Day 34 Fruit, the Test of Life

Day 34

Fruit, the Test of Life

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

(Matthew 7:15-20)

Fruit, the Test of Life is the 26^th pillar

Fruit as the Test of Life is the 26^th pillar that holds the temple of Truth!

My dear beloved, from the beginning, God has constantly warned us about false prophets.  “Beware of false prophets,” says the Lord Jesus.  Why is God so concerned about false prophets?

The problem is that when a man or a woman claims to be sent by God, and acts as a messenger of God, he or she becomes the mouthpiece of God to the hearers.  Now what God is concerned about, is when a man or a woman takes it upon themselves to speak on behalf of God when He did not appoint them as His messengers, nor did He send them, but they speak out of presumption.

When such a prophet or prophetess speaks on behalf of God, prophesying about the future or anything else, and that which they prophesied does not come to pass, we call them crazy, disturbed, a storyteller, and so on.  Unfortunately, however, this blasphemes the God of the Bible.  The God of the Bible is Omniscience Divine!  Amen!  That is, He is an all-knowing God.  He has the ability to know the end from the beginning. And that is what separates the God of the Bible from any other gods:

 “Remember the former things of old,
      For I am God, and there is no other;
      “I am God, and there is none like Me,
        Declaring the end from the beginning,
      And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
      Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
      And I will do all My pleasure.”  (Isaiah 46:9-10)

“Let all the nations be gathered together,
      And let the people be assembled.
      Who among them can declare this,
      And show us former things?
      Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified;
      Or let them hear and say, “It is truth.”
       “ You are My witnesses,” says the LORD,
      “ And My servant whom I have chosen,
      That you may know and believe Me,
      And understand that I am He.
      Before Me there was no God formed,
      Nor shall there be after Me.
       I, even I, am the LORD,
      And besides Me there is no savior.”  (Isaiah 43:9-11)

“I am the LORD, that is My name;
      And My glory I will not give to another,
      Nor My praise to carved images.
        Behold, the former things have come to pass,
      And new things I declare;
      Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”  (Isaiah 42:8-9)

My dear beloved, only God has the ability and the power to foretell the future with exact accuracy.  The Bible is the ONLY book in the world which contains prophecies that have been fulfilled with exact accuracy.  Scientists, archaeologists, theologians, intellectuals and the like, whether they believe in God or not, cannot deny that the Bible has foretold events long before they happened. They cannot deny that when they did happen, these things happened exactly the way as foretold in the Bible, not one day longer or one minute earlier, but at the exact time the Bible said they will happen, the things happened.

And all this is to create faith in us, who hear the Word of God as it is in the Bible, that we may believe and trust the God of the Bible. This is so important to our faith, and our faith is in an all-knowing God and, therefore, God cannot endure to have men and women speaking on His behalf things that He has not sent them to speak.  For they prophecy things in the name of God which do not come to pass, and in doing so they associate God with error, distorting the reality of God as an all-knowing God, creating confusion and unbelief in God and His infallible Word, the Bible!  Yet God knew they would come, and again He proved Himself to be indeed an all-knowing God by telling us that false prophets will come long before they were even born. They have come and gone.  Some, in fact, are here now.  And others will come and go until the end of times.

But because of His love for us, lest we perish with those who do not believe, God is constantly warning us about false prophets.  Not only that, God has given us His Word as a standard to identify a false prophet:

“’But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.’”  (Deuteronomy 18:20-22)

My dear beloved, according to the above verses, if anyone prophecies in the name of the LORD, and that which the person has prophesied does not come to pass, he or she is a false prophet.  It does not take many prophecies, just one! If even one prophecy does not come to pass, he or she is a false prophet!

Now, my dear beloved, God will allow such false prophets to arise in order to test us and to see if we indeed love God or not; if we indeed fear Him or not; and if we really indeed believe Him or not.

“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams,

       

For the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.” (Deuteronomy 13:1-4)

My dear beloved, if someone comes to you preaching another gospel that is not in the Bible, depart from them.

“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”  (Galatians 1:6-9)

Be very careful, my dear beloved, with this thing of “the angel told me.”

 Again, if they say to you, the Bible is not enough, we need another book or another prophet, depart from them:

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”   (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

My dear beloved, the Scriptures make us complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

And so again I say, if they say the Bible is not easy to understand, that we need someone to interpret it for us, someone to reveal it to us, depart from them:

“Knowing this first that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”   (2 Peter 1:20-21)

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”  (John 16:13-14)

My dear beloved, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to guide us into all Truth, and this was fulfilled in the lives of the apostles, especially in the lives of Paul and John. It is also fulfilled in our lives daily.

