LOC 062 Fruit and Root
We are coming to the close of the sermon on the mount in our study
of the Life of Christ. He gives the
disciples some final words of warning and instruction and then closes with a
parable. This morning, we will look at
what Jesus said as he gave an important warning to his disciples. He warns, then instructs them about men
ending the thought with the two most sobering verses in all of this
sermon.
Let’s read through the text with some headings added to form an
outline:
1. The Warning
Matt. 7:15-20 “ ¶ Beware of false prophets,
2. Their Outward Appearance
who come to you in sheep’s clothing,
3. Their Inward Condition
but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
4. How they are Discerned
16 “You will know them by
their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
5. The Root determines the
Fruit
17 “Even so, every good tree
bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a
bad tree bear good fruit.
6. The Bad Tree’s Destruction
19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is
cut down and thrown into the fire.
7. The Conclusion of the
Christ
20 “Therefore by their fruits you will know
them.
8. It is not what you profess,
but what you possess
Matt. 7:21 “ ¶ Not everyone who says to
Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22
“Many will say to Me in that day,
‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in
Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23 “And then I will
declare to them, ‘I never knew you;
depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Let’s look a bit closer at the text:
1. The Warning
Matt. 7:15-20 “ ¶ Beware of false prophets,
The first word in the sentence is another of those commands in the
second person plural present active imperative.
Jesus is telling the disciples to actively be engaged in this activity
as a direct command from their master whenever they find themselves in the
present. They are told to Take Heed, to
be on their guard, to be vigilant, or to be in a continuous state of readiness
to learn of any future danger, need, or error, and to respond actively and
appropriately — ‘to pay attention to, to keep on the lookout for, to be alert
for, to be on one’s guard against.’
Jesus has already used this word in the Sermon to warn the
disciples against
Matt. 6:1 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable
deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your
Father in heaven.
In 6:1 they are to guard what they do before the eyes of man; in
7:15 they are to watch for a specific troubling influence from outside. Disciples, especially those called to
positions of leadership in Christ’s Church must be ever-vigilant about their
own souls on matters of the heart and on watch for matters coming from the
outside. It needs a constant state of
awareness, lest the soul be greatly troubled. This word is used 24 times in the
New Testament to convey this sense of dutiful vigilance, a watching out for
dangers.
One of the best passages to illustrate the force of this word is
found in Paul’s charge to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28:
Acts 20:28 “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all
the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the
church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
The elders are to take heed internally to themselves and
externally to all the flock...in order to shepherd the church of God which
Christ purchased. Considering the value
of what the elders watch, they must be vigilant to the nth degree. They must persevere in vigilance. They must be on guard. In the next verse the Apostle Paul;s
prophetic words are recorded by Luke, Acts 20:29 “For I know this, that after my departure
savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Elders are to take heed to watch for savage
wolves. Interestingly, this is what
Jesus tells his disciples to be vigilant about as well....
These Disciples who in less than two years were to become the
Apostles were not to let their guard down for a moment. They are to be as watchman looking out for
those Jesus calls False Prophets.
The word is literally Pseudo-prophets. It has the sense of what is fake or counterfeit. An imitation of the real thing. They were to be aware of the possibility of
false prophets, yes, but with the force of the language it is more than that it
has a sense of urgency about it as if Jesus expected there to be many false
prophets and teachers his disciples would encounter.
False prophets fall into two varieties:
A. Those who know
they are and exploit others for their
own gain.
B. Those who do not
know they are and yet end up exploiting
others.
The first are dead
wrong and will be justly condemned at
the judgment; the second sincerely wrong to be condemned
just the same.
There are many men who seize opportunities to teach who teach
error and become false teachers and prophets as they tell forth the word to
others. The Bible’s injunction is that
not many should become teachers, for with it comes a stricter judgment (James
3:1).
Not every Christian is to have a teaching ministry. That is one of the great errors of our
age. Christ gives pastors and teachers
to the Churches. It is their word we are to follow as they teach us to follow
Christ. A person seizing a teaching
position over others places himself in a precarious situation especially if
they have not been appointed by the Church and perceived as a gift of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Many freelancers will be shown to be false prophets in one way or
another.
2. Their Outward Appearance
who come to you in sheep’s clothing,
They come with the same appearance of the other sheep on the path.
They look good on the outside. False
teachers and prophets know how to dress and how to act so as to give the
impression they are one of the sheep. It
is remarkable illustrated in Matt. 24:24 where Jesus reminds and warns
the disciples once again, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and
show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
They know what they do and do it well. They are slick enough to deceive, if
possible, some who believe. False
Prophets are experts at what they do.
Their are many who are out there.
