About Fruit Bearing

And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again." Immediately the fig tree withered away (Matthew 21:19).

Not everyone who says he/she’s a Christian is a Christian. There must be evidence. There will be fruit. There is a two-fold consideration regarding fruit bearing - internal spiritual fruit and external spiritual fruit. If there is internal spiritual fruit, there will be external spiritual fruit.

First, consider the impossibility of spiritual fruit apart from salvation. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). The truth is not that a Christian ought to be a new creature, but that he/she is a new creature; not that he/she ought to live as a new life, but that he/she will live a new life.

Second, consider the reality of internal spiritual fruit. 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). A true Christian is possessed by the Holy Spirit living in him/her. 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). The presence of the Holy Spirit in the life guarantees internal spiritual fruit listed above. Understand that fruit on a vine or tree is not produced overnight. It is a process from bud to bloom to fruit set and growth to fruit ripening. All of this is fed by the life inside the tree and takes on the DNA of the life inside the tree.

Third, consider the reality of external spiritual fruit. When you examine the internal spiritual fruit of the Holy Spirit you will see the internal characteristics of the spiritual life overflow into the external characteristics of the spiritual life - love becomes compassion, joy becomes calm delight, peace becomes a calm settling of the spirit and life in conflict, trials, and temptations. Longsuffering becomes patience, kindness becomes usefulness, goodness becomes helpful assistance, faithfulness becomes assurance and dependence, gentleness becomes tenderness, and self-control becomes mastery over one’s desires and passions.

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:5-11).

None of these can be regulated by externals - they cannot be formed, shaped, or controlled by ‘law’. They are under the control of the Holy Spirit because they are produced by the Holy Spirit - guaranteed. “All to Your glory and praise, Lord Jesus, Amen.”

Pastor