Hallelujah!  The Lord is good and His mercies endure forever.  The Lord is truly good, hallelujah!  Do you remember the statement that was made to the Master?  They called Him, "Good Master."  He said, “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God”; amen?  Therefore, Jesus, as He was speaking in His great Sermon on the Mount, made a comment that we should be consciously aware of at all times, letting men see our good works that they might glorify our Father which is in heaven.  Anything that’s good that comes out of us, that comes through us, is of our Father which is in heaven; amen?

Our good works are not an expression of ourselves.  They are not to draw attention to ourselves.  Our good works aren’t for the purpose of actually benefitting others.  Our good works are for the purpose of glorifying God.  That is something that we want to be conscious of at all times, realizing that good works are actually the working of the fruit of the Spirit in us and through us and not an effort of our own.  When we try to do good works, when we’re the source of the good works, it is vanity.  It actually, in fact, robs the glory of God.

Just like the apostles, when they worked the great miracle, they said, “Why look on us, as though by our own power, by our own righteousness we’ve accomplished anything?”  We want you to understand one thing for sure, this miracle—and there is no greater miracle than men doing good works, loving others better than themselves.  There is no greater miracle than regeneration and being able to live and walk in the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-26 notes the fruits of the Spirit that are to be working in us.  He makes a statement concerning this fruit or the evidence of God’s life in us, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering…”  We’re going to emphasize these next two words this morning, “gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and 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…”  Don’t try to rob any of God’s glory.  Don’t try to draw attention to ourselves, but let us provoke one another.  “Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”  As the apostle is speaking to us here by the Holy Spirit, this is the outward evidence of that great inward work that is taking place in us.