Peter Brandon emphasizes the significance of being led by the Spirit in a Spirit-filled life, contrasting it with the bondage of the law and the flesh. He explains that true liberty in Christ comes from yielding to the Holy Spirit, which produces the fruits of love, joy, peace, and other virtues in believers. Brandon warns against the dangers of returning to legalism and encourages Christians to embrace their new identity in Christ, living out their faith through love and obedience. He highlights that being led by the Spirit not only reflects one's sonship but also manifests the beauty of a Spirit-filled life, which is marked by moral and spiritual beauty rather than external appearances. Ultimately, he calls for believers to come under the yoke of Christ, trusting Him to produce His life and character within them.

Soundverse Tape Ministry Queensland is now the 7th of April 1983 and we're at the Springwood Christian Fellowship for the continuation in the series on the subject of the Holy Spirit with Mr Peter Brandon from the United Kingdom as the guest speaker. It's lovely to be with you tonight and this is our third week on the Holy Spirit and I can't go through all the previous subjects otherwise we would be here for a very long time but tonight I want to take up just the last expression of the three stages in a Spirit-filled life and we have discussed together it's living in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit and tonight we're going to touch on being led by the Spirit and then we shall move into that area the ugliness of a fleshly life, the beauty of the fruits in the Spirit, of the Spirit in a Spirit-filled life. Now shall we turn to Galatians chapter 5 again and we'll read from verse 1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage, meaning don't go back to Judaism, don't go back to the old sacrifices, whatever you do don't go back to circumcision, don't go back to the old ways of trying to merit your salvation and your sanctification and therefore he is encouraging the Galatians not to be influenced by these Judaising teachers. A Judaising teacher was a man who was trying to bring Christians back to the law and he was encouraging them to be under a new yoke and not the yoke of the law. Behold I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing. That means immediately you are circumcised, you are bound to keep the whole law and therefore Christ will mean nothing to you at all. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to the whole law. Christ is become of none effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the law ye are fallen from grace. For we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love. Now if you are fond of underlining your bible my dear friends in Christ would you put two red marks under that last clause but faith which worketh by love. Now we're going to see how he works out that principle in this chapter. Ye did run well who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth this persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lamb. That means if you allow Judaism to come back it will go right the way through Christianity. I have confidence in you through the Lord that ye will be none otherwise minded but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment whoever he be. That means the person that brings God's people back to Judaism in spite of his brilliant teaching will come under judgment. What a statement how that should cause us all to shudder. I would they were even cut off which trouble you. For brethren ye have been called unto liberty. Now notice what follows only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and that word is taken from a lion biting its prey and quite frankly Paul was using a word there that was tinged with sarcasm. If you bite like a lion and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. My beloved we should take that to heart very seriously. This I say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to another so that she cannot do the things that she would. Now for those who are interested in the subject there are two tapes on the conflict of the spirit and if you are a brother or sister in that conflict and you are struggling to get victory please try and get one of those tapes if you can't afford it I'm sure Mr. Bard will give you one to lend for nothing. But if ye be led of the spirit you're not under the law. Now the works of the flesh which are these are manifest adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies endings murders drunkenness revelings and such like. Now I'm sure some of you are saying well what a list but we are going through it tonight and we're just going to see what he means by those words of which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Now the operative word there is do and that word basically means those people who constantly do those people that practice these things. It doesn't mean a person that has an occasional bout where he drinks and gets drunk is a drunkard. It doesn't mean a man that occasionally falls into sin is a fornicator or an adulterer but it means someone who is perpetually practicing those things and therefore if that is our practice it's a sure sign we have never inherited the kingdom of God. But isn't that a lovely word the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit let us not be desirous of vain glory provoking one another and envying one another and God will bless to us the reading of the baptism. Now we have noticed in this chapter that there are three operative expressions concerning the spirit philbilip first of all he is to live in the spirit secondly he is to walk in the spirit and we can see that in verse 25 and then when we come to verse 18 we notice another expression that if ye be led of the