We are going to look at a few places this word fruit is used and see what God has to say about it. First Scripture is in:
Matthew 3:1-12
Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, "THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!'" Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? "Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. "The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
So lets lay out some groundwork before we dive right into this. Who is this John the Baptist?
• He came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Wait just a minute! Why wasn't John in a church saying these things? How come he was out in the wilderness of Judea and why were people coming out to him?...
He was telling people the first thing that they needed to DO! REPENT! We talked about what this word is. In the Greek its the word Metanous meaning to change your mind. Why was John telling people to change their mind? Because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What ever this kingdom of heaven is, man is going to have to change their mind to know about it.
Here is a question: What are we suppose to change our mind from anyway? Lets turn to Hebrews 6:1 - Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith on God,...
We are actually suppose to repent (change our mind) away from dead works. An easy way for me to think about this is, Am I doing works or deeds that are going to lead to my death. And death is actually separation from God. Am I doing things that are keeping me away from God? We can go into this in more depth later. Lets get back to this fruit.
• John came to make ready the way of Jesus our Lord and to make His paths straight. So just think, everything John came doing, Jesus was going to follow in his footsteps.
When John was out baptizing those that were coming to him, he noticed the Pharisees and Sadducees (the religious leaders of that day) coming for baptism. John tells them: "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? "Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;
Was John telling these religious figures that they needed to change their minds? In fact, he says that you should bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
If we change our mind (from anything that keeps us from coming to God and remaining in God = dead works) we will bear fruit. These religious figures in Johns day and Jesus' day needed to repent and not rely on being sons of Abraham.
In verse 10 it gets interesting...
"The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Do you think that he is talking about tree trees? Or do you think that he is using trees as examples for people, like an analogy?
Here is a Scripture in the Old Testament comparing trees as people. You tell me which one produced good fruit and why!
Jeremiah 17:5-9
Thus says the LORD, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD. "For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant.
MAN # 1 - CURSED
• He trusts in mankind
• His strength is in himself (his own flesh)
• His heart is far from God
This man is like a bush (tumbleweed - always driven by the wind) in the desert and will not see prosperity. He lives on stony wastes in the wilderness - hard ground. A land of salt and and all alone. - He might want to start changing his mind...
MAN # 2 - BLESSED
• He trusts in the LORD
• And whose trust is the LORD
• Tree planted by water (living water)
• Roots go down to the water (living water)
• Will not fear
• Leaves are always green
• And will not be anxious during a year of drought
• NOR CEASE TO YIELD FRUIT!
Which of these "men" bears good fruit and why?
We'll take a look at what Jesus says it takes to bear fruit next!