Fruit Over Roots

INTRODUCTION

Church, we live in a world that is obsessed with identity. It’s all about where you come from, who you’re connected to, what group you belong to. People find their security in their last name, their heritage, their nationality, their affiliations. We build our lives on our roots, believing that who we were born as is the most important thing about us.

But the Kingdom of God operates by a different standard.

The Kingdom of God is not impressed with your family tree; it is interested in the fruit on your tree.

The Kingdom of God doesn’t look at your background; it looks at what you are bringing forth.

And when John the Baptist steps onto the scene, he comes with a divine bulldozer to demolish this worldly idea of identity. He looks at a crowd of people who are confident in their religious heritage, proud of their spiritual ancestry, and secure in their roots… and he sets a fire to the whole thing. Because in the Kingdom, God is not looking for children of Abraham; He is looking for children of obedience! Hallelujah!

BRIDGE

Today’s message is titled:

“FRUIT OVER ROOTS!”

Before we dive into Luke, I want to anchor our hearts with two powerful truths:

Jeremiah 17:10

Jeremiah 17:10 “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

God is a fruit inspector!

Matthew 7:21

Matthew 7:21 “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

Talk is cheap in the Kingdom! Action is the currency!

Church, some of you have been relying on a prayer your grandma prayed. Some of you have been coasting on a decision you made when you were twelve. You’ve been comfortable in your roots, but God is asking about your fruit.

The time for playing church is over. The time for pretending is done. The axe is at the root of the tree, and God is looking for fruit.

Get this in your spirit. Burn it into your soul today:

TRUE REPENTANCE ALWAYS BEARS FRUIT!

Open your Bibles to Luke 3:7. And let us pray.

🔥 SERMON

John the Baptist opens his sermon not with a gentle welcome, but with a holy confrontation.

Luke 3:7–9: He looks at the crowds coming to be baptized and says, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”

Church, listen! John is telling them, “Your roots can’t save you! Don’t you dare flash your ancestry card at me! God is not impressed that you are a child of Abraham. He can make children out of rocks! He’s looking for a changed life! He’s looking for evidence! He’s looking for FRUIT!”

And notice the urgency! The axe is not leaning against the shed. The axe is not on its way. The axe is laid unto the root! Judgment is not a future event; it is a present reality!

And this word so pierced the hearts of the people that it produced the most important question a human being can ask:

Luke 3:10 “And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?”

They’re not asking “What should we believe?” They are not asking “What should we think?” They are asking, “What does repentance look like in my everyday life?”

🔥 ILLUSTRATION — “THE SPIRITUAL INSPECTION”

Imagine your life is a factory. You’ve got a sign out front with a long, prestigious company history. You can trace your ownership all the way back to the founding fathers of the faith. You have all the right credentials.

But one day, the Divine Inspector shows up. He’s not interested in the sign out front. He doesn’t care about the pictures on the wall. He walks right past your history and your heritage and goes straight to the assembly line. He picks up the product you are producing. He’s checking for quality. He’s looking for defects. He’s looking for fruit.

And that’s what John does. To the crowds, he says the fruit of repentance is GENEROSITY! (v. 11) “He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none.” To the tax collectors, he says the fruit of repentance is INTEGRITY! (v. 13) “Exact no more than that which is appointed you.” To the soldiers, he says the fruit of repentance is CONTENTMENT & JUSTICE! (v. 14) “Do violence to no man… and be content with your wages.”

Repentance isn’t a feeling! It is a functional change in how you live your life!

But John knows that this is just the beginning. This is just the preparation. This is the baptism of water. There is another baptism coming.

Luke 3:16–17: “I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh… he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.”

Oh, church! The baptism of fire is coming! It is a fire that does two things: It PURIFIES what is holy and it CONSUMES what is worthless. It separates the wheat from the chaff. The wheat is the genuine believer, the one with fruit! The chaff is the empty, worthless professor, all leaves and no life! Both grow in the same field, but they are destined for two different ends!

