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04 - The Fruit of the Spirit is Love - The Spiritual Life - Andrew Murray · Sacred Texts Archive

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  The fruits of the Spirit. Last night I tried to put before you what
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  a life filled with the Holy Spirit may be, but more from the doctrinal
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  side. These expressions were found in Romans eighth chapter. Walk in the Spirit,
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  being made free by the Spirit from the law of sin and death,
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  being in the Spirit, having the Spirit dwelling in us through the Spirit,
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  mortifying the deeds of the body being led by the Spirit, having the Spirit
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  of adoption. All these are truths which have to be appropriated and assimilated and
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  worked out in actual life. I want this morning to look at the matter
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  more from the practical side, and to show you how this life will show
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  itself in our daily walk and conduct. Under the Old Testament, you know,
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  the Holy Spirit often came upon men as a divine spirit of revelation to
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  reveal the mysteries of God, or for power to do the work of God.
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  But He did not then dwell in them. Now, as I said
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  yesterday morning, many just want the Old Testament gift of power for work,
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  but know very little of the New Testament gift of the indwelling Spirit, animating
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  and renewing the whole life. We saw last night that when God gives the
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  Holy Spirit. His great object is the formation of holy character. We saw
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  that it was a gift of a holy mind and spiritual disposition, and that
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  we need above everything else to say, I must have the Holy Spirit sanctifying
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  my whole inner life if I am really to live for God's glory. You
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  might say that when Christ promised the Spirit to the disciples, he did so
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  that they might have power to be witnesses true. But then they received the
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  Holy Ghost in such heavenly power and reality that he took possession of their whole
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  being at once, and so fitted them as holy men for doing the work
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  with power as they had to do it. Christ spoke of power to the
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  disciples, but it was the Spirit filling their whole being that worked the power.
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  I wish to speak this morning upon the passage found in Galatians five twenty
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  two. The fruit of the Spirit is love. We read that love is
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  the fulfilling of the whole law. And my desire is to speak to you
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  this morning on love as a fruit of the spirit, with a twofold object
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  one is that this word may be a search light in our hearts and give
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  us a test by which to try all our thoughts about the Holy Spirit and
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  all our experience of the Holy life. Let us try ourselves by this word.
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  Has this been your daily habit to seek the being filled with the Holy
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  Spirit as the spirit of love. The fruit of the Spirit is love.
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  Has it been your experience that the more you have of the Holy Spirit,
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  the more loving you become. In claiming the Holy Spirit, you should make
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  this the first object of your expectation. The Holy Spirit comes as a spirit
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  of love. Oh, if this were true in the Church of Christ,
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  how different her state would be. May God help us this morning to just
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  get hold of this simple heavenly truth that the fruit of the Spirit is a
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  love which appears in the life, and that just as the Holy Spirit gets
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  real possession of the life, the heart will be filled with real divine universal
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  love. To understand this fully, let us remember that God, from whom
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  the Spirit comes is love. Love is not a mere attribute of God,
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  but God is Love. And because this Holy Spirit comes as the Spirit of
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  God, he comes as the spirit of love. What does it mean that
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  God is love? You have in the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians the most
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  perfect definition of love. Love seeketh not its own it goes out of itself
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  and lives in its object, et cetera. Love longs to commend itself too,
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  and bless the object of its love. Therefore, it was an absolute
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  necessity in the idea of a perfect God that he should have a son to
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  whom he could communicate himself. We cannot conceive of God, who is love
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  alone. He must have a son to whom he can communicate himself and with
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  whom we can have fellowship. So God is love, and in the everlasting
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  intercourse of the Trinity, the Spirit is the bond of fellowship between the Father
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  and Son. The Holy Spirit is the overflowing and interchange of the love between
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  Father and son. He is the very life of Deity. If that spirit
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  comes to us, he comes in no other way than as the spirit of
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  love. God is love, not only to Christ, but in Christ.
