you will know them by their fruit

In today’s entertainment driven culture, we are constantly flooded by things that distract us from what is truly important; intimacy with God that results in the growth of our character. We seem to get “bored” too easily and are constantly in search of the “bigger and better” things. Even in church, people many times focus more on the outward instead of the inward manifestations of the power of God; things that “wow” us, the so called “spiritual” or “supernatural,” rather than the things that cause us to grow in character, maturity, and integrity. Even if you ask some “Christians” about the evidence of the saving work of God in their lives, they will refer you to a time when they were “on fire” and when “signs and wonders” were performed through them: they spoke in tongues, casted out demons, healed the sick, etc. But is that what the Word says we should base the assurance of our salvation on; “signs and wonders?” What does the Word say on this? If we turn to Matthew 7, Jesus explains that in the end, many will say “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy, cast out demons, and perform many miracles in your name” and place their faith in the works that they did (signs and wonders) as their justification for entering into heaven, to which Jesus replies “away from me, you who practice lawlessness, I never knew you.”

So then how can we know that we are saved, where can we draw the assurance for our salvation? In 2 Corinthians 1 it says that “it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” So the Word indicates that it is God who makes us stand firm in Christ, not something that we can do or maintain on our own, and that this is done by Him sealing His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit that guarantees our salvation. But we are still left with the original question in a slightly modified form; if the assurance of salvation comes from the Holy Spirit entering into our hearts, how can we see evidence of this? In Matthew 7 it says, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, as bad trees bear bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and is thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” Although this particular verse explains fruit in the context of false prophets, it has a more general application to everyone; that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. So this verse clearly explains that those who are of God (with the Holy Spirit as the deposit) will bear good fruit and those who are not of God will bear bad fruit.

So then what is this “fruit” that will be evident in the lives of those who are genuinely saved? Ephesians 5 explains that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” We can now begin to see a clearer picture; for those that have been given the Holy Spirit as a deposit (by a sovereign work of God and not of man), will by the Spirit begin and continue to bear the fruit of the Spirit, which can be summed up as, the character of Christ. That a genuine Christian should see that they are becoming more and more Christ-like with each and every day. Now this is not to say that we will immediately be a perfect person once we receive salvation, but that there must be a continual progression (in desire and action) toward holiness, godliness, righteousness, and love; a crucifixion of ones sinful nature and its passions and desires as evidence of the saving power of God working in us. So let’s ask ourselves then, “do I see the evidence of the Holy Spirit working in my life? Am I bearing the fruit of a good tree or a bad tree?” And understand, that fruit is not about how much we serve at church, but how Christ-like we act outside of church. Because it also says in 2 Timothy 2 that, “God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

“But wait, I have good fruit and bad fruit, how does this make sense, how can God expect me to be prefect, is it works or is it by faith?” As it says in Ephesians 2 that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” So we see here that faith does not come from ourselves, but comes from God, and this faith, as it says in James 2, must be accompanied by works, or else it is dead. In other words, artificial faith that comes from ourselves stays stagnant and cannot save us, but genuine faith that comes from God produces works as evidence of salvation. And let me make it clear, it is not faith and works by which we obtain salvation, but a faith given and maintained by God that results as a lifestyle of repentance that produces works as evidence of salvation.

A key to understanding these verses comes from an understanding that there are two types of sinners: one who is repentant and one who is not, one who truly feels guilty for their sins and one who justifies their sin. You see, in today’s contemporary Christian thinking, we somehow have come to believe that guilt is a bad thing, and even go as far as to say that it is from the devil. But what does the bible say on the issue? What is guilt? You see, many times people get the word guilt mixed up with the word condemnation; they are not the same thing. Guilt can lead to condemnation, but doesn’t always have to, primarily because of the blood of Jesus Christ. Let me clarify, condemnation, if you are not saved, is the righteous judgment that God has in store for those who are living in sin, but if you truly are saved, thoughts of condemnation, namely, thoughts that God will reject you, are from the devil. Now guilt on the other hand is defined as: a feeling of culpability for offenses. In other words, guilt is the realization of sin, whereas condemnation is the just result of sin which Jesus paid for with His own blood for those who have been given repentance unto salvation.

