By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Good morning to everyone. I also want to greet you in the name of Jesus. I would like to share with you a message. A lot of it is somewhere where God has led us. What God is speaking to me about, I hope it can bless you, it can encourage you in your walk where God is calling you. [00:00:41] The text is found in Matthew 7, verse 13. By their fruits you shall know them. I would like to read there in verse 13 till verse 20. I'm not exactly sure where to stop and start here. There's a lot of, as you know, this is packed with Jesus' teaching of practical Christianity, and so there's a lot here that we're not going to touch, we're not going to talk about, but what I want to talk about is basically the title there, By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them. [00:01:19] Verse 13 Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Be aware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from porn bushes, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. [00:01:51] A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them. I'd like to just look at some of the words here to get a basis for what I want to share. Verse 16, it just gives a very practical example there. You don't gather fruit from thorn bushes. [00:02:25] In other words, you can see a plant for what it is by the fruit it's bearing. You don't expect to find grapes on a thistle. You don't expect to find them growing in the weeds on your garden, on the weeds in your garden. Verse 17 takes it a little bit deeper. It says, every good tree bears good fruit. And the two goods there are a little bit different. The first good, as bear good fruit, means benefit or well, beautiful. [00:03:02] Or, oh no, okay, every good tree is every good tree. Every benefit, the good there is well or something of benefit. But then the fruit, bear's good fruit is something beautiful or something valuable or virtuous for appearance or use. But the corrupt tree or the evil tree or the bad tree, whatever your Bible says there, [00:03:35] It, that means rotten or worthless and the rotten or worthless tree brings forth evil or bad fruit there. That bad means hurtful in effect or influence. Not something that's essentially evil in itself, but something that is evil in its influence or its effect on us. [00:04:06] And then verse 18, it simply says, the kind of fruit determines the kind of tree. A good tree can't bear bad fruit, and a bad tree can't bear good fruit. There's just no room for doubting that. There's some that appear that way. We have a tree in the Dominican Republic, an orange tree. It produces beautiful orange oranges. But they're very, very bitter. [00:04:39] They use them for vinegar. But if you would pick one of those oranges and you would bite into it, You would know this is a sour orange tree. There'd be no doubt in your mind. It's not, you wouldn't be saying, well, maybe that orange was a little bit sour. You wouldn't be questioning the tree. And that's what it's saying here. If the fruit is evil, well, you know the tree has a problem. The tree is the problem, not the fruit. [00:05:10] So, verse 19, every tree that does not give beautiful, valuable, virtuous fruit will be cut down and will come to an end. And verse 20, again, it just goes over and over. Wherefore, the conclusion, the fruit determines the tree. So how does this apply to us? By their fruit, you shall know. I don't know what you think about when you think about, when you hear that phrase, by their fruits you will know them. [00:05:46] I think about churches that are false, that don't teach holy living, that don't teach the teachings of here, Matthew 6, 7, 5, 6, and 7. But is it only referring to them? I don't think so. Would it be possible that if we would look at the fruit in our lives, that it would really, really tell us who we are? Would it be possible that the fruit of our lives tells us who we are? [00:06:21] Would it be possible that by examining my fruit, I can see if there's a problem here or not? I think it is, and that's what I like to talk about. Is there that fruit in my life that is effecting, influencing to evil? It's not only what is evil, but what leads to evil, according to the Greek meaning there, what I understand of it at least. [00:06:52] Not only what leads me to evil, what's leading my children, my peers, those around me. Somebody's following you, everybody. It don't no matter who you are, somebody is watching you, somebody is influenced by you. Your life influences somebody. What kind of fruit is there in your life? There's no neutrals here. There's no, well, that fruit is kind of, I don't know how to say that, but it's there. [00:07:25] Not, neither here nor there. There's not that kind of living. We are hindering the kingdom of heaven, we are hindering the kingdom of God, or are we, we are helping it? We are hindering the body of Christ, or we are hurting it? Sorry, we are hindering or hurting the body of Christ, or we are helping it? So what is the fruit of your life? Is it good, is it beautiful, virtuous, valuable, or is it hurtful and evil? [00:08:00] You know, right there in verse, I think it's 12, yeah, right before we read that, there's a verse there that says, Therefore, whatsoever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. The