The Fruit of The Spirit
A Sermon on John 1:12-13
Originally preached May 5, 1963
Scripture
12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Sermon Description
The fruits of the Spirit are core to the nature of the Christian – love, joy, peace, patience, etc. These characteristics should be in the Christian and increasing. They have a tremendous impact on oneself, others, and in service to God. As Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explores this subject in this sermon on John 1:12–13, he challenges the listener to examine the real fruit exposed when a person is under pressure. A true Christian will demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. As a Christian faces suffering, trial, discipline, and persecution, it will reveal the nature that is being built within. Do trials and sufferings produce perseverance, longsuffering, and hope? When one is cut, do they bleed the fruit of the Spirit? When they are reviled, do they revile in return? Does the Christian entrust themselves to God who judges justly? Do the pressures of life reveal a growing patience, kindness, and meekness that is growing in the soul? Dr. Lloyd-Jones focuses on some of the most referenced fruits of the Spirit, illustrating and applying each one to the life of the Christian. He exhorts the Christian to carefully and prayerfully examine their own life to see whether the pressures of life reveal a new creation in the soul or a soul in need of new life.
Sermon Breakdown
- The passage under consideration is John 1:12-13 which states that those who believe in Jesus are given the power to become children of God.
- The central message of the incarnation and Jesus coming into the world was so that those who believe in him can become children of God.
- The most important thing in life is knowing that we are children of God through faith in Jesus. This is meant to be known and enjoyed in this life.
- We are examining ourselves to make sure we are truly children of God. The tests are to give assurance, not cause discomfort, though they may reveal uncomfortable truths.
- We have looked at our relationship to the Son and Father. Now we consider our relationship to the Holy Spirit. Specifically, we are looking at the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23.
- The fruit of the Spirit is singular, with multiple aspects. They are interrelated and hard to have one without the others.
- The fruit of the Spirit refers to graces, not gifts. Gifts can be counterfeited, graces cannot. The fruit is a more sensitive test than gifts or knowledge.
- The first group of the fruit of the Spirit refers to our essential nature: love, joy, peace. These are deep, fundamental characteristics, not superficial.
- The second group refers to our relationships with others: longsuffering, gentleness, goodness. The test emerges in how we deal with others.
- Longsuffering means patience, even when suffering injustice. We see examples in Christ and Paul. It shows the depth of our love, joy and peace.
- Gentleness or kindness means not hitting back, forgiving, and handling others gently. It does not mean spinelessness or avoiding truth. We see Christ's example.
- Goodness means desiring others' good and doing good to them even if they do evil to us. We see Christ's teaching in Matthew 5:43-48.
- The third group refers to our character before God: faithfulness, meekness, temperance.
- Faithfulness means dependability, reliability and loyalty, not fitfulness. The Spirit produces stability and depth of character.
- Meekness means humility before God and others, not thinking too highly of oneself. We see examples in Moses, Christ, and Paul. The meek are less sensitive to criticism because they know the truth about themselves.
- Temperance means self-control, discipline, and ordered living. The Spirit enables this, not taking away our temperament but controlling it. We see Paul's instruction to Timothy.
Sermon Q&A
What Does Martyn Lloyd-Jones Teach About the Fruit of the Spirit?
What are the three main groups of the fruit of the Spirit according to Lloyd-Jones?
According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 can be categorized into three main groups:
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The first group describes our essential nature as Christians: love, joy, and peace. These qualities represent what we are fundamentally as believers.
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The second group concerns our relationship to others: long-suffering (patience), gentleness (kindness), and goodness. These qualities show how we interact with people around us.
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The third group relates to our general character, especially as it manifests before God: faithfulness (not faith), meekness, and temperance (self-control).
As Lloyd-Jones explains, "Having considered what we are ourselves essentially, we now go on to consider what we are in our relationship to others... and then we are back to our general character, and especially as it manifests itself in the sight of and before God."
How does Lloyd-Jones distinguish between the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit?
Lloyd-Jones makes a clear distinction between the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit:
"I have also emphasized the fact that we are dealing here not with the so-called gifts of the spirit. You will read all about them in 1 Corinthians 12. These are not the gifts, these are the graces, and therefore a much more delicate and sensitive test."
He explains that gifts can sometimes be given to people who later prove not to be genuine Christians, and that even the devil can counterfeit many gifts. However, "he can never counterfeit the graces." The fruit represents character transformation that only the Holy Spirit can produce, making it "the most delicate and sensitive test" of authentic Christian life.
What does Lloyd-Jones teach about long-suffering as part of the fruit of the Spirit?
Lloyd-Jones describes long-suffering as our ability to bear with difficult people and circumstances without losing our fundamental characteristics of love, joy, and peace. He says:
"What the apostle is saying, in effect, is this, that to the man who has the Spirit of God in him, and in whom the Spirit of God is bearing fruit, this man is not disturbed because of the love and the joy and the peace that are in him. He's got such a settled condition of his soul and his spirit that he can't be upset easily."
Lloyd-Jones points to Christ as the supreme example of long-suffering, particularly in His treatment of Judas Iscariot. He also references 1 Peter 2, where Christians are called to endure unjust suffering patiently. Long-suffering means not taking vengeance but committing ourselves to God who judges righteously, and only the Spirit can enable us to respond this way to mistreatment.
How does Lloyd-Jones explain the difference between true gentleness and mere tolerance?
Lloyd-Jones is careful to distinguish true Christian gentleness/kindness from a spineless tolerance that accepts anything:
"There are many who seem to interpret this as meaning that a man is tolerant of everything, will agree with everything, doesn't matter what is said... Kindness is mistaken for a general affability, but it's a very, very different thing."
He explains that gentleness and kindness "do not mean spinelessness" or "just mean niceness or the absence of any strong, firm characteristics." To illustrate this, he points out how both Jesus and Paul could be gentle with people while strongly denouncing error and falsehood.
Lloyd-Jones makes this vital distinction: "We have to differentiate between the error and the people who are the innocent or deluded victims of the error, blinded by the God of this world." True gentleness means opposing falsehood firmly while treating people with kindness and without malice.
What does the term "faithfulness" mean as part of the fruit of the Spirit?
Lloyd-Jones clarifies that what's translated as "faith" in Galatians 5:22 actually means "faithfulness":
"Well, now, here again, unfortunately, is not the right translation at all. It doesn't mean faith. It means faithfulness. He's not talking about faith in the sense that he talks about faith as one of the gifts of the spirit."
He explains that faithfulness manifests as:
- Dependability
- Reliability
- Loyalty
It's "the opposite of a man who's a Christian, as it were, by fits and starts, who manifests these things in spasms." The Spirit produces stability and a "settled condition" in the believer's character, making them someone you can count on.
Lloyd-Jones adds: "What the apostle is saying is this, that the Spirit produces stability, reliability. He produces a settled condition. He produces such depths in the character that there's something solid and durable, dependable and reliable."
The Book of John
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.