See the difference? If you look at examples from the Word, time and time again you see people genuinely troubled with feelings of guilt for their sins to the point of putting on sackcloth and ash! A prime example can be found in the writings of King David in the book of Psalms. Over half of his psalms are of him crying out to God because he is troubled by his sins and his transgressions before the Lord. The guy that was known as the man after God's own heart, was continually filled with guilt and troubled when he sinned against the Lord. That regardless of his lowly estate, he continued to seek the Lord with all his might. It is what you do with the guilt that defines where you stand before God, that if you truly have an understanding about who you are in Christ, then how can guilt lead you to condemnation instead of repentance. Now, if you don't feel any guilt at all for your sins, I would have to say that you need to really question the genuineness of your salvation, because one of the primary workings of the Holy Spirit is to convict men of their sins in order to lead them to repentance (and convict is defined as: to convince of error or sinfulness). Now, regarding what you do with your guilt, you can go down one of two ways: you can either fall into condemnation and depravity and fall further away from the Lord or you can repent and cry out to the One who can pardon you. For as it says in the Word: a broken heart and a contrite spirit He will not despise. It is impossible to obtain salvation without genuine repentance. And there can be no repentance without a realization of sin through guilt, which is done by the work of the Holy Spirit and conviction of sin. And if the Holy Spirit is in you, you will continue to live a lifestyle of repentance, which is the process of sanctification and in accordance with bearing fruit in your life. In essence, you should feel guilty for your sins, because in that guilt, you come to a place of genuine repentance before the Lord. But, it also allows you to understand and appreciate His grace that much more, because there is no understanding of grace without an understanding of sin.

In Matthew 3, it says to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” So in light of this, let us rephrase the earlier question: “am I troubled by and truly repentant for my sins, or am I relying on my “good works” and a mere emotional encounter at an alter call and merely reciting the “sinner’s prayer” as my source of salvation?” For it says in Philippians 2, “to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” and in Matthew 24 that, “because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Jesus did not come to appease the conscience of sinner’s which is flattery that leads to death, but rather to cause them to wrestle with the guilt of their conscience and come to a place of repentance and a true understanding that they are in need of a savior. For how can we repent without even knowing that we are sinners? How can we be saved without even knowing what it is we are in need of saving from? And just in case it isn’t clear how we have sinned against God, Romans 1 says that “since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave then over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” In 1 Corinthians 5, it says, “But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler, with such a man do not even eat. In Ephesians 5 it says, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For this you can be sure: no immoral, impure or greedy person – such a man is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible.” And to be honest with you, these are all qualities that I see in myself and I’m sure you can see in yourself as well. We rebel against our parents, we gossip, we are boastful and arrogant, we make racist and obscene jokes, we put down others, we lack love for one another, we live for our own selfish pleasure, and so much more, and yet, we claim that we love God and say we want to see Him, when we have absolutely no idea of the ramifications of what it means to be able to see God without being utterly destroyed in light of His holiness and divine glory. We sing songs about how we love to worship Him and that to spend one day in His courts is better than thousands elsewhere and don’t even have the remotest desire to pray and read the Word; can we honestly sing such songs to Him in truth when we don’t show it in action?

Sadly, Christians many times don’t consider what it is they believe. They often seem to throw out the process of logic and reason and blindly believe what they are told without giving it a second thought. That in Sunday school, they teach you that if you pray a prayer, that God will definitely come into your heart; that a mere profession of Christ is enough, which I tell you now is absolute heresy. The biggest issue inherent within such a perspective is the fact that it prevents the person from coming to genuine salvation and maturing in their faith because their knowledge of God and the Word remains rudimentary at best, to which the person will not be able to recognize and discern what is from God and what is from the world. They will try to convince themselves in their own mind that they are saved when yet God had not done a supernatural redeeming work in their hearts, which is evident in the way they live their lives. And a tragedy of contemporary Christianity, particularly in the western churches, is the fact that the extent of ones (a person in the churches) understanding of anything remotely Christian consists primarily of the completely watered-down scripture that they learned growing up in Sunday school and the compromisingly seeker friendly sermons they hear over and over again from a compromised church. If you were to ask an average “Christian” today what it is they believe, they will probably regurgitate some general answer that “Well, Jesus died for my sins,” or “I believe in Jesus so that I can go to heaven.” Do Christians today have any idea what that means, that “Jesus died” for “my sins,” that He is not only my Savior but my LORD as well?