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  God created the world that he might pour out his love upon it, and
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  that he might give to all his creatures just as much of his love as
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  they are capable of receiving. God is love. God created angels and men
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  that they might enjoy fellowship with him, his love permeating and filling their whole
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  being. When man had fallen. When sin had darkened this love of God
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  in man, what did he do? He gave his own son to the
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  death to restore it to that fallen world. God gave his son in a
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  new way, in the flesh, to prove to man the power of his
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  love. And with his son he gave his life, his joy, his
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  glory, his holiness, his power, his blessedness. In Christ, he
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  gives it all. God is love, ever delighting to give and communicate himself.
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  Love is the essential nature of God, with the Holy Spirit coming from
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  this God. Must we not expect that he will fill us with love.
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  Sin has robbed us of love. You know that God created man male and
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  female, that they might live a life of love, even as God lives
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  in love, and they might be happy in love. When sin came,
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  it destroyed the love. You know how easily Adam puts the blame upon his
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  wife, how speedily Cain killed Abel, How soon the world became filled with
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  wickedness. How true it is that since that time the world is full of
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  divisions and strife, of sin and unrighteousness. Love vanished from the world.
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  There may have been beautiful examples of love, even among the heathen but only
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  as a little remnant of what has been lost. The worst thing sin ever
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  did was it made men selfish, and selfishness cannot love. Selfishness can do
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  something that is called love. It can lead me to love someone who pleases
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  me or makes me happier. But that is not real love. The true,
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  unselfish love that loves the unworthy or unlovable. Sin destroyed. To bring
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  this love back to us, Jesus came. He came as the manifestation of
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  divine love. We read before he went to be crucified that having loved his
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  own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end. Christ's
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  life with his disciples was one of love. His influence was personal. His
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  whole intercourse with them was one of love. In the thirteenth chapter of John,
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  you will remember Christ said unto them a new commandment. I give unto
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  you, that ye love one another. This commandment differed from all other commandments,
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  and yet it contained them all. It was a new commandment Christ alone
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  could give because he had revealed a new love and would give it to the
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  heart by giving his speak it bear. I tell you love one another.
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  By this, shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love
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  one another. In the fifteenth chapter, he says again this commandment have I
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  given unto you, that ye love one another. In the seventeenth chapter,
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  he prayed that they may be one as we are one, that the world
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  may know that thou hast loved me and has sent me, and hast loved
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  them as thou hast loved me. The world is to know the love of
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  God through Christ by our love to one another. So we are taught that
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  the great mark of the believer is that he is to be a man of
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  love. Dear friends, how little the world understands that, how little the
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  Church understands that, how little it is preached or proved in practice, that
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  love is actually the chief thing for every believer to set his heart upon.
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  How little can believers say before God, Thou knowest I pray for one thing,
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  fill me with love. I study one thing? How can I be
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  filled with love? The Lord Jesus came to bring love back to the world.
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  He did so when he died on Calvary. It was the triumph and
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  the revelation of love. And now he calls us to dwell and to walk
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  in love. He demands that though a man hates you, you still love
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  him. True love cannot be conquered by anything in heaven or upon the earth.
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  The more hatred there is, the more love triumphs through it all and
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  shows its true nature. This is the love that Christ commanded his disciples to
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  exercise. John in his epistle says that Christ laid down his life for us.
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  Therefore we ought to lay down our life for the brethren. How little
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  men understand that. Look at the disciples. How often there were dissensions among
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  them. More than once they disputed as to who should be chief in the
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  kingdom. There was pride ma because of their want of love. Love is
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  humility. Love says, I only exist to be a blessing to others.
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  Love cannot be selfish. It loves as Jesus loved. The disciples, whom
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  Christ had chosen had to be taught many things, but one chief object was
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  to let us see what human nature is, and how incapable it is of
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  the higher life of love like Christ's. Until the Holy Spirit comes second.
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  When Jesus Christ had revealed love on earth and had done the work of redeeming
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  love, the Holy Spirit came from heaven to bring his love down into our
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  hearts. We ought to think of Pentecost as it brought the very life and
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  love of Jesus into the hearts of his disciples. So it was that Peter
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  could speak out of the very spirit of Jesus. The disciples learned not only
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  to love each other, but even their enemies. We talk of their bold
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  because that comes out in contrast to their cowardice. It was the redeeming love
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  of Christ that came to take possession of them, which the Holy Spirit brought
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  down from heaven. In the second and the fourth chapters of Acts, we
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  read that they were of one heart and one soul. During the three years
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  they had walked with Christ, they never had one heart and one soul.
