Wax Apples & The Fruit of the Spirit
Pastor Steve Evans
Washington Assembly
March 1, 2015
Introduction
I want to share with you a very honest message, but a message that I trust will cause you to draw closer in your walk with the Lord.
I must say that I came about this message in a most peculiar way. It was just the other day as I sat before the Lord in this sanctuary that I read the words of the Psalmist who came to a place where he realized that his joy was gone, and then we read the words of his prayer, " Lord, restore unto me the joy of your salvation."
Those words "restore unto me" began to resonate in my spirit and for a couple of weeks now that word has turned in my heart. To hear this man call out to the Lord for restoration was just such a blessing and it struck such a chord in my heart that I knew immediately that I must preach a message entitled "restore unto me."
As the days passed and I began preparation I found it very difficult to arrange this message that just days before had so blessed my own spirit. And from there the Lord began to show me other things and that's where I invite you to join me today.
Body
Descriptions of the Christian Life
So numerous that even the heathens know how we should act
Countless Scriptures give insight into the behavior and character of the life of the Believer, and thank God it does because what is shown us in these Scriptures is a life beyond compare.
The Promise of Jesus Christ to those whose lives are rooted in him is this:
John 15:5 NIV “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
How do we remain or abide in Christ? We remain or abide in Christ through the fellowship of the Spirit.
In Galatians 5:22-23 NIV we are given the attributes and characteristics of this fruit that should be born out of a spirit-filled Christ centered life when the writer says by the Spirit's inspiration, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Again the Bible says, "Romans 14:17 NKJV ...the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
John 14:27 NKJV Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Peter says that the knowledge of Christ and his sacrifice for us is to produce "joy unspeakable and full of glory." (1 Peter 1:8)
Missing the Mark
Genesis 2:15-17 NKJV Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
I'm not sure why but it seems that we as human beings have an uncanny ability to be able to get things backward in the economy of God's kingdom.
God said don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and what happened.
God has said spoken to us and told us what the fruits of the spirit are and we behold them as if they're something to be put on display and not enjoyed.
I want you to understand that I'm not here to argue against scripture today, and I'm not here to say that we shouldn't be witnesses:
We know how the outside world looks on at Christians
We know their expectations of us.
We know that bearing fruit is a part of having a good testimony.
Somehow I feel like we have come to a place where we are more concerned about having our fruit on display for the world to see then we are asking the question "am I a partaker of the fruits of a life in Christ through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit."
Do I have peace in my life?
Is there joy in my heart?
When temptation comes do I have any self-control?
Is there any gentleness in me?
Do I have love in my heart?
Am I patient?
Is there love in my heart?
Well pastor I need to take care of my testimony!
No you don't! You need to take care of your own heart and your testimony will take care of itself.
What are you saying pastor? I'm saying that for too many of us the knowledge of the standard for the life of the believer has become something that we strive to uphold for the world to see more than we earnestly expect those things for our lives.
We’re far more concerned about the world thinking that we have peace than we are actually abiding in it.
We’re far more concerned about someone else thinking we have joy than we are getting down to business with God until it is restored.
We want everyone to think we’ve got self-control but inside we’re a wreck. Our thoughts, emotions and feeling are running away while we stand around and say “we’ve been made more than conquerors through Christ Jesus who loves us.”
Illustration: In our house if we want something to eat we go to the produce stand and buy real fruit. If we need something to satisfy the craving in us we look for some real fruit! If we want something to fill the void in our lives we reach for some real fruit, but if we want something to put out on the table for the company to look at we set out a bowl of wax fruit. We don’t have to maintain the freshness of the wax fruit! We don’t worry about ever having to replenish the wax fruit. When it gets in the way we can set the wax fruit to the side and we’re happy to know that it’s over in the cabinet should we need to take it out and show it off, but otherwise it has no effect on our lives.
For too many we've just learned how to play the part, and were walking around with our basket of fruit and it's nothing more than wax apples pressed in the mold of dead religion.
we've got nothing of sustenance when the trials come,
we've got nothing to strengthen us when adversity stands against us,
We’ve got no peace when the storms roll in.
We've got no self-control when temptation comes
Because we're more concerned with showing off our fruit than we are walking in the Spirit; tasting and seeing that the Lord is good and satisfying our mouths with the good things He gives.
David and Bathsheba
A story about the terrible fall of a man of God
There are some things about this situation, though not stated in the Bible about which human nature informs us.
Previous chapter tells of David’s conquests.
He was the king, and I’m sure was fulfilling that role to the best of his human ability
Understand that kingship had come to him by God’s anointing.
He was not elected by a people nor did he win a popularity contest
There were no government counsels to be satisfied. The only thing he had done to get where he did was to satisfy the heart of God.
He was walking like God’s anointed.