spirit ye are not under the law now what we're going to discuss tonight is what does it mean to be led by the spirit. Now first of all there's a bad sense in scripture for the word to be led and then there is a good sense now if we look at the bad sense we shall then see immediately the force now would you turn with me please to 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 6 he's speaking here on signs of the last days and he tells us that in the last days people will have a form of godliness denying the powder thereof from such turn away and then he goes on for of this thought are they which creep into houses and leave captive silly women laden with sins led away with divers lusts and that simply means that there were certain women in his day and there will be in the last days whose bodies will be incensed by sexuality so that they will be totally and absolutely controlled by it. So we can see that's the bad sense of the word now if you turn to 1 Corinthians 12 again you will see another word in a different setting that shows us the force of this particular word led. You know that you were Gentiles carried away with these dumb idols even as you were led now the word to carry away there means to be carried away by another influence it's almost like the idea of being in a fierce wind and the wind is so strong that you cannot stand up against it and it's carrying you away you're being carried away by another power and the word led there is the same idea and it means that you are being controlled by another power now the power there was not the power of the flesh but of course it's the power of the devils obviously some of them were demon possessed so can we see that quite clearly that this refers first of all to someone led away by sexuality led away by demon power and can you visualise in your mind it's the idea of someone being under the control of another power. Now if you come with me to another verse then you will see a different setting to the word so that you will get the root of the meaning of this word led. If you turn to Romans 6 verse 19 you will not read the word but you will get the idea of the word. I speak after the manner of men Romans 6 verse 19 because of the infirmity of your flesh for as ye have yielded your members servants slaves to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. Now what did he mean by that? He simply meant look I want you to consider what you did in your unconverted days and in your unconverted days you were totally and absolutely given to sin. None of you were static and you were moving from one degree to another right into the depths of sin. In fact dear friends if only we could have Christians devoted to Christ as the world is devoted to their pleasures we would have revival overnight. You say well prove that brother Randall. In my own country on Friday night I always do a pub crawl and I visit seven pubs sometimes I only do five. Now I'm a complete non-drinker I wouldn't even touch a drop of wine Christmas time so I don't want you to have any misunderstandings but I do go into public houses to preach the gospel and I noticed this that there are people in a public house they will go in at half past seven and they are turned out at half past ten and they do that three times a week and they never grump. They never say to the barman you know this meeting's too long and you ought to see out the pub earlier. They don't say look I shan't come anymore unless you close at half past ten. In fact they're all packed out at half past ten and I've seen scores of barmen do this push them out push them out and then sometimes Saturday afternoon I will get an invitation to go and preach in a football match like Third Park. I've just got an invitation I believe it's going to mature to speak at the Spurs half time where there will be 30,000 people and they only give me five minutes and I'm able to give them the gospel and they're all unsaved and a few backsliders that and dear friends all I want to say is this they come there an hour before the match starts and when that match starts and the players come out they don't say the boys. They do a bit of cheering and no one is put off by the cheering and when a goal is scored they don't say goal. Hats go in the air and they get really excited about it and then if there's extra time like a club final no one will go home. They're all keen to watch and then when they would go home or do go home they're all doing what the centre forward should have done showing him how he should have put the goal in. You see they are just caught up with it and I've often said oh lord if only we had 60 Christians in one local church devoted to Christ as these people are devoted for football. Oh if only we had people devoted to drink as Christians devoted to Christianity as these people are to drink we would have revival overnight. So now can you see the force of the word what Paul is saying what you did in the world do for Christ and therefore he is speaking about this word lead lead being controlled. So now we've seen the bad sense now let's look at the good sense of the word. Would you please turn with me to Matthew chapter 4 verse 1. Matthew 4 verse 1 then was Jesus led of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil and therefore in the third chapter he is anointed and we've seen already that that was a special anointing. He was filled with the spirit and now because he's filled with the spirit he is led by the spirit and therefore the idea of being led by the spirit simply means the total sovereignty of the spirit of God in your life and when the spirit of God is sovereign in your life so that he is totally controlling you then you can say that you are led. Now my dear friends we have seen from the word of God that every child of God should be filled. It