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  All Christ's teaching could not make them of one heart and one soul. But
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  the Holy Spirit comes from Heaven and sheds the love of God in their hearts,
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  and they are of one heart and one soul. The same Holy Spirit
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  that brought the love of Heaven into their hearts must fill us too. Nothing
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  less will do, even as Christ did. One might preach love for three
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  years with the tongue of an angel, that would not teach any man to
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  love unless the power of the Holy Spirit come upon him to bring the love
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  of Heaven into his heart. If we wait upon the Holy Spirit and yield
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  ourselves to him, he will fill us with the love of God. Look
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  at this as we have it here in our text. It is in our
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  daily life and conduct that the fruit of the Spirit is love. From that
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  there comes all the graces and virtues in which love is manifested. Joy,
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  peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, no sharpness or hardness in your
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  tone, no unkindness or selfishness, meekness before God and man. You see
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  that all these are the gentler virtues. I have often thought as I read
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  those words in Collossis, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy
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  and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
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  long suffering. That if we had written, we should have put in the
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  foreground the manly virtues zeal, courage, and diligence. But we need to
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  see how the gentler, the most womanly virtues are specially connected with dependence upon
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  the Holy Spirit. These are indeed heavenly graces. They never were found in
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  the heathen world. Christ was needed to come from heaven to teach us.
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  Your blessedness is long suffering, meekness, kindness, Your glory is humility before
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  God. The fruit of the Spirit that He brought from Heaven out of the
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  heart of the crucified Christ, and that he gives in our heart is first
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  and foremost love. Don't you see that if this is really true, our
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  great desire in asking to be filled with the Holy Spirit our great study.
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  Now that we are talking about the filling of the Spirit, and how to
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  be filled with power by the Spirit, our great aim and study must be
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  to get hold of this thought. If we are to have the Holy Spirit,
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  we must give up ourselves, give up self to live the life of
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  love. How sadly has this been wanting? What shall I say about the
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  divisions throughout the Church of Christ, How the most precious truths given by Christ
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  to unite us had been made barriers of separation. Take the Lord's Supper.
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  What terrible quarrels between Reformed Lutherans about the meaning of the simple words this is
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  my body. What was meant as a bond of union is a badge of
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  separation. Alas, how little the divine beauty, the divine supremacy of love
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  has been seen, our doctrines, our creeds have been more important than love.
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  In these later times. Even the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a
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  cause of separation. Let us learn not to expect that everyone should think the
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  same or express themselves in the same way. Let our first care be to
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  exercise love, gentleness, kindness. We often think that we are valiant for
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  the truth, and we forget that God's word commands us to speak the truth
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  in love. How often one hears that even a way out among the heathen
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  or mission stations, there are too often divisions and coldness among those who are
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  working for God because of differences of temperament or opinion. Estrangements and jealousies come
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  in, and love waxes cold. What a sad thing in the church that
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  earnest Christians who have given up all for Christ have never learned the mystery of
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  love? Is it any different at home? Is there not often in the
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  circles where we meet together in church councils and committees, in missions and associations
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  a want of that love among fellow workers, which is the true mark of
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  the presence of the Holy Ghost? Is there not often harsh judgment, evil
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  speaking, et cetera. Or because the love of Christ has not been allowed
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  to take complete possession. Is there not often even in the family the outburst
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  of temper and haste alas we have not learned to love, have not even
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  learned to count love the chief fruit of the spirit. We must learned to
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  take this word as the true test of life in the spirit. All our
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  desire to be filled with the spirit must center here, to have self sunk
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  down in willingness, in humility, and to have the love of God and
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  Jesus become the life of our life. I want to lead you to the
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  life in which love is supreme, in which love shall bow you down in
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  such deep humility that go where you will, and let man do what they
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  will. You shall say, by the help of God, I must love.