Sadly, these things aren't preached today in the American church. We have a completely watered down and skewed view of God and have forgotten that He is a holy and righteous God with furious anger that burns against unrepented sinners. We have turned Him into our "homeboy" and have forgotten that He is our Lord and King and Master. We say things like "me and Jesus have our own thing going on" and other such nonsense, and yet I fail to see any example of such attitude from the Word. Even Jesus, God's own Son, spoke to the Father with the utmost reverence and fear, how much more we, as mere humans, must give the utmost reverence to God. So the saying is true: that fools rush in where even angels fear to tread. That is how depraved we truly are, where we cannot even distinguish our left from our right, and have molded God into our own image and to our own liking. So then this saying is also true: that all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God, that not one is righteous, not a single one.

And one’s so called “faith” no matter how “great,” without works is dead and believing alone will not save you, for the Word says that even demons believe and shudder. Salvation is not a decision, it is a supernatural work of God, to which you are transformed and made into a “New Creation,” into the likeness of Christ. Jesus is not some “homeboy” or here to serve our every whim. The church, salvation, and heaven is not for us, but rather for the glory of God; that our salvation was merely a byproduct of the obedience of Christ to God the Father and for the glory of His Name. Sadly, Christianity has become a religion of mere cliché’s and generalities and not of substance: love, holiness, fellowship, worship; words which have lost complete meaning to the so called “contemporary” believer. What is love but to lead others to the knowledge of the saving grace of Christ, not of flattery and empty words that blind us to truth that leads to repentance, but to spur each other on toward the measure of perfection laid out by Christ. What is holiness, but to be set apart from the patterns and trends of this world, not of chasing after fashion, music, entertainment, and pleasure, but our selfish desires and ambitions all crucified with Christ. What is fellowship, but to pray for one another, to worship with one another, and to love and edify one another through Christ, not merely confining such things within the walls of the church, but that we be the church wherever we go. What is worship, but to give not just our service or our songs, but to give all of our hearts to Christ. Not only to sing songs and act Christian at church, but to live a lifestyle of worship wherever we go.

“That in the worship of God there is required a divine faith; but there can be no divine faith without a divine revelation of the will of God. Therefore, whatever is thrust into the worship of God that is not agreeable to divine revelation, cannot be done but by a human faith; which faith will not be profitable to eternal life.” Faith (from Pilgrim’s Progress)

So then let me ask you this question, how many of you have asked Jesus into your hearts? How many of you want to go to heaven? Are you sure? Then let me ask you another question, how many of you love to worship God? How many of you spend time with the Lord on a regular basis? How many of you like to pray and study the Word? Or do you get tired of these things and would rather spend time watching TV or hanging out or other worldly things? So let me ask again, are you sure you want to go to heaven? Are you sure you want to go to a place where you will be doing nothing but worshipping God? Because heaven is a place where you will be worshipping God for all eternity!

And yet, to obey all these is not possible by our strength alone, because the Law was not given to bring life, but to bring death, and that is why God’s grace is so amazing. His grace entails that as it says in Philippians 1 that “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” For as it says in Jeremiah 31, that “the time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying know the Lord, because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

And many times we don’t realize the implications of this promise of the New Covenant we have in Jesus Christ. That He will write His law upon our hearts so that no one has to teach each other, but that we will all know Him! A clear example of this can be seen in the revival occurring in China, where people many times don’t even have a bible, but their knowledge of God and the Word as shown by practice is far superior to that which is seen here in America, which is supposedly a “Christian” nation, where bibles and Christian material are readily available to us. And this is not to say that the bible is obsolete, but the key underlying difference is a heart that is hungry and desperate for God vs. a heart that is lukewarm in complacency and comfort.