is not optional for a child of God to be filled we are commanded now can I say that again we are commanded to be filled with the spirit and if you are not filled with the spirit you are actually disobeying your Lord and when a person is filled with the spirit he is under the total and absolute control of the spirit and when he is under the total control of the spirit he has complete liberty. But what kind of liberty? He is immediately taken from the throttle of sin and he is putting Christ where he has liberty but it's not the liberty of Now I want you to turn to a scripture that we all quote and I'm sure so often we misunderstand because we break it up. It's Matthew 11. Matthew 11 verse 28. Come unto me all ye that labour that means a person who is worn out trying to improve himself and are heavy laden that means a person who is heavy laden with some particular sin and he can't rise above it and the Lord Jesus says I will give you rest and that simply means if there's someone here tonight and you're worn out trying to make yourself better and you never get better if there's someone here tonight and you're struggling with besetting sins and you can't get victory over them the Lord calls you it's a divine invitation to you to come and here give you rest and that means you can rest from that problem and you can rest in the Lord and go on resting in the Lord but don't stop there. Now somehow I don't know where we pick up the theology we evangelicals we say well you can come and we stop there and two years time if you like you can take the yoke and therefore we make a great gap theory between 28 and 29 and we say come and then if you like you can take the yoke don't you believe that when you come you take my yoke upon you now what does that mean obviously the Lord Jesus was looking at a field of oxen and they were totally useless until they were yoked and the moment they were yoked together they came under the jurisdiction of a master and he drove them with a guard and therefore what he is basically saying is this you come and then come under my yoke and he never drives us with a guard and when God's people come under the yoke then they can honestly lift up their heads and say sovereign Lord. Now could I ask you straight down the line a very blunt question are you under the yoke? Are you? Have you come to a point where you said Lord I'm going to give up this freeman's habit of just pleasing myself coming to the meetings when I want to come just doing the things I want to do Lord that's going to stop and now from this particular day I'm going to bring myself under the yoke. Ah you say well that's the problem I don't think I could stand that brother Brandon now that's the lie of the devil everyone's under a yoke if you're not under the yoke of Christ you're under the yoke of the flesh and that's an awful yoke you can't be neutral and therefore you're under one yoke you can't serve two masters now the moment you come under the yoke he says learn of me you see the reason why some Christians never grow they never grow it's because they have never come under the yoke and you will never learn experimentally of Christ until you really come up under the yoke and that means you yield up all your members you lay them on the altar and then you bind yourself with cords to the horns of the altar so that you don't come up and you come under the yoke and then you learn of me now what do you find those people in the public house were under the yoke of the barman and drink and they didn't find that their master was meek and lowly in heart oh no those poor fellows that are under the yoke of drugs they do not find that their master is lowly and meek in heart those people who are sold out to Liverpool United and many of them are at least 20,000 of them that cost them literally their whole wages they don't find that that's meek and lowly but when you come under the yoke of the Lord Jesus you find that your master is meek and lowly in heart isn't that beautiful and you shall find rest unto your souls and then the lie of the devil he says to you right if you come under the yoke you won't be able to bear it the people that have told me that if they really give themselves to Christ and they lay themselves on the altar they believe the cost will be too much now can I throw that back to you when our boys were in their early teens if I was away on a mission and my wife said look Andrew's been cleaning the car and Philip's been doing the garden what did I do stop their pocket money of course not I gave them more do you think when you come under the yoke God's going to screw you down to nothing and that's why he says my yoke is easy my burden is light brother and sister come under the yoke you see if this local church is going places for God you cannot be just Sunday morning only Christians you must have body life and you've got to have real body life so that the local church moves together and therefore it's absolutely imperative that we come under the yoke and when we're under the yoke then we are led controlled by the spirit and that's when we learn of him let's go on it not only speaks of sovereignty but it also speaks of liberty now would you go back please to Galatians 5 1 and see that beautiful expression that Paul makes right at the commencement of that chapter stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage now what does this mean the moment a person is a Christian he is set free from the Adamic family that's the human family in God's sight he's not in it and God puts him into a completely new family that's the family of Christ and God calls that the church and the moment you are taken out of the human family the Adamic family and you're put in God's family you're still the same person with the same body but you've got an entirely new life