The King is coming to inspect the harvest!

🔥 FINAL PREACHING RIFF — “THE FIRE IS COMING!”

You can hide in the crowd, you can look the part, you can say all the right things, but you can’t escape the holy inspection!

“Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.” 1 Corinthians 3:13

Because the Fire is coming!

You can play religion, you can pretend to be righteous, but you cannot fool the one whose eyes are a flame!

“His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;” Revelation 1:14

Because the Fire is coming!

He’s not coming to negotiate with your sin! He’s not coming to compromise with your rebellion! He’s coming to purify His people!

“For he is like a refiner's fire… and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi…” Malachi 3:2-3

Because the Fire is coming!

The day of separation is upon us! The day of distinction is at hand! The harvest is ripe!

“And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:” Matthew 25:32

Because the Fire is coming!

And the King is not just sending the fire—He is walking through the fire! Jesus, the Son of God, steps into the water of repentance, not because He needed it, but to identify with us! And the heavens open, the Spirit descends, and the Father declares, “This is my Son, the pure Wheat, the one I am pleased with!”

He is the standard! He is the harvest! And He is calling you out of the chaff and into the garner! He is calling you out of emptiness and into eternal life!

The fan is in His hand! The floor is being purged!

Because the Fire is coming!

ALTAR CALL

I ask you tonight, what is the Divine Inspector finding in your life? Is he finding the fruit of generosity and integrity? Or is He finding the dry, worthless chaff of an empty profession?

Are you a tree that is bearing life, or are you a tree that is marked for the fire because of your barrenness?

The axe is at the root. The fan is in His hand.

If you are here and you have been relying on your roots—on your religion, on your family, on a decision you made long ago—but you know there is no fresh fruit in your life, the Lord is calling you to genuine repentance tonight.

Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

Don’t just feel sorry. Bear fruit. Don’t just come to the altar. Change your life. The time is now.

Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

The water is waiting. But more importantly, the fire of the Holy Ghost is waiting to purify your heart and make you fruitful for the Kingdom of God. Now is the time. Come.

Notes:

Proverbs 6:16–19 and Matthew 12:43–45 connect through a shared theme: an empty, unguarded inner life becomes a doorway for escalating evil. One passage lists the character of evil; the other shows the consequences of leaving that evil unaddressed.

🧩 How Proverbs 6:16–19 connects to Matthew 12:43–45

Proverbs 6:16–19 lists seven things God hates—pride, lying, violence, wicked schemes, eagerness to do evil, false witnessing, and sowing discord. These aren’t random sins; they form a pattern of a heart drifting progressively away from God.

Matthew 12:43–45 describes a person who has been “swept clean” but left empty. Because nothing good fills the space, evil returns stronger—“seven more wicked than itself.”

The connection is this:

The seven sins in Proverbs describe the very kind of heart that becomes vulnerable to the seven spirits in Matthew.

🔗 The deeper link: spiritual vacancy invites spiritual escalation

Proverbs shows what evil looks like when it takes root.

Matthew shows what happens when evil is removed but nothing righteous replaces it.

Both passages teach the same spiritual law:

If a person does not fill their life with God’s wisdom, God’s presence, and God’s character, the vacuum will not stay neutral. Something else will fill it.

🧠 The “seven” pattern in both passages

In Scripture, seven often symbolizes fullness or completion. In both texts, seven represents:

Proverbs: the full expression of a corrupt heart

Matthew: the full takeover of an unguarded heart

In other words:

Proverbs shows the seeds.Matthew shows the harvest.

🌱 How they work together

A person who tolerates the attitudes in Proverbs 6 (pride, deceit, stirring conflict) is already creating the “empty house” Jesus warns about.

Removing outward behavior without inner transformation leaves the heart exposed.

Without repentance, humility, and God’s Spirit filling the person, the old patterns return stronger.

This is why Jesus says the final state becomes worse than the first.