Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

[Illus] It seemed like a normal traffic stop.

On June 26 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, police noticed a car with expired tags, so they hit the lights and pulled over a man named Stephen and his passenger.

The officers immediately spotted an open container of Kentucky Deluxe whiskey.

After asking the occupants to exit the vehicle, they turned up an unregistered firearm.

Then they found a rattlesnake in the backseat!

Then they found a canister of powdered uranium!

A private company was called in to handle the uranium, and the two occupants were hauled off to jail.

The officers said neither person could explain why they had a canister of uranium, but judging by the whiskey, the illegal gun, the rattlesnake, and the uranium—they were obviously up to no good!

In our passage this morning, Jesus said that when one is judged by their fruit (i.e., their words and deeds), we learn something deeper.

When the fruit is good, we learn that the tree (i.e., heart) is good.

When the fruit is bad, we learn that the heart is bad.

When our fruit is bad, it’s not that we’ve just been up to no good.

When our fruit is bad, it is in fact that we are no good.

But specifically, what fruit is Jesus talking about?

What fruit is Jesus talking about?

Major Ideas

#1: The Heart

#2: The Treasure

#3: The Fruit

What fruit is Jesus talking about?

In Jesus used the same metaphor of tree and fruit as he called his disciples to judge between true and false teachers.

Twice he said, “You will recognize them by their fruits,” (, ).

Perhaps that is what Jesus has in mind here in Luke as he employs the metaphor once again, but I think its more likely that here Jesus is calling his disciples to examine themselves.

But I think its more likely that Jesus is calling his disciples to examine themselves in

He is perhaps especially calling them to examine themselves in light of what he has already taught in this sermon.

When we look back to the beginning of this sermon in , we see that good fruit is understanding that your poverty, your hunger, your sorrow, and the rejection you experience are actually all blessings from God if they make you desperate for God.

It’s understanding that riches, full stomachs, merriment, and the praise of others are actually all curses if they make you numb to your need for God.

Beginning in , we see that good fruit is loving your enemies, doing good to those that hate you, blessing those that curse you, and praying for those who abuse you.

It’s turning the other cheek when you’re struck, giving and not expecting anything in return.

It’s doing to others as you would have them do to you.

It’s being merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful.

Then in Jesus said that good fruit is remembering that you’ve received grace and never believing that someone is beyond the reach of grace.

It’s refusing to judge and condemn a person as unworthy of the Gospel.

It’s examining yourself, before you examine others.

Now, based on everything that Jesus has said in this sermon so far, how are you doing?

Are you bearing bad fruit or good?

Are you a good tree or bad?

[CIT/PROP] Revealed to us in God’s word this morning is this truth: Unless our hearts treasure Jesus, we will not bear good fruit as his disciples.

Unless our hearts treasure Jesus, we will not bear good fruit as his disciples.

[TS] Those are the BIG IDEAS we will focus on this morning—the heart, the treasure, and the fruit.

Unless our hearts treasure Jesus, we will not bear good fruit as his disciples.

Major Ideas

Big Idea #1: The Heart—has your heart been changed by Jesus?

[Exp] I think we understand Jesus’ metaphor here, so I won’t dwell on it too long.

A fig tree produces figs.

A bramble bush produces thorns.

A thornbush does not produce figs.

A bramble bush does not produce grapes.

A simple way to say this is like produces like.

[Illus] When I was a boy, my family picked oranges for a living.

Early in the morning we would go to the orange grove, shake the orange trees, pick up the oranges that fell, and pick those oranges that remained on the tree.

I knew what an orange was, so I didn’t need to ask what kind of tree that was.

I knew it by its fruit.

It was an orange tree.

Like produces like.

Orange trees produces oranges.

Apple trees produces apples.

Grapevines produce grapes.

And the Spirit-filled produce spiritual fruit.

[App] We see that Jesus said in v. 45 that, if we are not producing good spiritual fruit, then our hearts are the problem.

He says...

Luke 6:45

But in response to Jesus we might then ask, “Well, if my heart is the problem, how do I change it?”

Well, we don’t change our hearts.

We trust Jesus to change our hearts.

You may recall on the night before Jesus was crucified, he shared a Passover meal with his disciples.

During that meal, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and said in ...

And then after they had eaten, he took the cup and said in Luke 22:20...

The new covenant that Jesus spoke of was a promise that God made to his people—the promise of hearts made new by the Spirit of God.

In , God said...

Ezekiel 36:26

Apart from God’s grace, our hearts are hard toward God.

We don’t care what God thinks, what he commands, or what will happen to us because we’ve disobeyed those commands.

But God knows this hard-heartedness will lead us straight to hell.

That’s why in the blood of Jesus God graciously keeps his promise to us of hearts made new by the Spirit—spirit-filled hearts that produce spiritual fruit.

says it like this...

Jesus came to shed his blood as the payment for our sins.

He did this because God decreed that apart from the shedding of blood their could be no forgiveness of sins.

He lived perfectly, died sacrificially, rose triumphantly, ascended in glory, and sent his Spirit to fill all those who trust in him for salvation.

He still sends his Spirit to fill all those who trust in him for salvation!

says...

And then notice the fruit produced by faith in Jesus...

Romans 5:1-2

Romans 5:3-

And then notice how this fruit is produced in the rest of ...

says that since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ like this…

The venerable Anglican preacher, J. C. Ryle, said...

Let it be a settled principle in our religion that when people show no fruit of the Spirit, they do not have the Holy Spirit within them.

Let us resist as a deadly error the common idea that all baptized people are born again and that all members of the church, as a matter of course, have the Holy Spirit.

One simple question must be our rule: What fruit do people bear?

Do they repent?

Do they believe with the heart on Jesus?

Do they live a holy life?

Do they overcome the world?

Habits like these are what Scripture calls “fruit.”

When such fruit is lacking, it is profane to talk of people having the Spirit of God within them.

Through faith in Jesus, we receive the promise of the new covenant—hearts made new by the Spirit of God!

Ephesians 5:18

Through faith in Jesus, we received the promise of the new covenant—hearts made new by the Spirit of God!