Their are many who come into Churches talking the talk. There is often an apparent godliness about
them with apparent works accompanying their profession. But what is manifest in time is their true
character. Jesus tells the disciples
that these pseudo-prophets will come in sheep's clothing, but,
3. Their Inward Condition
but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
They are wolves ready to pounce and eat any who stand in their
way. And this is the most fitting
description of these sorts of men. If
you have ever had dealings with them, you know what I mean. When you come to hit the nerves that make
them feel something, they lash out to destroy you with all sorts of vialness
while telling others they are doing the work of God. It is a terrible thing to see.
The word for ravenous is a loose translation of a word that is
most usually translated by thief and extortioner--one who steals and one who
extracts good or funds from another by coercion. A wolf cannot be an
extortioner or thief, but it can steal the sheep from a shepherd while its
right under his care, especially when the wolf is dressed as a sheep and if the
shepherd is not vigilant. False prophets
and teachers are ravenous wolves with a nice outward appearance. They never wear signs that say, “DANGER
RAVENOUS WOLF.” They dress like us and talk like us and seek to do what we do
as Christ’s disciples. Yet, they are
not. That is why we need to know.....
4. How they are Discerned
16 “You will know them by
their fruits.
Jesus gives this pithy little axiom so the disciples will know how
to tell a true prophet and teacher from a false one. Fruit cannot be faked, works can.
What do we mean by fruit?
Back in Genesis we find a description of the idea of fruit. Turn to Chapter One where we will read verses
11 & 12.
Gen. 1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb
that yields seed, and the fruit tree
that yields fruit according to its
kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass,
the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself
according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Basically, the creation was intended to produce fruit consistent
with a plant’s root. A fruit tree, that
is a tree that produces things that are edible, will yield fruit consistent
with its root. If the root of a tree is
an apple tree, one would expect to ordinarily get apples. If it is an orange tree in the root, one
expects to get oranges. If it is a plum
tree, plums. A tree produces fruit after
its own kind. The fruit drops seed
consistent with the kind of tree it is.
It perpetuates others of the same fruit. You can tell a tree by the
fruit it produces on its own branches and by its own seed that produces trees
consistent with its nature.
Jesus tells the disciples they will know who the false prophets
are by the fruit they will produce. So, therefore, the Disciples had to be
vigilant and look for fruit of the right kind in order to discern what the
stock was really made of. They would
need to be judicial judges of men’s inward motivations and schemes. They would need to be evervigilant because
the good of men’s souls would be at stake.
Jesus adds this quick illustration:
Do men gather grapes from
thornbushes or figs from thistles?
Where would they go if they wanted grapes? A grapevine!
Where would they go if they wanted figs? A fig tree!
A plant produces in the fruit what is consistent with its root.
5. The Root determines the
Fruit
17 “Even so, every good tree
bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a
bad tree bear good fruit.
Jesus turns the metaphor from fruit to mankind. A good tree bears what kind of fruit? Good
fruit. It is impossible for a good tree
to bear bad fruit and for a bad tree to produce good fruit. The fruit is consistent with the root.
But, we have a problem.
Didn’t Jesus recently make a statement about these disciples where he
made a statement about their very core problem?
Didn’t he say, in Matt. 7:11
“If you then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father
who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!?
What fruit should we expect to get from a tree that is rotten to
the core? Evil fruit? YES!! Where does Jesus expect the good trees and
the good fruit to come from if even his disciples are evil?
They need the character expressed in the earlier verses of the
sermon to be manifest in them by another.
Matt. 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.
Matt. 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
Matt. 5:5 Blessed are the meek, For
they shall inherit the earth.
Matt. 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Matt. 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, For
they shall obtain mercy.
Matt. 5:8 Blessed are the pure in
heart, For they shall see God.
Matt. 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
Matt. 5:10 Blessed are those who are
persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matt. 5:11 “Blessed are you when they revile and
persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
Matt. 5:12 “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great
is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before
you.
And, Matt. 5:48
“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is
perfect.
This is at the same time a promise and a command. They have no
means to bring this to pass in and of themselves, but are dependant upon the
one who is in himself perfection to bring it to pass. The beatitudes display the very character of
God that would be worked into the very fiber of the disciple’s existence. Their comfort was in the one who was perfect
to work in them what they lacked. And,
they lacked any spiritual good in and of themselves. They were better than no other people, only
better off due to the work of God upon them.
God would work in them the character they were to have. Or in the language of the epistles, we see
these things as the transforming fruit of the spirit. It is through the
believer, but it is because the root has been made good by being united to
Christ and having received his blessed spirit.
The same was true for the Disciples.
They could only be made good, by a work of God’s grace. This is another reason why their
righteousness had to be of another kind. It was not their own, it was God’s.
Bad trees cannot produce godly fruit for they have no part with
God. Jesus goes on to tell them about
the end that will surely come upon those without good fruit. He tells them of....
6. The Bad Tree’s Destruction
19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is
cut down and thrown into the fire.
This is a universal truth taught by the Lord Jesus Christ. Every single tree, meaning it to represent
men, that does not produce good fruit, is already cut down and will be thrown
into the fire.
