A GOOD TREE PRODUCES GOOD FRUIT

PROCLAMATION

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.”  Matthew 12:33 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

These words are from the gospel, the good news regarding Jesus, The Christ, which were spoken by Christ according to the Apostle Matthew.  After Jesus declared Himself to be The Lord of The Sabbath, (Matthew 12:8) He healed a man with a shriveled hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath. (Matthew 12:9-13)  Because of this, the Pharisees sought to kill Jesus. (Matthew 12:14)  He left that city and a great multitude followed Him and He healed all of the sick among them. (Matthew 12:15-17)  A demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Him and He healed him, and the man was able to talk and see. (Matthew 12:22)  Seeing this, some of the people thought that He was a Man of God, while the Pharisees said that He was a man of the devil, Beelzebub the prince of the devils. (Matthew 12:23-24)  Jesus refuted them by saying that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, devils would not drive out other devils. (Matthew 12:25-29)  He said, “He that is not with Me is against me…” (Matthew 12:30), and He went on to say, “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by his fruit.” (Matthew 12:33)

APPLICATION

Whatever is in a man’s heart, that is what will come out of him.  A man with good things stored up within him will produce good.  A man with evil in his heart will produce that which is evil. (Matthew 12:35)  Jesus, The Christ, said, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16)  If we are saved, then we should produce the fruit of The Holy Spirit of God which is within us and that is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (self-control). (Galatians 5:22-23)  The fruit that we produce is visible to others and it is for the benefit of others.  If you are not happy with the fruit that you are producing, turn your life over to Christ and ask Him to change you.  He can create in you a clean heart and a right spirit (Psalm 51:10) and make you a new creature. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

THE HEART IS THE PROBLEM

Proclamation:

“… There went out a sower to sow … as he sowed, some fell by the way side … and some fell on stony ground … and some fell among thorns … and others fell on good ground … He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”  Mark 4:3-9 (KJV)

Explanation:

These words are from the parable of the sower which were spoken by Jesus, The Christ, to His disciples, and the crowd which had followed Him, as He sat in a boat on the sea of Tiberias as recorded under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by the Apostle Mark.  Parables are earthly stories with a heavenly meaning designed to conceal the heavenly truth from worldly non-believers.  Everyone who hears The Word of God will not understand what they hear.  The sower is the preacher or teacher, the seed that he sowed is The Word of God, and the ground is the heart of the hearers.  The way side is the hard, trampled dirt of the pathway.  The seed which landed there did not grow or produce any fruit.  The stony ground had very little soil.  The seed which landed there grew quickly and died quickly without producing any fruit due to its poor foundation.  The thorns are the weeds.  The seed which landed there grew but was choked by the weeds and died without producing fruit.  The good ground is fertile soil.  The seed which landed there grew and produced fruit with many seeds, a thirty to one hundred fold increase.

Application:

I was blessed to preach this sermon on Sunday, November 20, 2016.  In summary, this is what The Holy Spirit shared with me.  The way side represents the hard-hearted people who hear The Word of God but reject it and refuse to believe it. (Mark 4:14-15)  The stony ground represents the shallow, superficial faint-hearted people who get excited when they hear The Word of God but quickly forget it. (Mark 4:16-17)  The thorns represent the heart of worldly concerned fickle people who put their worldly concerns before The Lord God and the excuses they offer when any sacrifice is required in service to The Lord. (Mark 4:18-19)  The good ground represent the receptive heart of the true believers who become hearers and doers of The Word.  Their lives are changed and they exhibit a Christian life style with Christian conversation and behavior.  They produce fruit by sharing The Word of God with the lost and telling them about Christ. (Mark 4:20)  All of us fall into one of these four groups of people.  The question is, with respect to The Word of God, are you hard-hearted, superficial, fickle, or a true believer?  There are eternal implications based upon your decision, please carefully consider the above and choose wisely.    

WHAT EFFECT DID THE WORD OF GOD HAVE ON YOU?

Proclamation:

"Then He told them many things in parables, saying: ‘A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.  It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop, a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." Matthew 13:3-8 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of Jesus, The Christ, as He spoke from a boat to a large crowd which had gathered on the shore.  In this parable of the sower, The Word of God is the seed and the people that hear it are the ground upon which it fell.

Application:

What did you do with The Word of God when you heard it?  Some heard The Word and rejected it, some liked it but it did not change their life, and some let their friends and the world have more influence over them than The Word.  What kind of "ground" are you?  The best way to answer this question is to look at the "fruit" that it has produced in your life.  When the seed, The Word, fell on good ground, it produced good fruit.  The fruit that we produce is the evidence of God in our lives.  The fruit of The Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)  We need to cultivate within our lives a greater receptivity to The Word of God in order for it to grow within us, to produce good fruit, and produce a changed life which will give God glory.

WE SPEAK THAT WHICH IS IN OUR HEARTS

Proclamation:

"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.  Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.  People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.  The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.  For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."  Luke 6:43-45 (NIV)

Explanation:

These Holy Spirit inspired words were written by Luke, the physician and traveling companion and recorder for the Apostle Paul.  He wrote that good fruit does not come from bad trees, and bad fruit does not come from good trees.  Likewise, the same is true for people.  The good or evil that is in a man's heart will come out of his mouth.