and that is the life of the spirit of God and in God's sight you are a free person and God wants you then to learn to live a new kind of life and it's the life of absolute liberty now when you become a Christian no longer are you under the law for instance the ten commandments was a way of making people holy but it never really did it because we weren't strong enough to keep them but when you become a Christian it's not the ten commandments that are before you it's the Lord Jesus and therefore in the old testament it was said of them for me to live is the law but they couldn't say to die is gay but when you become a it's not for me to live is the law it's for me to live is Christ now do great that and therefore your object now is Jesus Christ it's not ten commandments that you stick all over the wall by the law I know there is the knowledge of sin but that's not the Christian's objective the Christian's objective is Jesus Christ now I wonder if I can put this to you like this the spirit of God has come from that risen Christ and he is now in your body and the whole work of the Holy Spirit is to center your mind and all your attention on that risen Christ that's in heaven and therefore the spirit of God if you are led by the spirit will so make that objective Lord Jesus exquisitely lovely that you can really say what a saviour and the Lord Jesus will make him absolutely real to you or the Holy Spirit will make him absolutely real to you and secondly he wants to so invade your body your personality and he wants to invade your personality year by year that he forms Christ in you therefore living for Christ simply means this number one I live for Christ objectively and the spirit of God makes Jesus Christ absolutely real to me and secondly he forms himself in my personality so that Christ-like features begin to shine out of me now if I stop there that would be wonderful and so this liberty is a liberty of being taken out of the law and all its bondage brought into Christ so that Christ is your objective but secondly it's more than that it's not only a new objective it is a new principle now if we can see this tonight I concur because this is absolutely vital now I want you now to turn with me to Galatians 5 just look at that little verse verse 6 and then we'll turn back to Romans chapter 7 and we'll see the beauty of the new principle for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but faith but faith which worketh love now bear that last clause in mind faith which worketh love and now I want you to turn to Romans 7 verse 4 wherefore my brethren ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that means through the death of Christ you have died to the law principle of making you holy we'll talk about that in a few moments that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that means you are no longer linked with the law but you're linked with a risen savior that we should bring forth fruit unto God for when we were in the flesh that simply meant before we were saved when we were in the old family the motions the passions of sin which were by the Lord did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death but now we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held that means that being dead to the thing that once held us that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter now what does that mean to serve in newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter now it simply means this if you were a Jew you would be under the law and the law said this this do and your soul shall live that meant if you could keep all the commandments you would really live and you would really have a happy life but the problem was this there was nothing wrong with the law it was wholly just and good but the human family wasn't strong enough to keep it and that was the way in which they tried to please God in the old testament but in the new testament it is entirely different when a person becomes a Christian he becomes a Christian because first of all he believes he's beaten that means he can't keep the law of God he's a sinner and he puts his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus and he receives forgiveness of sin and he does that by simple act of faith and that makes him a Christian but this is our problem most of us stop there why I don't know and then we believe this well we were saved by faith but we're going to make ourselves holy by stoical practices by that I mean we're going to make ourselves holy by struggling and striving now that's the law I've brought the law all the way back now please note this the law never saved the soul and it will never sanctify Satan and if you're going to be made holy you're not going to be made holy the law way but you're going to be made holy God's way now what is God's way the new way the law way was the old way God's way is the new way now what is this new way it's faith faith and therefore it's as simple as Lord I've trusted you to save my soul and I had no doubts about that and now Lord I'm going to trust you to make me holy and I'm just going to trust you to do it thank you Lord thank you Lord thank you oh you say that's too simple this is what the word of God says therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ oh yes you say that's clear all right the just shall live by faith now I'm going to ask you a question have you trusted the Lord to save you do it now all right have you trusted the Lord to make you holy if not trust him now for it say Lord I'm going to bring myself now right under the yoke I'm not going to be a do as I like Christian oh no I'm going to bring myself under the yoke and now from this moment I'm going to trust you to make me holy so it's faith wise but secondly it's love's way you see the commandment says now