This is a serious statement about what must be produced in the
life of disciples or those who profess to be and all others. In order for a tree to be preserves and kept
from being cut down and thrown into the fire, it must bear good fruit. All bad trees with bad fruit will be
condemned.
What sort of fruit is produced by your life? What fruit hangs on your life’s
branches? The question must be asked
because Jesus concludes.......
7. The Conclusion of the
Christ
20 “Therefore by their fruits you will know
them.
What fruit is produced in you and by you? Is it mercy, is it an awareness of your sin
and a mourning for it that humbles you to cry out to God and makes you
sympathetic to others? Is it an
infectious longing for the things of God that effects others around you like
your family, friends and fellow-church members?
Is it a quest to be pure in heart so much so you are an example of
godliness in all things to others. Do
others ever ask why you possess such a sure and certain hope? Are you known as
a peacemaker, bringing embattled parties together by God’s word and grace? Do you live in such a way that you joyfully
endure even in the midst of hostile sentiments.
Is the fruit hanging on you as a tree produced by a life of faith as the
disciple submits to his or her Lord and master?
Or, is your life one of constant strife do to your own unmerciful
and unforgiving spirit? Are you
contentious to pick a fight at any hint of a difference with you. DO you always have to have your way
mercilessly? Do you long for the things
of this world and do they manifest themselves in your attitudes and life? In what do you trust? Riches, prestige, that
you are good enough to produce good fruit?
Do you run away from taking a stand for Gospel truth in order to
tolerate others?
Are you loving, or do you seek your own pleasure and place.
Are you full of joy, or of a sour doleful disposition?
Are you at peace and do you promote it. Or are you contentious and
at war with others. Do you pick fights
practically and theologically.
Are you one who suffers the ill effects of others or their
misunderstandings in accord with longsuffering? Or are you quick to get
frustrated and to give up on others?
Are you a person of kindness or one who only expects it to be
extended to you.
What about goodness? Are you known by your faithfulness to Christ
and his people? Faithfulness in what you believe and in what you do as works of
mercy for the brethren and in the world.
Faithfulness in little that you might be found faithful in much?
What of gentleness in your spirit and your dealings with others.
What of self-control when you are alone with your thoughts and no
human can see your actions. The
Scripture tells us about these fruit produced by the Spirit himself in his true
people. The works of the righteous can
be imitated and mocked, but the fruit produced by God in a redeemed soul
cannot. Against these things produced by
God in the disciples’s lives there is no
law.
This is a serious matter because there is coming a day of
reckoning for all. Some who thought they
were on the way through the gate will discover it was the wrong way and a
mistaken gate through which they passed.
The fruit will be a basis of condemnation and commendation and that by
which disciples can discern their relationship to others. By the fruits of a man, the inner man will be
known.
Listen to the sobering words of the Lord Jesus Christ to his
disciples that day.....
8. It is not what you profess,
but what you possess
Matt. 7:21 “ ¶ Not everyone who says to
Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22
“Many will say to Me in that day,
‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in
Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23 “And then I will
declare to them, ‘I never knew you;
depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Some will be dead wrong thinking a mere one time profession was
enough. A profession of faith without
good fruit produced by the one who works faith in those who truly believe is
nothing.
Look at Titus 1:16. The
word translated declare in 7:23 is also found in this passage. It is the word most often translated either
confession or profession. It is
literally to speak the same thing as another.
There are true confessions like that essential to saving faith like we
find in Rom:10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and
believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be
saved.” But., a mere profession is not enough.
Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but
in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for
every good work....
The Scriptures are filled with sober words that challenge our
idolatrous perspectives. What is determinative in the end is God’s declaration
or confession about us and his work in us. His work to bring about the fruit
consistent with his work to make us new creatures in Christ and that we follow
in his way without self-delusion. We
cannot trust ourselves to save ourselves, we must trust only in Christ and his
saving grace to keep us on the way to life.
SO that at the end of the journey we might hear his commendation, rather
than receive his condemnation. Oh what a
sorry thing it will be for thousands who have looked to a mere profession of
spurious faith, rather than to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not about what we do, it is what he
does and produces in us. --Fruit spring up to life eternal. He makes the tree good because he brings it
in union with himself.
Or, as the Scripture puts it in the words of Jesus so poetically:
John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you,
unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am
the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much
fruit; for without Me you can do
nothing. 6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast
out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the
fire, and they are burned. 7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in
you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8
“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will
be My disciples.
9 “ ¶ As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My
love. 10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide
in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His
love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My
joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
for without Me you can do
nothing. Let that sink in deeply. Without Christ, none of us could do or be
what is commanded. We need to follow him
through the gate on the narrow way with his continual sustaining grace. He must make the root good for the right
fruit to be on our branches. It is his
work in us from first to last, from faith to faith. AMEN.
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