Those who come to God, they must believe two things – that He exists, He is in their midst and He rewards those who diligently seek Him. He is in the midst of us and speaks to each one of us according to our need.
We must pay much closer attention to the Word which we are hearing, so that we are not drifted away.
John 15:8, ‘My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples’.
NLT Version, ‘When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
We want to glorify God, in our lives, by bearing much fruit.
The tree is known by its fruit, not by leaves!
Matthew 7:17, ‘So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will know them by their fruits.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’’
These people to whom the Lord says, ‘I never knew you’, are those who have good testimony in front of others, pleasant in everything but in front of God, they look like a bad tree bearing bad fruit! Every tree that produces bad fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Here we see the severity of God. One thing God desires from our heart is, good fruit not leaves – our external righteousness. Within our hearts we should produce good fruit.
In the nature, we find two kinds of trees – the ones who can produce only leaves and the others which can produce much fruit. We were once like this, producing only leaves, unable to produce much fruit – good fruits, in our lives; but when we received Jesus Christ in our hearts and when we are connected with our Lord, we are able to produce much fruit to our God through our lives. God expects much good fruit from our lives.
Romans 11:17, ‘But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree’
We were being wild olive, are grafted to the root of true olive, that is Jesus Christ; we are now a new tree and are able to produce much fruit through our lives. This new tree is planted in the godly family in the Church by God, and He expects us to bear much fruit through our lives and by this, our Father may be glorified and we can prove by our lives that we are true disciples of Lord Jesus Christ.
John 17:4, ‘I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.’
Jesus glorified Father, the same thing, Jesus is saying to us that our Father is glorified, when we bear much fruit, the good fruit and prove to be His disciples. Let this be our longing and desire in our hearts to bear much good fruit in our lives.
Matthew 21:18, ‘Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. 19 Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.’
The spiritual meaning of this; God expects fruit from us always and not only leaves. God chose us and appointed us to bear fruit.
John 15:16, ‘You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.’
God chose us for a particular purpose, He appointed us, wherever we are – at a particular workplace, family, in the midst of our unconverted relatives; to bear fruits. The fruit shall remain! We go and bear fruit! We go outside, wherever we are sent and bear fruit for Him.
Galatians 5:22, ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.’
This is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We see them in Jesus’ life. God wants us to bear this fruit in our lives, so we can be true disciples of Christ.
Isaiah 5:1-5, ‘Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of itAnd also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.
“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,Judge between Me and My vineyard.
What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?
So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed;I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground.’
God prepared everything for us, and now He expects us to bear good fruit, but are we producing only worthless fruits? It is sad, if we are producing worthless fruits. We see the severity of God. He will break down and will be trampled ground!
Luke 13:6, ‘And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. 7 And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; 9 and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’”’
We see God’s kindness and His severity. In the first year He came to see fruits, there were none; second year also, no fruit; third year also, no fruit. There were many leaves, but no fruits. Then He decided to cut it down. Jesus is our advocate. He is advocating for us. And asks the Father for one more year, for our repentance; for us to repent and produce much fruit. Let us examine our lives, are we producing god fruit or worthless fruits? Are we glorifying God by bearing good fruit? Irrespective of any situation, God expects us to bear good fruit; because God has grafted us into the root of good olive tree, Jesus Christ, bringing glory to our God.
Jeremiah 17:7-8, ‘Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord And whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.’
Whatever may be our circumstance, we can bear much fruit, when we are closely connected with Jesus Christ. Then we will not stop to produce fruit in any circumstance.
Genesis 49:22, ‘Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a spring; Its branches run over a wall’
How do we bear fruit? By abiding in Him. When we abide in Jesus, we bear much fruit when we are connected to Him. We cannot bear fruit on our own strength, when we abide and are connected to Jesus, the sap of Jesus flows through us bearing fruit, for His glory.
John 15:1, ‘“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.’
This is the third category of trees, where they have no fruit at all. In the parable of Jesus, the ‘parable of the sower’, the seeds producing 30fold, 60fold and 100fold. The branches which are not bearing any fruit, He cuts them away and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it to bear more fruit. God allows the process of pruning in our lives, through our circumstances, so that we may bear more fruit, to glorify our God.
John 14:10, ‘Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.’
Jesus is in Father; When we abide in Jesus, He does the work in us, producing fruits, through our lives. We need to have intimate bond with our God and His sap helps us to produce fruit.
When we come to God with a needy heart and a repentant heart, God will help us.
Psalms 92:12, ‘The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree,He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 Planted in the house of the Lord, They will flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green,’
We grow spiritually by bearing much fruit. Even in our old age, we will still bear much fruit, full of sap and very green, when we are connected to Him, we will be full of abundant life of Jesus. This is the life of the righteous man, growing in Spirit.
Praise God.