notice this too the commandment says company do not steal and you must not steal company you must not commit adultery and you must not do it won't be tied you if you do the law says company you must not covet and you must not covet but that's not the way of the New Testament it's this if you love many keep my commandment now look you may have a master that you're working for who's like the law John come here John comes John do that and John does it why there's 20 people waiting for his job that's the law but brother you don't do that with your wife Mary where's my dinner of course not it's a different relationship isn't it isn't it different some of you wives you couldn't bear washing until you met the man you loved and you loved to wash his shirt you did it out of love didn't you of course you do you see it's a love relationship now that's the newness of the spirit we keep the commandments because we love him can I say that again we keep the commandments because we love him it's not a matter of a sergeant major saying company do this that's law it's the Lord in love standing before us and we do things out of a pure love for him so the first way it's faith's way trusting him the second way is the loving obedience to someone that I deeply love now that's the newness of the spirit now how can I apply this here's Sunday morning and if you say oh it's the breaking of bread supposing I ought to go feel like lying in like to be at the coast suppose I better go what the elders say and you sit there as miserable as them brother and sister far better not to be there I mean that or supposing you might say like to be in the fellowship I suppose ought to be baptized yes I'll get baptized I'll please them anyhow that's all legal but supposing I awaken in the morning and out of a pure love for the Lord I say I'm going to worship the Lord you won't be able to get there quick enough and then you see the truth of baptism why you want to be baptized sweetheart so beautiful why because you love him you see there's no iron yoke over you in the sense of someone is crushing you if you love me keep my commandment you will never find a sergeant major in the local church if you do he's not an elder and if you've got a sergeant major the Lord pity your simplicity it all God's servants are men of love and then lastly it's the Spirit's way what does that mean it simply means this that you rely totally on the Holy Spirit to fulfill you and live his life through you that he will produce the fruits of the Spirit and that's what it means to be led by the Spirit a new objective an entirely new principle of living and then lastly a new power a new power to release you from the power of sin a new power that's in you to give you the power to worship to give you the power to pray to give you the power to preach so that God's people are led by the Spirit and they are led in that liberty where they can serve where they can preach and they can worship why where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty now God never brings bondage we bring bondage but where the Spirit of the Lord is there is that lovely liberty and beloved we mustn't spoil that liberty God's people must have liberty and then it refers to the right principle and then the correct power but then now for the main subject this refers also being led by the Spirit to the beauty of a Spirit-filled life now in order to show you what this basically means turn to Romans 8 and we'll look at Romans 8 verse 14 for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God now what does that mean does it mean only those people who are controlled who are under the yoke are actually the sons of God if that were so it would mean that some of our brethren who are not under the yoke were not saved but it basically means this that those who are led by the Spirit then they look like the sons of God in other words when you see a man filled with the Spirit filled with the fruits of the Spirit he looks like one of God's sons or daughters you know sometimes where I'm saying I take the people up a cup of tea early in the morning I like to be up early and it's quite comical really to go into a bedroom and see a person when they're just getting up when their teeth are out the curlers are in and everything artificial is gone you know they really do look well themselves our boys once we had a man staying with us that was a brilliant man of God and they got up two o'clock in the morning they didn't tell us of course and they opened the door where this dear Saint of God was staying and they took a flash picture of him when he was fast asleep and then they sent the picture to this dear servant of God and what a picture it was his teeth were out he was snoring and his head was hanging in a very awkward fashion and he got rather a shock when he saw himself dead asleep and he didn't look the man he was when he was on the platform but he was still the same man beloved when we are fast asleep in the bed of this world we look horrible and that's why Paul says awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead ones and he will give thee light the word there means he will make you radiant and that means you'll look beautiful and that is exactly what Paul is saying here for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God in other words the radiance there and the loveliness of sonship will be seen in them now can you see what he is now saying to us look come under the lordship of the Spirit come under the sense of the liberty of the Spirit have the new objective the new principle the new power what he is basically saying is this enjoy this beauty this moral beauty this inward beauty and may I say this as carefully as I can God is not a bit concerned with social beauty he's not one bit concerned with the kind of clothing