"Real Fruit" 2-4-24
Overview
Real Fruit
Near the close of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus issues a sober warning: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves" Matthew 7:15. The danger isn't merely someone who looks like the rest of God's people—it is the one who comes in the name of the Lord yet teaches contrary to His Word, often selling fear, threats, and lies in order to line his or her own pocket. Such teachers prey on the sheep, on weak and curious souls who simply long to secure their place in the story of salvation.
How can the sheep tell the difference? Jesus gives a simple rubric: "You will know them by their fruits" Matthew 7:16. Scripture echoes this test in Deuteronomy 18:20-22: if a prophet speaks in the Lord's name and the word does not come true, the Lord has not spoken it. Church history is littered with predictions—Christ has been declared "returning" more than fifty times—that proved false while still draining the time, money, and trust of God's people. Grapes are not gathered from thorns, nor figs from thistles. A bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
But notice carefully: it is not the fruit that makes the Christian faithful; it is faith that makes the Christian fruitful. "By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" Ephesians 2:8-10. Good fruit isn't manufactured by effort—it is grown, naturally, from a healthy vine. Jesus says it plainly: "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing" John 15:4-5. Christ has cleansed you by His Word and by His blood—bearing the thorns on His head, taking the diseased fruit of our sinful nature to the grave, and rising in victory. Through the waters of baptism you are grafted onto the true vine.
Pastoral application: stay close to the vine. Plastic fruit can look impressive on the outside, but it offers no sustenance. When teaching tickles the ear yet does not align with the full truth of God's Word and the confession of the Church, there is nothing there to feed you. The more deeply we abide in Scripture preached and read in its fullness, the more readily we recognize the wolf, and the more freely the Spirit produces His real fruit in us—love, grace, and mercy. You have tasted the real thing. Taste again the sweet fruit of redemption, and know that it is for you.
Transcript
If you would please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew 7 chapter, if you're using 3s
a Pue edition of the Bible, you will find this on page 6 in the New Testament where 10s
Matthew chapter 7. If it looks like a duck, if it sounds like a duck, if it walks like 16s
a duck, it's probably a duck, meaning that if looking at the characteristics of something, 30s
we can probably know what it is. We only have a couple more weeks in this sermon 40s
series, his questions, where we're answering through and with Scripture questions that Jesus 48s
asked in his day. The question we're studying today is found in our Gospel text in 56s
verse 16 when Jesus asked, are grapes gathered from thorns or figs gathered from this old. It's 63s
a simple question. Any child should or could be able to answer this, but as with so many questions 72s
that Jesus asked, the simple question is really getting at the heart of a more complex issue or a 79s
complex question. This question is found in the context of the sermon on the mount. This is when 87s
Jesus gave the be added to this is when Jesus taught on marriage and on provision and he taught 97s
on money and on anger. He taught us in the sermon on the mount. He taught us how to pray using the 106s
of the Lord's prayer. So this is in the context of the sermon on the mount and he asked 114s
he's teaching he shifts into warning and teaching about false prophets, about deceiving 121s
oneself with their own good works or what we would think were our good works. As he's wrapping up 130s
his sermon, he goes to warn of the many false teachers that would come in his name coming 139s
with the intent of leading people astray. If it looks like a duck, if it sounds like a duck, if it 147s
walks like a duck, it's probably a duck. If it looks like a sheep, sounds like a sheep walks 156s
like a sheep, it's probably a sheep. But is it? But is it? Look with me, please, at verse 15 of our 167s
text where Jesus begins his warning. He says, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's 179s
clothing, but inwardly our ravenous wolves. Jesus warning here is very, very specific. It's not 187s
just a warning of the one who looks like the rest of God's people, but it's a warning. It's a warning 197s
of the one who comes in the name of the Lord teaching and preaching contrary to the word of the Lord. 205s
Teaching and preaching incorrectly in the name of Jesus. This is the false prophet. 216s
Jesus says that the false prophet is a ravenous wolf. This is an aggressively greedy, 226s