golden rule, we know it. But this is the law and the prophets. And we sang that song, therefore give us love. Prophecy will fade away. Everything will fade away, but love will be there forever [00:08:34] And relationships are very important to God How you relate to those around you are very, very important to God So much that it says there, that's the Bible And if you want the Bible in a nutshell, there it is Do to those around you what you would like them to do to you We know the other verses too, the greatest commandment, love the Lord your God and the neighbor as yourself [00:09:04] And all the law and the prophets hangs on these It hangs there, I mean Christianity is limited to how we relate to one another How is your relationship with your authorities? Let's consider the fruit of our relationships, the fruit of our lives My parents are here. They know I wasn't always submissive and obedient. I try to cover it most of the time, I think. I don't know. I don't think I did very well in that. [00:09:39] But how is your relationship with your parents, with your authorities, with your ministry, whoever? See, you can identify where you're at by the fruit of that. How is your relationship with your wife and your children? That's a little bit harder there. They're closer to us. And I shared a little bit last time how I thought I was pretty mature until I got married. Another thing that God has shown me, especially this last year, is relating to my children. [00:10:14] My wife was sick for several months. Six. I'm not sure how many. But anyways, a lot of the parenting responsibility fell on me. And I was, I called it frustrated, my children. They weren't cooperating. They weren't obedient. I wanted to be a good father, you know, a father that teaches his children well, [00:10:46] and a father that has godly children. God showed me that I was angry because of my selfish motives in that. It wasn't wrong to want a godly family, but it was wrong that I was angry at my children because they were destroying what others perceived me to be. In other words, I wanted to be a good daddy, a good father, so that others would praise me, so that others would look up to me, so I was hurting my children. [00:11:24] I was also made aware of how I've not protected my family as I should. In other words, I've been willing to serve others at the expense of my family. Ministry You know, we're busy doing the Lord's work The mission work, there's always a lot to do It seems like there's a never-ending list of things to be done And then some And how I was seeking to receive from others approval of, you know, being a good person [00:11:58] Buena gente They call them down there, like, you know, seeking the approval of others So again, my motive. The fruit showed me that there was something wrong in my heart. How is your relationship with your children? It's easier to relate to those that aren't so close. It's easier to serve others because we'll be seen, we'll be praised. [00:12:29] We'll receive that approval, that blessing of others that we long for. And we neglect our families, our children. And then there's, how is our relationship with God? 1 John 4.20 says that if we, well let's read it. 1 John 4.20, unless somebody would like to quote it by memory. Okay, let's read it then. If someone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. [00:13:01] For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? So I think that maybe we can pass this point because it depends how your relationship is in the other things that we already mentioned that determines how your relationship is with God. If there is problems, if there is bad fruit in your relationships around you, your brothers and sisters, your family, that means there's problems in your relationship with God. [00:13:39] Because anybody can say they love God. You don't see God. Another area to consider is moral purity. How are we? Are we pure? There's a lot of people here. I'd say there's probably some people here that are struggling with that, with some kind of immorality, thoughts or whatever. And I'm not here to preach down at you. I've been there. As a young teenager, I gave myself to all kinds of sinful thoughts and just all kinds of wasn't even struggling, wasn't even trying to it. [00:14:15] Try to act like I was a good boy and everything on the outside, but I wasn't. And then later I struggled for a while with inappropriate touching. And so I'm not here to preach down at you, but I'm here to say consider it. Don't deny it. What is the fruit in your life? Because if the fruit is bad, then it means there's a problem with you. What are you thinking about? [00:14:46] What does God bring into your mind? So, let's say there is fruit in your life, bad fruit. God is convicting you of that. What do you do with it? Sometimes I wonder if there was any solution, if there was any freedom. Let's go to James chapter 3, 13 through 17. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. [00:15:18] But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, Full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. If there is something in your life, don't deny it. [00:15:49] Like it says, don't lie against the truth. If it's evil, it's shameful, it's hurtful, but don't deny it. Don't act like it's not there. See, we'll never get help if we do. And I went to, or we went to Fresh Start to receive some training, some, I don't know, some, I guess, yeah, we wanted some input into our lives, maybe some tools to know how to work with people better. [00:16:21] But my wife's sickness there and the hard times that came with that there showed us some other things Well, the things that I shared already, but also showed us some pride there Proud of being We realized later that we really thought, well, we kind of had it together And if the people there would listen to us, then we would, you know, we would show them how to do it. [00:16:54] Thankfully, God showed us that sin, showed us how selfish and how prideful we were. But if these things are in your heart, don't deny them. Don't boast about them. Like it says there, they're sinful. They're earthly. They're demonic. In other words, you have those in your life. Satan has access to you, to your life, to work confusion, havoc in your life. Another thing that we need to do when our fruit is evil, and that's kind of the same thing, is bring it to the light. [00:17:35] 1 John 1 We all know these verses. You can turn to them. 1 John 1, 6 and 7 It says, If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. Cleanses us. An ongoing, continual cleansing. Not just a one-time thing. [00:18:07] Where would we be? Where would you be if it wasn't for the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus? I wouldn't be here. Praise God for the blood. Praise God for that cleansing. But there's a condition with that. If we walk in the light. If we walk around in the light. What are we doing if we aren't walking in the light? What do we do? We hide. things. But there is freedom when we can bring it to the light, when we confess it. That's how I found freedom. Last week, it seemed like, I don't know if it was God testing me or the devil testing me to see if I really believed what I taught. I don't know, but I had a rough week. But thank God for the light. Thank God for that cleansing. And it's easy to bring it to the light. [00:19:03] No, it's not so easy. Because there's a price tag. James 4, 6 says, But he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. So, humility is the key. We need humility. God resisteth the proud. When there's, God takes us through hard times. Because he's resisting the pride. He loves us. He wants us to get rid of that. He wants us to be humble. [00:19:35] So he takes us through hard times to get us to humble ourselves, to admit that our fruit is not good and that we need help. We need change. And when we are prideful and we're selfish, we hurt those around us. I did. Family and friends, we hurt the body of Christ. Are we willing to confess, to be humble and say, brothers, I failed? Or are we scared to share because what will they think of me? [00:20:09] See, that's pride. There might be somebody else that is struggling with the same thing. You can help him. But what do we have to hide? Why should we be hiding things? See, that's darkness. And darkness is not from God. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have freedom. We have the light. We have fellowship. But if there's a little bit of darkness, how much darkness does Satan need to work in our lives? [00:20:43] To bring a little bit of confusion. To bring conflict. And really asking for forgiveness. Sometimes we think we can cover sins. We think we, well, we kind of got angry, but nobody noticed. We covered it well. Sometimes it's not as much as we would like to think. Why not confess it? Why not say, hey, I did get angry. Why not say, I am struggling right now. I need help. [00:21:15] We don't want to need help. We're self-sufficient. We want to be, if we need help, there's something wrong with us. That's what we think. You need help. Well, we all need help. You all need help. So let's be humble. In John, I'd like to read some verses there in John 12, 42. I think the Pharisees had the same problem that we do. And they ended up killing the Son of God. [00:21:47] John 12, 42, it says, Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me believeth not on me, but on him that sent me, and he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. [00:22:19] Why is it so easy for us to pretend, to try to give an impression that is not real, real of who I am? I think it's because we're concerned about the praise of man. We want the approval of those around us. And I think there's some natural to that. But when it gets in the way of God, it becomes sin. Because we're not worried about what God wants. We're worried about what others are thinking of me. [00:22:51] And so we cover, and so we have darkness, and so we have problems. James 5.16 says, Confess your faults one to another, that you may be healed. It brings healing when we're open, when we're honest. It brings revival. Now let's draw near with a true heart. Hebrews 10.22 Let's draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. [00:23:23] Let's be honest. Let's be open. Let's walk in the light that our fruits may be good. If our fruits are not good, we can know ourselves by them. The fruit will not lie. Your fruit, the fruit of your life will not lie to you. If you're willing to look at it honestly. Let's kneel for prayer.