that we wear as long as we're clever in a scripture why you see unfortunately the people of the world spend hours on figure and keeping their body in trim and unfortunately that has come into the church of God and we put more emphasis on body and shape and size than on culture and what God is concerned in the new testament is to produce in our spiritual culture so that the beauty and the loveliness of Christ can be seen in us you know brothers and sisters I've seen people that we might think were really physically ugly but they were so beautiful you could see the lovely facets of Christ in them now when you stand before God and we're all going to stand there very shortly for the Lord's coming he will not give you a thank you for all the hours you've spent on your body and self but all that he sees in you of himself will be well rewarded so we can see that we have a body and in this body there is a beautiful soul and the Holy Spirit wants to come into that soul and wonderfully liberate it and then beautify it with his loveliness now in order to show you what this basically means let's look first of all at what makes us ugly and then let's look at what makes us beautiful what makes us ugly let's go there to Galatians 6 and look at the works of the flesh now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness now they are sensual things and he puts those together to show to us that these are six things that make a person basically ugly the word lasciviousness is more than lust it basically means as far as the scholars tell me a particular person who crosses the line of every form of decency and it refers to engrossed forms of homosexuality and moral perversion and these things should never be named among the people of God and therefore when these things are manifested in any Christian then of course the flesh is showing and this basically makes him an ugly person in the sight of God now for the sake of those who may not be familiar with these terms it doesn't mean to say that sex is evil it is beautiful when controlled by the spirit of God but this is something that is completely outside the realm of marriage or it can be something that is a total violation of marriage and it has to do with perversion in the form of sexual habit so he puts those terms secondly he introduces us not to sensual sins but now to religious sins idolatry and witchcraft idolatry basically means here the worshipping of idols and you know we must be very careful in our religious background not to bring in any form of idolatry personally I think it's so wrong even to have a picture of Christ you see our view of Christ is not in a picture book our view of Christ is revealed to us in the scripture through the mighty power of the Holy Spirit and quite frankly it's quite comical to see the various Christ's that we have seen and some are entirely different from the others and this gives especially little children the wrong impression of the Saviour some artists will present him with a joyous countenance with a sad countenance and there are all kinds of queer pictures of our blessed master now we want to avoid every form every form of idolatry now witchcraft comes from the idea of the word sorcery and the idea of the word sorcery comes from our word pharmacy and it basically means witchcraft and drugs now could I give a word of warning in your liberty do not allow witchcraft to come in now there is a form of evangelical witchcraft coming among the people of God and it's a terribly dangerous thing if any man stands up and gives a prophecy and it's outside the word of God whilst he is giving that prophecy test his spirit say to the spirit brother in the name of the Lord Jesus do you believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh you see today there is a form of witchcraft that is coming into evangelical circles and we must be very careful a prophetic word that comes from the scripture is splendid we need it but anything outside the cover of the book should be treated with grave suspects let everything be challenged with the word of God now beloved I have moved in these circles for 12 years and I hope I do not sound arrogant I have seen it and tested it and proved much of it utterly false and we must be very careful we do not allow witchcraft to come into our meetings in the guise of an evangelical manifestation now I've covered my words because I want to do that purposely but I think you know what I'm referring to then secondly he refers to the sins of the spirit or the soul hatred now the word hatred there has to do with something that is completely reversed to love variance now the word variance there basically means a person that will actually cause in your local church discord and anyone that will cause division in your local church is not showing the but the work of the flesh no matter what it is it is wrong for any member or any group of people to cause discord in any local church and then the word emulation is really basically jealousy of a very deep thought and jealousy can come because I want the goods of another or it can be I want the gift of another and therefore any form of jealousy although it may be deep is of the flesh it makes us an ugly person the word wrath there is not an occasional shall I say manifestation of temper it's the idea of a constant rage it's the type of person that you talk to and the moment you say a certain thing he will go into a rage now this doesn't mean to say his demon possessed but it does mean to say that the person is under the energy of the flesh now again get this right it doesn't mean that you blow your top and because you blow your top you're not a christian but if we constantly do it it proves that the work of the spirit is not basically there all of us must deal with these fits of rage and then