scoundrel. It's a robber, an extortioner, and one who is an extortioner. He or she makes money 233s
through threats and boars. And so Jesus is warning about this false prophet, the false prophet, 241s
is the one who comes selling fear, selling threats, selling lies about God, all in order to line, 249s
his or her pocket. They pray on the weak. The false prophet phrase, 264s
praise on the sheep of God. If it looks like a sheep, 276s
sounds like a sheep looks like a sheep. How are we supposed to know if it is a sheep or a ravenous wolf 284s
in our midst? Jesus answers that very question in verse 16. He says, you will know them 294s
by their fruits. You will know these false prophets by their fruits. There's a very simple 304s
rubric that the Lord gives to his people. A simple rubric as a basic starting point where we can know 314s
if this person is of God or is not of God is one of the sheep or is perhaps a ravenous wolf 324s
in Deuteronomy 18. We read that any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, 333s
or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak. 341s
That prophet shall die. If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place 347s
or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. 354s
Do not be frightened by it. False prophets, false prophets, telling fears, telling lies, 362s
I think immediately of the false prophets who have sold lies and we have dished out our money to hear 373s
them in the church. In the church, according to various Christian and I use the word Christian 384s
very loosely, according to various Christian preachers throughout the centuries of the entire 396s
church history, Jesus should have returned over 50 times by now. He has not returned yet. 402s
If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, 414s
it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. It's laughable. It's laughable when we consider 420s
when we consider these false prophecies and these false claims, it's laughable until we 431s
really think about the millions of millions of dollars millions of hours that the sheep 440s
the sheep have poured in and invested in these false prophets, these false 452s
prophets, they've given millions of dollars millions of hours over the years to Shasters. 461s
Whether it's out of fear, whether it's out of curiosity, I don't know, 473s
but I know that Jesus has not yet returned and so I know those who are lining their pockets 480s
at the expense of the fear, at the expense of the lie, they are ravenous wolves. 488s
The sheep, whether out of fear or curiosity, they're just trying to secure their place within 501s
the story of salvation. All they wanted was to secure the relationship that was broken and damaged 509s
in the garden of Eden and they were preyed upon. You and I may have been some of those sheep. 521s
We may be some of those sheep looking to the ravenous wolves wanting answers, wanting to restore 532s
the relationship to secure our place in the story of salvation but beware, beware of these false 542s
prophets, with words that tickle the ear and with work that look so good, so nice, 554s
and with this warning of the false prophets this warning of beingware of the ravenous wolves 566s
that lurk within Jesus gets to his question. Look with me please at verse 16, where he asks, 573s
are great scathered from thorns or figs from thistle? The answer is, no, no they are not. He continued, 581s
in the same way every good tree bears good fruit but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree 592s
cannot bear bad fruit nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit 600s
is cut down and thrown into the fire thus you will know them by their fruits. 607s
When I was a little kid, I remember in the basement at my grandparents' home. 618s
There was this beautiful arrangement of fruit and it looked so good. These shiny red apples that were 624s
waiting to be eaten to take a chunk out of them and the grapes, these perfect grapes that were 635s
ripe on the vine ready to be plucked and popped into my mouth. If it looks like a grape, 642s
if it feels like a grape, if it pops off the vine like a grape, it must be. 651s
Well, in this case it was plastic. The grape was plastic and while it takes just one small bite 660s
of plastic or wax fruit to know it's not real from the outside, it isn't always so easy to determine 674s
both from real. It isn't so easy. How do we know if the fruit is real? How do we know real 685s
fruit? Well, we look at the fruit that's produced and we look at the tree that it comes from the fruit 697s
that we see brings us right back to its source of growth. The tree on which it hangs the vine, 707s
on which it grows. The Christian will produce good fruit. The Christian will produce the fruit 720s
that it is given by the vine. In Ephesians chapter 2, we read, 734s
by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, 742s
not the result of works so that no one may boast for we are what he has made. 751s
