Fruit of the Spirit (Part 1) – The Holy Spirit Produces Fruit; Love

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The Fruit of the Spirit

1. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Gal 5:22-23)
2. “(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)” (Eph 5:9)

III.   Fruit is something that is produced by something else.

1. A tree produces fruit in a botanical sense.
2. Fruit n. – 1. Vegetable products in general, that are fit to be used as food by men and animals. Now usually in pl. Also fruits of the earth or the ground. 2. The edible product of a plant or tree, consisting of the seed and its envelope, esp. the latter when it is of a juicy pulpy nature, as in the apple, orange, plum, etc.
3. The Bible uses fruit in this sense (Neh 10:35).
4. People produce fruit in a biological sense.
5. Fruit n. – 6. Offspring, progeny. Also, an embryo, fœtus. Orig. a Hebraism. Now rare, except in Biblical phraseology. More fully fruit of the body, loins, womb.
6. The Bible uses fruit in this sense (Psa 127:3).
7. Labor produces fruit in figurative sense.
8. Fruit n. – 7. a. Anything accruing, produced, or resulting from an action or effort, the operation of a cause, etc. Material produce, outgrowth, increase; pl. products, revenues.
9. The Bible uses fruit in this sense (Psa 104:13; Pro 31:16).
10. Spiritual labor produces fruit in a spiritual, immaterial sense.
11. Fruit n. – 7. b. An immaterial product, a result, issue, consequence.
12. The Bible uses fruit in this sense (Jam 3:18).
13. In like manner, the Spirit of God produces effects and results (fruit) in a man’s life when He operates within that man.
14. Fruit itself does not cause the ability to produce it.
15. The apple didn’t cause the tree; the tree caused the apple.
16. The baby didn’t cause the parents; the parents caused the baby.

iii.   The iPhone didn’t cause Steve Jobs; Steve Jobs caused the iPhone.

1. Likewise, the faith of a man didn’t cause the Spirit of God to dwell in him; the Spirit of God dwelling in Him caused and produced his faith.
2. Faith is the fruit, not bait, of the Spirit.

1. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit
2. The Holy Spirit must first dwell within a man before that man can exhibit the fruit of the Spirit.
3. The Holy Ghost doesn’t dwell in fallen man by nature (Jude 1:19).
4. Evil cannot dwell with God (Psa 5:4-5).
5. Therefore, God has to first remove the old, evil heart from man before He gives him a new heart (Eze 36:26-27) in an operation which the Holy Spirit performs called regeneration (Tit 3:5).
6. When the Spirit of God renews a man’s inward parts (his soul and spirit), He then indwells him (Rom 8:9; 2Ti 1:14; 1Co 6:19-20).
7. Once indwelling him, the Spirit then begins to produce fruit through the man (Gal 5:22; Eph 5:9).
8. Whereas without the Spirit, man brings forth no fruit (Jude 1:12) or fruit unto death (Rom 7:5), with the Spirit he brings forth fruit unto holiness (Rom 6:22) and fruit unto God (Rom 7:4).
9. Once the Spirit of God dwells in a man, he can know and understand the gospel which brings life and immorality to light (1Co 2:12, 14; 2Ti 1:10; 1Co 1:18; 1Th 1:4-5).
10. The following are evidences that a man has the Spirit of God dwelling in him:
11. Keeping God’s commandments (1Jo 3:24).
12. Loving one another (1Jo 4:12-13; 1Jo 4:16).
13. Confessing that Jesus is the Son of God (1Jo 4:15).

The fruit of the Spirit

Love n. – 1. a. That disposition or state of feeling with regard to a person which (arising from recognition of attractive qualities, from instincts of natural relationship, or from sympathy) manifests itself in solicitude for the welfare of the object, and usually also in delight in his or her presence and desire for his or her approval; warm affection, attachment.

1. Love is a fundamental attribute of God (1Jo 4:8,16), and therefore is a fruit of the Spirit who is God (1Jo 5:7).
2. Love (charity) is the greatest of the Christian virtues (1Co 13:13; 2Pe 1:5-7).
3. Charity n. – 1. Christian love God’s love to man. (By early writers often identified with the Holy Spirit.) Obs. b. Man’s love of God and his neighbour, commanded as the fulfilling of the Law, Matt. xxii. 37, 39. Obs. c. esp. The Christian love of our fellow-men; Christian benignity of disposition expressing itself in Christ-like conduct: one of the ‘three Christian graces’, fully described by St. Paul, 1 Cor. xiii.
4. The greatest two commandments are to love God with all that we have and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mat 22:37-40).
5. True love toward both God and man is keeping God’s commandments (Joh 14:15; 1Jo 5:2-3).
6. True love doesn’t sin against God (1Co 13:4-5); therefore fornicators and sodomites are not really loving God or each other, nor displaying the fruit of the Spirit (1Co 6:18; Rom 1:26-27).
7. What the world calls “hate” God calls love, because true love of God is hating evil (Psa 119:128; Pro 8:13).

iii.   True love believes the truth (1Co 13:6-7); therefore those who knowingly reject the truth are not loving God, nor are they displaying the fruit of the Spirit.

1. True love is rebuking someone for his sin (Lev 19:17).
2. Love in a man’s heart is evidence of eternal life (1Jo 4:7).
3. He that hates his brother shows no evidence that he has the Spirit dwelling in him (1Jo 2:9; 1Jo 4:20).