he uses the word strife now he's moving now from sexual sins from religious sins the sins of the spirit to those particular sins now that are social strife seditions heresies now what are those these are people that would come in and because of strong opinions will cause people to come around them and then he will isolate himself from the company now that basically is a manifestation of the flesh now I do trust that we can see what Paul is basically saying and always bearing mind the context of the passage he is talking about judaizing teachers and then he moves from those social sins sins of relationship to those sins which we would call addictive the word envying is associated with sins of relationship but murder drunkenness revelings are all to do with addictive sins now this does not mean to say that a person that got drunk could not be a christian any christian when tempted could be drunk but it means a person who is constantly being drunk it is possible for a christian to commit a murder but it is impossible for a christian to constantly do it revelings have to do with wicked parties and I'm sure of this that no christian would like to be in the environment where there are sex orgies and wicked parties now he says and watch this I tell you before as I have told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God and those who constantly practice those things he is simply saying have not really been born again of the spirit of God but and what about it is isn't it lovely to turn from those ugly things and beloved could I say with a sense of weeping those things have split our meetings for years and we have never basically seen that they were manifestations of the flesh now we come to these lovely truths but the fruit of the spirit is love now you will notice he talks of the works of the flesh why because the works of the flesh have no harmony and no unity it is one mess of confusion and disorder but you will notice now he talks of the fruit of the spirit and this basically means that there is lovely harmony and order and unity with the holy spirit and therefore he uses the word fruit now that's what the commentators say but personally I believe that there is only one fruit and that's love and love is not an attribute it's not a characteristic God is love God is light and that means all the characteristics of God are summed up in love and therefore when the spirit of God comes into a person he has within his heart the potential to love and that means not to love in an eros way by that I mean emotionally which is a very beautiful love but it's all up and down that's why I don't like that little chorus I keep falling in love with him over and over again not when you understand the meaning of agape you never think that we never fall in love with Jesus he has put his love in our hearts it's there it's there all the time and he wants that new love it's a new quality of love it has nothing to do with being in love it's a new love it's agape love it's sacrificial love I wish I had time to share with you just a few scriptures about this love but there's a tape on it on one tape on this word love so please try to look at that word carefully and then next he uses the word joy now this is not ordinary joy you know when we crack a joke and we all start laughing that's natural joy now can we turn to one or two scriptures just to get the idea of this word joy one Thessalonians and he became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost now to see this in practice look at Acts 2 verse 47 or perhaps for a better connection 46 and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness singleness of heart praising God and having faith with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be said now I'm going to say something and I do hope I say this indeed love the church has got so used to being miserable that when joy breaks out we misunderstand it now that's a fact we've got so used to sitting in meetings as though we were going to a funeral that when joy breaks out we misunderstand it beloved I wish I could take you through Philippians and show you the expressions of joy and when we are filled with the Holy Spirit we shall be filled with this lovely charis or chara which simply means the joy of the Holy Ghost Peter calls it joy unspeakable and full of glory so you can see the second fruit is joy now the third is peace now the word peace just look at that word please and I won't turn you to many other scriptures we'll run through this quite quickly now the word peace basically means binding together now I didn't know that until today I was going through my various lexicons and certain well-known scholars showed to me very clearly that the word basically means to bind together so how can we relate that to peace well we would have no peace unless we were bound to the Lord therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God and that's where it all starts secondly we would have no peace until we are bound together in the one body where there's neither Jew nor Gentile where there's neither bond nor free where the blessed Holy Spirit by his one glorious baptism has put us all in the realm of the Spirit and therefore we are bound together so then the binding is God's work and saint work but then it's more than that it's the lovely peace of God dwelling in our heart and it's the God of peace being with us the peace of God in our hearts now what does this mean it means that every child of God has the potential to have perfect peace and quite frankly we need to work on certain believers until they arrive at this perfect peace and I feel this very much some of the Lord's people who have been in a mental home should not be there if we had the right teaching in our meetings and I mean that right from my heart if we could