Created in Christ Jesus, four good works which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. 761s
It is not the fruit that makes the Christian faithful. It is the faith that makes the Christian 772s
fruitful. It is the faith that makes the Christian fruitful. The faith that God has given to us 782s
through His Word. We are what He has made us created by His Word. In Jesus Christ, 793s
for the fruit to produce the fruit which He has prepared for us. 802s
The Christian connected to the vine connected to the good tree will produce good fruit. A tree 816s
does not have to work at producing good fruit at making good fruit because good fruit is not made. 829s
It is grown. Naturally it happens naturally. This is the fruit of the Christian life. The faith 841s
that produces the fruit, the faith that is given through the Word of God. 857s
In the gospel of John, Jesus is speaking to His disciples and He says, You have already been 865s
cleansed by the Word that I have spoken to you. A bite in me, as I abide in you, just as the 873s
branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide 883s
in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit 892s
because apart from me, you can do nothing. We do not work at being sheep. We do not work 906s
at making fruit happen in our lives. Just as Christ told His disciples, then He tells you, 925s
You have been cleansed. You have been cleansed by the Word of God. Jesus Christ, God made 936s
flesh has lends you through His blood. He took the sin of all the world upon Himself. He took 946s
the sin of even the bad fruit, the sin of the ravenous wolves looking to pray on the sheep of God's 957s
blood. He bore the thorns upon His head. He bore the vessels within His heart. He took the disease 969s
to fruit of our sinful nature and He carried it to the graves. He has cleansed you. He has cleansed 984s
you by taking the disease of our bad fruit, the disease of our sinful nature. And in the resurrection 1000s
we find the victory. We find that the victory is one, that the sacrifice has indeed been accepted 1009s
and through the waters of baptism we are grafted right onto the vine. The vine that is 1018s
Jesus, the vine that is the living Word of God, the vine in which you and I abide and that abides in us. 1030s
This, this subiting in the Word of God, this keeps us in the full, this keeps us 1045s
leary and wary of the ravenous wolves and the more we dig in and the more we grab on and cling to the 1056s
vine that we have, the more fruit, the Lord produces through us and the more we are aware 1064s
of the false prophets who attempt to sneak in because we know and we have the vine. 1074s
Our fruit then, the works that we produce, the fruit of the spirit, it's a byproduct of being 1091s
part of the healthy vine of being part of the healthy tree and this brings us right back to the 1099s
warning that Jesus began with the warning of the wolf in sheep's clothing, the warning of the false 1107s
prophet of the bad tree. We have the full truth, God's word, right before us. We have it within us. 1115s
Every time we hear His word preached in its fullness, every time we open His word and our taught 1131s
in its fullness we have, we have truth before us. Looking spiritual, looking good, it doesn't mean 1140s
there is sustenance. The outside, the outside of the plastic and waxed fruit, 1156s
it looks good, but within there is absolutely no sustenance. It may look delicious, 1168s
but it is false fruit. It does not hold true fruit. When we encounter a false prophet, 1184s
when we encounter someone who is teaching contrary to the word of God contrary to what we 1196s
confess in the words of the apostles' creed, when we encounter a false prophet, he or she may look good. 1203s
He or she may look good, but when the truth of God's word is not preached in its fullness, 1214s
there is no sustenance. There is nothing for us to cling to, there is nothing for us to grow in. 1222s
And my grandparents home looking at that beautiful arrangement of fake fruit, I knew the different. 1233s
I knew the difference between the fake fruit and real fruit, because I had experienced 1243s
the real thing. I had tasted the real fruit and I knew that it was good. 1252s
My brothers and sisters, you were called to faith through the waters of baptism, you were sealed 1264s
in the Holy Spirit that we are promised will lead us and teach us all things that are true. 1271s
You will know the raveness wool. You will know the bad tree, 1280s
by its fruit, because you have heard, you have tasted the real thing, the real word, 1288s
God's truth, and you know it is good. Taste, taste the sweet fruit of redemption, and know 1300s
it's for you, because you have the real fruit, you have the only truth in your hands, 1314s
the truth of God's word, which produces in you and I, the real fruit of his spirit, of love, 1327s