He was talking like God’s anointed
Up to this point He was acting like God’s anointed.
I can promise you, according to human nature, that there were things about David's life that only the most spiritually discerning would have noticed.
I’m sure that David did a good job of keeping up the appearances of filling the office of God’s anointed.
But when the moment of temptation came the man of God had no self-control.
As the situation unfolded the man of God exhibited no love.
For those affected by the situation He caused there was no peace.
Finally we see the man of God face down in his chambers crying and mourning over the death of this unborn child.
Understand that this was a man who once danced before the Lord with all his might. His praise used to be so sweet and sincere that he would stand before Saul and praise the Lord and the evil spirits that vexed him would have to flee.
Something happened along the way and I’m not trying to add to the Scripture this morning but if human nature tells us anything it would suggest that there’s a part of that story that’s missing
It would tell about a praise and worship that had grown cold.
It would tell of a man whose heart had become complacent
It would tell about a man going through the motions, keeping up the appearances but in fact was that he had become more concerned with shining wax apples for everyone else to behold than tasting and seeing that the Lord is Good!
How do I know that? It has happened to any great man of God you’ve ever seen fall.
They weren’t bad people, they never intended for things to turn out like they did.
But they got more concerned with a fruit of convenience than they were with a fruit that satisfied and the same can happen to you and the same can happen to me nobody’s exempt!
The Prayer of Restoration
What I want to share with you next I believe is one of the greatest measures of God’s grace.
God dealt with David and showed Him the error of His way and like the prodigal reminded him of the wonderful fare that there was in the Father’s house.
As David was there taking Spiritual inventory I’m sure that he remembered the times when He sang and danced before the Lord and wept with tears of joy, his heart brimming with the goodness of God.
And he probably doesn’t even know how he got this far away and certainly he didn’t realize at the time that he was, but he found out that those wax apples won’t do anything for you when troubles comes knocking.
I like to be thought of as a reasonable man, and certainly one who’s not legalistic, but I’m here to tell you church that if you’ve God no joy God hasn’t changed, if you’ve got no peace God’s not changed, If you’ve Got no self-control God’s not changed. If you’ve got not patience, love or gentleness God’s not changed.
David realized the truth that God hadn’t moved but that he was the one who had drifted away.
God is our savior and our refuge and the provider of all things,
We are responsible for the condition of our own hearts.
This 51st Psalm shows us how David got down before God and began to cry out with a repentant heart and asked the Lord for forgiveness, and that God would purge him of his sins, wash him and make him whiter than snow.
Then David ordered up some fruit, he said God I’m ready to put this wax mess away, I’m ready for something satisfying, “Restore unto me the JOY of your salvation!
This is not a message to call anybody to the carpet today. This is a message to make us stop and think about our true spiritual condition.
I don’t know where you’re at today, you don’t have to be as far down as David got, but I want to ask how long has it been since you ate of the fruit of His goodness?
How long has it been since you’ve felt something welling up on the inside of you that you could hardly contain?
How long has it been since the peace of God has overwhelmed your life to the point that you were able to sing, “I’ve got a feeling everything’s gonna be all right!”
How long has it been since the word of faith was something more than a phrase you repeated it was the bedrock of your life?
Let me say to you today you’ll never muster it up by yourself. Jesus said, John 15:5 NIV “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Let me say to you if you’ve lost your joy maybe you need to call out to the Lord as David did, Lord, restore unto me the joy of your salvation.
If you’re lacking the measure of faith that comes only by the dispensation of the Spirit then perhaps you need to call out as the father of the boy whom Jesus healed, “Lord I believe but Help my unbelief.”
If you’re struggling in an area of your life maybe you need to call out to the Lord, “Lord restore unto me self-control!
If you’re struggling in the depths of despair today you need to call out to the Lord, “restore my peace!”
Whatever’s lacking in your life today you need to call out to the Lord and say God won’t you restore unto me the things that the enemy has stolen away from me.
Maybe you were closer to God at one point than you are today call out Lord Restore unto me!
Conclusion
The fruit’s not just there to make you look good, It’s not there just to serve as an ornament for your life, It’s there to satisfy the hunger on the inside of you.
The fruit if there so that when the world around you is being bent all out of shape you don’t have to be.
The fruit’s there to sustain you in the tough time, it’s there to see you through the hard times.
Check your fruit and wherever you find any wax apples they’ve got to go.
That’s the front that you put on for your family, friends and church people.
It’s a façade that says everything’s okay when actually you’re dying inside.
It’s that place in your life where you’re struggling with destructive habits yet you want everyone to believe you’re a saint!
It’s that part of you that aides in misery and you’re afraid to let anybody see that’s the wax apple and you need to exchange it for the fruit of the Spirit.