teach practical peace as the fruit of the Spirit many of our brethren that do have mental problems could be saved but you see it's not just teaching that's going to come from a platform we've got to get right near God's people so as to minister peace right into them and then I want you to notice love joy peace long suffering now what does this word basically mean does it mean long patience more than that it basically means suffering endurance an enduring suffering and enduring it with grace and love just like when the Lord on the cross said to the people father forgive them they know not what they do that was long suffering now beloved in our local church we need to learn the Spirit now why because not everyone will agree with me neither will I agree with you and we need this lovely fruit of the Spirit that will make us long suffering that will give us that real patience with God's people when I read that today I just had to get down by my little wooden chair and I had to say oh Lord just forgive me for my impatience don't you feel like that but more then he uses the word gentleness now the idea of the word gentleness doesn't mean the type of person who is so gentle is so meek and mild that he wouldn't say boo to a ghost it's not that idea at all the idea of that word gentleness simply means this a man who when he's under provocation is firm but will never go off into a rage what a quality never go off into a rage and therefore that is one of the fruits of the Spirit and then goodness what does that mean it's a basic quality of a man that's six o'clock and do you know what that means a transparent man who's transparent in his home transparent in his business transparent in the assembly a man whose life is like the walls of glass that you have in heaven a person that you can see through someone whose life is marked by real goodness and whose aim is to worship God with the Spirit of real goodness and love and then faith now faith doesn't mean the gift of faith it's the idea of faithfulness again it's very much linked with the word endurance and it's the idea of a consistent daily walk now I find that I easily get deceived by congregations I can go to a mission and for three weeks the saints look on fire and I could go back to my dear wife when she was looking after the children and I would say I think we've seen revival but I had to confess six months after the mission the fire died why it was not marked by consistency and faithfulness now that basically is the meaning of the word first of all it has to do with consistency and secondly it has to do with a man that will stay by the truth of God and not budge and yet is never arrogant and then he uses the word meekness now of course the word is speaking for itself but it's a word basically that it's taken from the idea of gentleness and it basically means this that when you are under real tension and strain you still show a meek spirit now I wonder if I could make a little confession here sometimes when I'm preaching and I'm having a hard time I can really let the flesh for instance if I see a man falling asleep oh it irritates me now you don't realize oh I have to turn away from it in fact in one place I won't mention where it was but it was in my own country I was preaching on the ten virgins fast asleep and there was one brother he was right off and his head was right down and I bellowed out asleep with that man there it's all right I'm praying brother what could I do but I knew at that moment when I was speaking I grieved the spirit in fact I had to close the meeting and apologize I remember on one place and it was a terrible display of the flesh I threw a hymn book at one man fast asleep and there I was trying to win souls and again I had to apologize and I looked at that and I thought Lord where's the meekness in me you see we're all off balance aren't we and we need to help one another and we must pray that God will give us that meekness and then temperance has to do with self-control that means we must be filled with the spirit we must be filled with joy but don't get out of control you see I've been with some people and they're swinging on chandeliers and swinging on the bows and rolling over the floor and it's terrible you see that's not the fruit of the spirit the fruit of the spirit is self-control now beloved let's ask ourselves a question do we want to be ugly people do we want to be beautiful people let's ask the Lord to bring us under the yoke let's not go home until we say Lord on this Thursday night I'm going to come under the yoke and I'm going to trust you to live your life in me and produce those lovely fruits of the spirit let's ask him to do that let us pray father we pray tonight that thou will bring us all right under the yoke if there are some here tonight and perhaps they've wandered from that position and they've got cold in hearts and the things of the world have grabbed hold of them we pray lovingly and gently for them restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself lest thou also be tempted and Lord should there be some of our beloved brethren and sisters like that here tonight oh God bring about a restoration that the whole of the fellowship now represented by this company may now come under the yoke Lord grant it we pray that we might be a yielded group of people Lord teach us now to trust thee and to begin trusting thee so that these lovely fruits of the spirit may be formed in each one of us and Lord we pray that thou will work on us to such an extent that week by week month by month year by year these lovely fruits will be seen not so much by our brethren but by those with whom we live those that are near us oh Lord may we be more beautiful in Christ to them Lord grant it we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus amen