Application:

For as a man thinks, so is he. (Job 24:13-17)  "We may not be all that we think we are, but what we think, we are." (Author Unknown)  It has been said that it is not what a man does when others are watching him that determines his character, but it is what he does when he is alone and thinks that no one sees him that determines who he really is.  We should be mindful of the fact that God sees all that we do (Job 34:21) and He knows our intentions. (Matthew 9:4 and Hebrew 4:12)  Since it is also possible to sin by thinking sinful thoughts, ( Matthew 5:28) we need to ask God to cleanse us of all of our sins and to forgive us for our sinful actions, words, and thoughts.  We need for Him to create within us a clean heart and a clean mind. (Psalm 51:10)  That is why we should pray like King David prayed, that the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts would be acceptable in the sight of God. (Psalms 19:14)

Good People Produce Good Fruit

"By their fruit you will recognize them.  Do people pick grapes from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles?  Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit."  Matthew 7:16-17 (NIV)

These are the words of Jesus, The Christ, recorded by the Apostle Matthew, the tax collector, as He spoke during His Sermon on The Mount.  Jesus warned His disciples, and the crowd which had gathered around them, to watch out for false prophets who come in sheep's clothing but are actually wolves underneath.  His message was that they may not be able to recognize who they are by their appearance, but they would know them by their fruit.  Bad people, like bad trees, produce bad fruit.

The point which Jesus made is just as true today as it was back then.  All people are not who they appear to be, or pretend to be.  That applies to some of our "friends" as well as some of our leaders.  Everything that they say which may sound good, isn't good for us.  However, their wickedness will soon reveal itself.  Their lack of honesty will manifest itself in behavior which is not in keeping with their words, or with The Word of God.  Bad people do not produce the fruit of good works.  Their lifestyle and the results of their influence on others, are the fruit that will determine whether or not their words are consistent with kingdom building.  If what is being said to us, or if what we are being asked to do, does not line up with The Bible, that person may not have our best interest at heart.  The standard by which we test all things, doctrine, teaching, statements, and behavior, is The Word of God. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)  The devil can use or influence anyone, so do not believe every word that you hear, try every spirit by The Word of God. (1 John 4:1)  Good people produce good fruit, bad people don't.

The Importance Of Self Control

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.  Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."  2 Peter 1:3-9 (NIV)

This letter was written by Peter, "a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ", under the direction of The Holy Spirit of God, to all believers to denounce the false teachers who were infiltrating the churches.  His point here was that God's grace is the source of Godly living.  It is through the precious promises of God that allows them to escape the corruption of the world.

Self control is part of the fruit of The Holy Spirit of God.  Every believer should exhibit some of the fruit of The Spirit which indwells them.  The fruit of The Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)  Self control is one of the qualities which believers posses which allows them to avoid giving in to the desires of the world and sin.  In the believers' spiritual growth and development, self control is the link we develop between the knowledge of God and the perseverance of the faith, as we grow from faith to love.  A Godly walk is not possible without self control, and therefore we should pray and request that God would increase it within us.

Display The Fruit Of The Holy Spirit

"But the fruit of The Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  Since we live by The Spirit, let us keep in step with The Spirit."  Galatians 5:22-25 (NIV)

These Holy Spirit inspired words were written by the Apostle Paul in a letter to the believers in The Church at Galatia to encourage them to live by the influence of The Holy Spirit of God and not follow the worldly influences of the flesh.

When we as believers walk with The Spirit, we manifest the fruit of The Holy Spirit of God.  We do not become perfect just because we accept Christ as our personal savior, but we are changed, and we die to, and no longer engage in, some of our previous sinful behaviors.  However, our sinful nature is still within us, and we must battle it daily and make a conscious effort to exercise and display the fruit of The Spirit.  We must pray, and pray often, for God's guidance and help in order for us to walk in His way.  Let us live in such a way that those who see us, will see The Light of Christ radiating from us. (1 John 3:24)  Let our behavior reflect the fruit of The Spirit and let our actions produce good fruit. (Matthew 7:17-18)

A Good Heart Produces Good Fruit

"But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop."  Luke 8:15 (NIV)

Here Luke, the physician, records the words of Jesus as He explains the parable of the sower and the seed to His disciples.  The seed is The Word of God and the good soil or good ground is the person with a good heart who hears it, retains it, incorporates it into their life and it produces good results.

A lot could be said about this parable and this verse, but briefly focus on the "good heart".  We know that only God can see the heart of a person. (Luke 5:22 and Hebrews 4:12)  We also know that we do not have a good heart by nature. (Matthew 15:19 and Mark 7:21)  Our heart and thoughts are only deemed by God to be good based upon what we do with The Word of God once we have heard it. (Matthew 7:17-19 and 12:33)   If we are changed by it, and our life and efforts produce some good fruit, then we have a good heart.  That does not make us perfect, we will still fall and sin.  However, a true child of God will get up after each fall, ask to be forgiven, and will persevere in their walk with God.   A true saint with a good heart will persevere until the end, and will produce good fruit in the process.