God has also closed the Scriptures in a way that is rather fearful so that we may be reverent of His Word and have godly fear, not to take anything from His Word or add anything to His Word:

“For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”  (Revelation 22:18-19)

The wisest man that ever lived advises us:

“Every word of God is pure;
      He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
        Do not add to His words,  

Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.”  (Proverbs 30:5-6)

My dear beloved, the best way for us to identify a false prophet is to follow the instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ: “You will know them by their fruit,” says the Lord!  

The best way for us to understand this is to address the Fruit of the Spirit, which is the test of a Christian life.  Then we can examine ourselves, seeing whether we are genuine Christians or whether we just claim to be Christians. If we really are Christians, we must produce the Fruit of the Spirit, for in producing the Fruit of the Spirit we glorify God, which is the purpose of our lives!

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”  (Galatians 5:22-23)

                                                                                                            

My dear beloved, the test of our faith is called the Fruit of the Spirit, which is a direct result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a person.  Therefore my dear beloved, the first thing to look for in a true prophet or a true Christian is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in such a person!  For if a person does not have the Spirit of Christ, that person does not belong to Christ.

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”  (Romans 8:9)

If a person does not have the Holy Spirit dwelling within, that person cannot produce the Fruit of the Spirit, for it is God who works in us through the Holy Spirit, both to will and do of His good pleasure.

“For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”  (Philippians 2:13)

Therefore, my dear beloved, by their fruits you will know them.  If they are of God, they will always speak that which is Truth.  Not just sometimes, but always!  And they will bear the Fruit of the Spirit which is:

·        Love

·        Joy

·        Peace

·        Longsuffering

·        Kindness

·        Goodness

·        Faithfulness

·        Gentleness

·        Self-control

If they are of God they will produce the above, but if they produce evil:

“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21)

If they produce the above and the like--they are not of God.  Someone or something else has their hearts.  Of such turn away my dear beloved, lest you be partakers of their evil.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SPIRITUAL FRUIT:

A)   It is produced in all periods of life:

“Those who are planted in the house of the LORD
        shall flourish in the courts of our God.
  They shall still bear fruit in old age;
         they shall be fresh and flourishing.”  (Psalm 92:13-14)

B)    It is permanent:

“Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine.” (Ezekiel 47:12)

    

C)    It only grows in good ground:

“But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”   (Matthew 13:8)

D)   It has varieties:

 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”   (Galatians 5:22-23)

E)     It is without defect:

“For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.” (Ephesians 5:9)

“Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”   (Philippians 1:11)

                                                                                                        

F)     It is not man-made, it is a product of heavenly wisdom:

“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good  fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”  (James 3:17)

Now my dear beloved, if it is your inner desire to bear much fruit by Jesus Christ our Lord, to the glory and praise of God, here are the conditions:

CONDITIONS FOR BEARING SPIRITUAL FRUIT:

A)   You must be in contact with living waters:

“He shall be like a tree
         Planted by the rivers of water,
         That brings forth its fruit in its season,
         Whose leaf  also shall not wither;
         And whatever he does shall prosper.”  (Psalm 1:3)

B)    You must receive the Word of God, which is the spiritual seed:

“But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”   (Matthew 13:23)

C)    You must die to old life:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”   (John 12:24)

D)   You must be chastised and pruned:

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”   (John 15:1-2)

E)     You must forever abide in Christ:

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:5)

“But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.” (Romans 6:22)

“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”  (Hebrews 12:11)

Finally, my dear beloved, no one or anything can take away from us that which Christ Jesus our Lord has done for us on the cross.  Not the devil, nor his false prophets, nor angels, nor churches, nor cults, nor ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing can separate us from the everlasting love of God, but ourselves.  Only we can separate ourselves from the love of God, by choosing to believe a lie rather than the Truth, by believing men rather than God!  Your choice, your decision will determine your eternal future.  We only have one soul.  Let us not gamble with it.  Let us believe and put our faith in the Word of God and nothing else.  For God cannot turn back on His Word.  Let us therefore with fear and trembling surrender our lives to Christ, in whom we have eternal safety.  Amen!

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but  delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?  Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

 As it is written:
      ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long;
       we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:31-39)

Amen!

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”

 (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)

Amen!

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always.  Amen!

Meditation:  Beware of false prophets.  You will know them by their fruits!

Prayer points:  LORD Jesus, please help me to bear much fruit, that the Father may be glorified in my life, that I indeed may be Your disciple. I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen!

Commitment:  I commit myself from today by the grace of God, to bear fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ my Lord, to the glory and praise of God the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name.  Amen!