, and spirit. With God, a picture of us that if we be alive and remain, when the Lord breaks those clouds open and comes back someday, they're a picture of us. We're going body, soul, and spirit all at once. They're a prototype to what happens to those that are alive and remain. It is not by our works, not of works, lest any man should boast. Just think of that right there. That if it is of works, if it is something I did good, and God said, Whoa, boy, what a great man you have been. I'm going to accept you for those works. You know what you could say? Thank you, God. I'm I'm glad you accepted my offering. I'm glad that you accepted my work. I could, I did, I did I did good work right there. You could boast. You'd have world to boast if God accepted your works to satisfy his demand of perfection, then you'd have somewhere to boast. But it is not of not of it, not of my works, lest any man should boast. Why? Because he says, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Now, so friend, I'm for every PB right now, for every printist preacher, I'm gonna say we believe in good works. We believe in doing good works. When we when we do good works, God is pleased. You know what? Because you are his child, if you've been quickened and you do good works, God is pleased. Why? Because you're his child. You're his child that is in that is assimilating to his way. And so your works are not a cause of becoming a child of God. It's not of him that willeth, nor him that runneth. It's not of the mind, and it's not of the feet. It's not of those things, but by his mercy. God who is rich in mercy, wherewith he loved us. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. And my friends, we should. We should do good works. So just because we're not saved eternally by works of us, I'm gonna tell you, we were saved by works of Christ. His work is the only work that matters concerning your relationship with God. You become sons and daughters of God by the work of Christ Jesus on that cross. That's how you become related. That's how you got adopted. That's how you're going to be seen in the fullness of the doctrine of the adoption. Not just given the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry at my father. But someday, my friends, we'll be raised bodies to receive that soul and spirit preserved in Christ, kept by the power of God, by the works which he hath ordained that we should walk in them. Okay, so we uh I hope that I've kind of nailed down for a moment that we're not saved by our works, but are we called? He said that God ordained that we should walk in them. Let's now go to the Philippian letter and let's get a text that seems to contradict that we're not saved by works. Anybody wanting to bring about a doctrine that says you gotta work your way to heaven, you gotta work out your salvation. I'm about to say something like that in just a moment, but we gotta make sure we understand how that can happen and with what. If we think our works brings about our salvation, and my friends, we're thinking we can be perfect and we can't. But I'm gonna tell you, God is pleased with obedience, he's pleased with doing what a father has told his child to do. Do you know, my friends, there's no no greater reward? And I'm talking about a gift that is given on a condition of reward. There's no greater one than to look at the Father which is in heaven and feel that uh approval by God that I well the words would be well done, thou good and faithful servant. Well done. Because you have done it unto the least of these my brethren. We say that every time when we do communion. Inasmuch as you've done it unto the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto me. That's good works. That is a good work. To wash the feet of the saints. That's talked about of the widows. If she the widow indeed is one, one of the signs is if she's washed the saints' feet. That is the that's not just a physical communion, that is a lesson from communion that is put into practice, both washing the feet and serving in other ways. In as much as you served others, you serve me, is what he was saying. He would tell Paul, I don't want to get sidetracked here, but he would tell Paul that why persecutest thou me? Because if you're persecuting one of my little ones, you're persecuting me. I take a personal interest in them that are mine. And we all are getting very defensive of the mine. Well, he got very defensive of mine, but he was talking to one of his about doing things to those that were his. But here in Philippians, Paul would tell us uh, for to me to live is Christ, and to die, this is in the uh first chapter. Wait a minute, I'm I went over. I want to be in the second chapter. I started too early. That in the tenth verse, two and ten of Philippians, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of the things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Well, we can't we can't attach that to eternal salvation because the context is in as you have obeyed in my presence, not in my presence only, but also in my absence. That is, you yeah, you you acted right when I was here, when I was had my eyes on you and watching you, yeah, you obeyed then. But it's even better that even in my absence when I wasn't at home, when I wasn't away, when you wasn't under the scrutiny of someone, you were obeying. Obedience, dear friends, is a timed thing. It is a child-living thing. It is after the regeneration process. You were dead in trespass and sin. Now you've been made alive in Christ. You're his work, but you've created unto good works, which God hath ordained