But despite our sin and hypocrisy, the Lord’s heart is this as it says in Psalms 34 that “the Lord is close to those who are of a broken heart and saves such as are crushed with sorrow for sin and are humbly and thoroughly penitent,” and in Isaiah 50 that, “who among you fears the Lord and obey the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment.” God does not care about how much money we give to church or how much time we sacrifice to serve in church, He cares about our hearts; is it truly longing for Him above all else. Just because you look and act like everyone at church does not mean you are acting like Christ. We need to stop comparing ourselves to other people as our standard of righteousness and start comparing ourselves to the righteousness of Christ. We need to stop trying to find our own way with our own light and come broken before God, acknowledging that we are in utter sin and darkness without Him and in desperate need of a savior. We need to stop justifying our sins and begin to live a lifestyle of repentance, a lifestyle of holiness, a lifestyle marked out by Christ.

Character is more important than the size of your ministry or how powerfully you move in the Spirit, because signs and wonders are not a sign of your salvation, but rather love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control is the true mark of a believer. That just because God is getting glory out of you does not mean you are glorifying God because the heart of the matter is, it’s all a matter of the heart.

And the day of His new covenant is here, God is asking us to stop trying to appease our conscience by things that cannot justify us: signs and wonders, the size of our ministry, how much money we give to church, social justice, mission work. For as it says in Revelation 2 that “yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love, remember the height from which you have fallen, repent and do the things you did at first, if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” We need to stop trying to find our own way like the Israelites did, to stop running to idols of entertainment, music, sports, school, work, friends and even serving at church to appease our conscience, and turn back to Him and go back and do the things we used to do when we first met the Lord, when we first fell in love with Him.

How many of you are satisfied with where you are in your walk with Him? How many of don’t even care anymore? How many of you are dry and weary today and want the fire back? God is asking us to return to Him. To stop being busybodies and to be still and know that He is God. And please understand that I am not trying to condemn you or judge you in any way. I am merely asking you to look into your hearts and ask yourself, “am I where I need to be, am I bearing fruit in my life, do I see a growing desire within me to know the Lord and follow in His ways,” because it would be a shame, if the whole time you were thinking you were saved but you actually weren’t, that the substance of your faith was merely an emotional encounter and a reciting of the sinners prayer, and you see Jesus on the day of judgment, and He says that He doesn’t know you, that He only knows those who do the will of the Father, those who bear fruit by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And so if you don’t have assurance of salvation, if you are not sure, don’t worry, for as it says in 2 Peter 3 that “the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

If you don’t have assurance, the question comes to, what are you going to do about it? Don’t just sit there and try to convince yourself in your own mind, ask yourself, “am I still living and bearing fruit in Christ today?” For it is better to enter into heaven with many scars than to enter into hell without difficulty. And don’t worry if you haven’t been bearing fruit lately, for it says in Matthew 3 to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” That you wrestle with the guilt of your conscience. That if you realize that you haven’t been living a Christ centered, fruit bearing life, just come to repentance, come back to Christ who is not going to condemn you for your sins. All He is asking is to return to Him, to come to Him in repentance. He knows you can’t be perfect and that is why He had to come and why He told us to live a lifestyle of repentance; that although I can’t be perfect in regards to sin, I must be perfect in regards to repentance.

Therefore, let us stop relying on some past event in our lives as the assurance of our salvation, because regardless of the past, the question is “do you see it continuing to work in your life today?” Contend in His grace and wrestle with the guilt of your sins, not trying to merely appease your conscience, but be made right and clean and pure before God through repentance, which is a grace of God, so that you may worship with clean hands and a pure heart. Because if you are trying to repent merely to appease your conscience, it means that you will gladly continue in your sins so long as you feel okay about it. That is a dangerous place to be. Genuine repentance comes when we are genuinely grieved for our sins. To eventually hate the things He hates and to love the things that He loves. Let us stop looking back on the so called “glory days” as our justification before God, and let us come humbly broken before Him, laying all our sins and shortcomings before Him, crying out “God, we need you, I need you, to come and change my heart, to take out my rebellious God hating heart and replace it with one that abides in you, one that desires to seek you and to obey you.” Don’t wait until you think you are “ready” to come back to Him, for how do you know that you won’t die tomorrow? Make today the day that you declare and say, that in your presence Lord I want to stay, to be yours forever Lord this prayer I pray, so come Lord Jesus and have your way!