Religious Fruit

Intro

Recap

Second to last lesson for the sermon on the mount.

Two main themes.

Last time we talked about the narrow gate and the wide gate. How do we know which gate we are going to?

Matthew 7:15–23 ““Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Jesus cares about the heart, but he knows our hearts. How do we know if someone is saying stuff that is from God or not?

Compare everything to God’s Word.

Those who preach God’s Word.

What they say.

You need to not just hear what someone says and be like “Oh, that sounds good, it must be right.” A big thing is people are drifting away from reading their Bibles and they just listen to youtube sermons or instagram reels or tik tok or podcast or whatever and anything… Just not the Bible.

And I’m not saying don’t do that, I do it. But you must compare it to God’s Word. And in order to do it, you need to be in His Word.

Also, the fruit that they bare.

Look at it in verse fifteen. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.”

Just like the onion and the apple. It may look good. It may even look like what they say it is, which is from God. But when you smell it, when you dig deeper into it, you will see that the fruit they have is not the same fruit that we see in the Bible.

But it’s not just those who preach the gospel.

Those you turn to.

How about those your turn to for wisdom?

How do you know you are receiving Godly wisdom or just catchy phrases?

Is what they are saying from God’s word. Does it line up?

Also, do you see fruit in their lives?

They can claim to be Christians, but if they don’t have fruit in their lives, be careful.

Just because they claim to be a Christian doesn’t mean they are one.

That leads into the last point.

Examine your life.

Are you bearing healthy fruit?

Fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22–23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control.

Does that mean you have to be perfect in these things? No.

But you need to be cultivating them. We should start to see where you had no self-control earlier, you are starting to bud. You are starting to show signs that that fruit is there.

Notice how it is the “Fruit of the Spirit” not “Fruits of the Spirit”. That means you should be growing in all of theses areas.

Bad fruit.

What is bad fruit? Let’s look earlier in Galatians chapter five.

Galatians 5:16–25 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”

Does that mean if you are ever jealous, you cannot go to heaven. No. What Paul is saying is those are the fruit of someone who will not go to heaven.

What fruit are you producing?

I want to end by looking at the last part of this passage.

Matthew 7:21–23 ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Do you know God?

Religion vs Relationship

This is where Jesus once again looks at the heart.

Look at the things listed.

They call him Lord.

They prophesied in His name.

Cast out demons in His name.

Did mighty works in His name.

If I did one of those things, I would like “Yeah, I’m good.”

But what was Jesus’ response?

“I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

Do you know God? Or is it a list of dos and don’ts?

Being a Christian isn’t a list, it’s a lifestyle.

It isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship.

I could say to Faith “Did I not provide money for our family? Did I not take out the trash, paint the walls, fix the car, I even gave you a head message.”

But if I don’t love her, if I don’t listen to her, if I don’t care about her, then am I really her husband? At least, the way God has called me to be?

So…

Do you talk to God?

Do you listen to God?

Do you care about the things He cares about.

Do you know things about God, or do you know God and His heart?

Questions: Do you see fruit in your life?

Questions:

a

b

c