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  Let us bring our whole life to the looking glass of this Word of
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  God. Let us think of the Church and Christians around us. When you
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  have looked around, well, then look at yourself and say, O,
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  God, I ask THEE so often to fill thy church with the Holy Spirit.
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  Have I been filled with the spirit of love? You know what John
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  says, No man hath seen the Father at any time. If we love
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  one another, God dwells in us. That is, I cannot see God,
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  but as a compensation, I can see my brother, and if I
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  love him, God dwells in me. Is that really true? That I
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  cannot see God, but I must love my brother and God will dwell in
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  me. Loving my brother is the way to real fellowship with God. You
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  know what John further says in that most solemn test First John, chapter four,
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  verse twenty. If a man says he loves God and hates his brother,
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  he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom
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  he hath seen, How can he love God whom he hath not seen?
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  There is a brother, a most unlovable man. He worries you every time
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  you meet him. He is of the very opposite disposition to yours. You
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  are a careful business man, and you have got to do with him in
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  your business. He is most untidy, unbusinesslike you say, I cannot love
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  him. Oh, friends, you have not learned the lesson that Christ wanted
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  to teach. Above everything, Let a man be what he will. You
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  are to love him. Love is to be the fruit of the spirit all
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  the day and every day. Yes, listen, if a man loves not
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  his brother, whom he hath seen. If you don't love that unlovable man
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  whom you have seen, how can you love God, whom you have not
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  seen. You can deceive yourself with beautiful thoughts about loving God. You must
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  prove your love to God by your love to your brother. That is the
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  one standard. God will judge your love to him by. If the love
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  of God is in your heart, you will love your brother. The fruit
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  of the Spirit is love. The first thing you need. If you want
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  to be filled with the Spirit in any real, full sense of the word,
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  you must not only have him take possession of your will, but you
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  must yield up your heart and life to be filled with the spirit of love.
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  Nothing can enable you to live such a life of love but the fullness
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  of the Holy Spirit. The two texts are inseparably connected. Be filled with
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  the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love. If a man wants
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  to have the fruit of an apple tree, he must plant the apple tree.
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  You must have the tree if you want the fruit. If you want
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  to be filled with the love of God, you must be filled with the
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  spirit. You must come with the humble confession of how little you have loved
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  or even desired to be full of love. You have sought for the power
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  of the Holy Spirit in your work in pride and selfishness. You have not
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  given up yourself to Him to be filled first of all with love, with
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  gentleness, in humility and meekness. Oh, come and make confession, and
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  let Christ cleanse you from the selfishness and pride and unlovingness. Seek to be
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  filled with the Spirit for a daily life of humility and love. And the
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  power of the Spirit for service will come. Brother, Do you want to
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  be filled with the Spirit of God? Is it true? Do you really
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  want to be filled with love? That you may be the humblest, gentlest
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  of men, so that every one may know that you are a disciple by
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  the love you have. Brethren, if we love one another, God dwelleth
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  in us and we in God, and then we can be perfected in love.
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  Is that an attainment of ours? It is a gift, a bestowment
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  of the Holy Spirit. I hope in the evening to speak about the hindrances
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  to this life. How it comes that this life in the spirit, this
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  love of the Spirit, walking after the Spirit, made free by the Spirit,
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  in dwelt by the Spirit, having the witness of the Spirit. What
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  it is that hinders these in our life? How it is that Christ has
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  given the Spirit, that the Spirit is in the Church, and her life
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  is so feeble. But meantime, let us, first in confession, ask
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  God to forgive us our shortcomings. Let us, in prayer and faith yield
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  ourselves and let God fill us with the Spirit of love. Let us even
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  now absolutely and entirely give ourselves to be just vessels filled with the love of
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  God. Let us even now say to God that we accept the lesson,
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  that the Spirit comes to fill us with the love of Heaven, with a
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  love that makes loving others the one joy of our life, that we yield
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  ourselves to it, and that by His grace we will make this our one
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  object and desire. May God write it in our hearts. The Holy Spirit's
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  fruit and chief work is to give Christ and the Love of God in us
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  for our every day life. By His grace, we can live lives of
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  unceasing love.