that you should walk in. And if you have obeyed them, that is a living thing of the child, not a giving to be a child thing. He's not talking to the Jim about how to become a child of God. He's talking to you about living as a child of God, obeying as a child of God, following the things which Christ that has given us this precious life of following after him and working in a way that is honorable to the Father, honorable and giving glory to him with every breath that we live. We owe him. We owe him obedience. He would tell Samuel about Saul. I would rather have obedience more than sacrifice. I'm not worried about the sacrifice. I'm concerned about obedience. And here Paul is talking about obedience of the child of God. But now much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God. Here's the text. Ten minutes till time to close. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do, of the mind and the do. That sounds a lot like over there. Not of him that willeth nor him that runeth. That's that's eternal salvation. Not of him that willeth nor runeth. My friends, what he's talking about now is the will and the running in obedience. In obedience to what he's told us. So here's what we say, for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And he would say, Do all things without murmuring, disputing, that you may be blameless and harmless and sons of God, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, and among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain. When I see you doing those things, or when I see you not doing the things that you should not do, and I see you doing the things that you should do, that is God working in you both to will and to do. Now, here's where I want to take our minds from. Let's come back over to Galatian. Because I've been thinking about the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit. I confess I'm preaching to me, and you get to be the bystander, and if you get if you get it, okay. But I'm talking to me. Because I need to know that fruit of the Spirit is not just a theological principle in Scripture that we can talk about when we talk about regeneration, we talk about the fruit of the Spirit being given, and that's true. That is the one of the great principles to nail down in your understanding is that when one is regenerated by God, when he is quickened, as Paul used it, as he is made alive, a workmanship created in Christ Jesus, when you're that and you're given that spiritual life, that ears to hear, you're given the qualities of the Spirit of God called the fruit of the Spirit. And that is a wonderful understanding that God gives us fruit of the Spirit. But fruit of the Spirit is to be put on display. Bill, you need to show that fruit, you need to bring out that fruit. It needs to be shown on the limb, it needs to be witnessed of others, it needs to be seen by those around you. That is what glorifies the root. The root bears the tree, the tree has the limb, and the limb brings forth the fruit. And we're the branches, and he is the root. And so all of that increase comes from God. Paul says, I planted Apollos and water, but God giveth the increase. God sends that spirit within you, that spirit through the through the veins, if you will, of that fruit of the spirit, the branch, it draws that spirit, and that spirit comes out and manifests itself in the fruit. That's why the Lord will say, You know a tree by the fruit that it bears. It bears the fruit. We're to bear love, joy. Let's look at them. The ninefold fruit of the spirit, fifth chapter of the book of Galatians. You can start at the eighth, the nineteenth verse, and it'll give you a list of eighteen works of the flesh. That's what you get by nature. That's what you get. That's the mindset of the natural man. And those eight, those eighteen things are completely oppositional to the ninefold fruit of the spirit. Eighteen works of the flesh, and one of them is and such like. So Paul's not given us an exhaustive list of works of the flesh. He's given us enough that you could find, well, if it's such like that, then it fits in the works of the flesh. He does not give a it's such like in the ninefold fruit of the spirit. Those ninefold fruit of the spirit are nine, but they are one. They're one cluster of nine. And they all they all draw from the same sap. The sap is what comes up the tree, the nutrients, and flows out, and finally that sap will reach and it will bring forth the fruit. The fruit that bears the seed. That bears a seed in it. This ninefold fruit of the spirit. Let's look at them. Here is here is the God working in you both to will and to do. Here is the here is the quality of something that you can do works that is pleasing to God. It's through the manifesting of this fruit of the Spirit. Look at them, but the fruit of the Spirit, and that's singular, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. Those three first, love, joy, peace. The next one now is long suffering. If you don't know what that means, it means to suffer long. It's long suffering. It means going a long way. It means to go the extra mile. It means to give way to others ahead of yourself. Long suffering. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. He does add that. Against such there is no law. There's no law against any of these. But can you see, my friends, how it goes from love, joy, peace, live long suffering. It goes into the quality, the will, and then it goes into to-do. It gets into actionable things that are done. Just watch the flow of this fruit of the Spirit as it's motivated by love. Listen, motivated by love, it brings forth joy. When you feel that love, it brings forth that joy. And this is not fun. This is joy. This is true, deep feeling of joy that only can happen from that fruit of the spirit of love. Love that brings forth joy. Joy brings forth a peace. That's how we can move from love to peace is through love, joy, and peace. Watch how it keeps working, Brother Jimmy, to a to action towards a we're seeing that fruit come out as that small fruit first. It's like that seed. It's small, but it grows large and becomes a great tree. Here, my friends, is the will and the do. The will and the do. It's that will of God that comes through the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Notice, and here's to me, that temperance is the I hate to say it's the most important, but it is the goal. It's the goal of the fruit of the love is the uh if the love is the motivation, temperance would be the ultimate goal. Is the self-control. Temperance is a self-control. Listen, how do we get to self-control? We get it through this these this fruit of the spirit, all working in together. Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. And I tell you, if you think faith is not an action word, faith is a that is something to be displayed or shown, because John said, Show me your faith without works, and I'll show you my faith by my works. John puts it with works. Do you know grace does not mix with works? This is the principle, isn't it not, Brother Jimmy? That if you add works to grace, it is no more grace. So if anybody adds works to our eternal salvation, they're saying grace is not grace. They're saying really it's a it's a polluted grace. That's not possible. If it's of grace, it's grace. If it's works, it's works, and they do not mix ever. But faith, on the other hand, faith is on display by works. And finally, we get from the faith, which is by works, to meekness, temperance, those are action words, meekness to towards others, temperance, which is the controlling, under control position. So my friends, these these are that back to back to Philippians. This is not contrary to Paul's teaching, that you're not you're not saved by works. But over here he says, work out your own salvation. My friends, we work out what God has worked in. That is put your put your fruit on display. Oh, one more thing. One more thing. In Peter, second chapter of Peter, we talked, I think, reason either here at Daws, we talked about this adding to your faith. Adding these seven things to faith. First chapter, second Peter, and we'll see the fifth verse. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and the virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and the temperance, patience, and the patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and the brotherly kindness, charity. If these things be in you and abound, if those things, if they're done, if if you follow his prescription, if we take all of it and not just part of it, if we do it in order, as God has prescribed, if those things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That, my friends, ties in with work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. This is that fear and trembling is adding to our faith. Not adding faith, we don't need any more faith. We just need to use the faith that we have. It is sufficient of itself, but that faith, when it's when it's put to practice by adding these things, and those things abound in you, they make you that you be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off. Now listen, if you think this is talking about losing your salvation, if you think, well, okay, I didn't do those things, I didn't add those things, they make me forget. He said, but he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten, hath forgotten, not have lost them, it hasn't lost anything, it's forgotten it. You have it has become fugitive to you. You know, we used to take a class in business about things becoming fugitive to you. That means I didn't use it, so I lost it. I you I used to use Excel. I don't know if I could do very well in Excel as I used to, because I haven't done it in a long time. A lot of it has become fugitive to me. It run off from me, it got away from me. That's the way it happens. If these things, if you lack these things, he that laceth these things is blind and cannot see a foreign, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. That means that's a child of God. That's one that he has been cleansed of his sin. He has been forgiven of his sin, but he has forgotten it. He has lost that joy, they've lost that peace, they've lost that control, and they're now seeking something that's already been done. Why? Because he did not add to their faith. They didn't put that faith to practice and use it towards others, and he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar, that's forgotten that he was purged from his old sin. Wherefore the rather. On the other flip side, okay, somebody that has added those things. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, ye shall never fall. My friends, he's talking about diligently thinking upon these things, seeking after these things. Remember what it says, without faith it is impossible to please God. For he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Let us let us work out our own salvation, and in doing so, making our calling and election sure. One one last point that is not making it more sure to God, that's making it more sure to me, to yourself, to remember the things of God, and in doing so, we give him glory. I thank you.