Hello everybody, it's MinistriesTall23 back in the video. In this video I'm going to be discussing an important distinction
which we need to make as Christians, which unfortunately
some people just don't get or don't seem to realize, and that is that fruit and works are not the same thing and that the
existence of fruit and works are not evidences of salvation. Now, what do I mean by that?
Well, there are some people out there who misquote and misuse scripture about how those who are saved will produce good fruit
and they say that this means that those who are saved
will automatically do good works, but they're not the same thing.
It's entirely possible for somebody to be saved and to not do any good works and to not bear any fruit.
So just as a summary of the position I'm taking before I get into the actual scripture in this video,
it's a Christian's individual choice to do works for God. Fruits are not the
the works themselves, but they're the production of the work, the result of it.
And if somebody is saved, the fruit that they will produce will not be evil.
Now the primary passage for this doctrine is in Matthew chapter 7 verse 15 to 20 where it says,
So here Jesus is likening the result of somebody's labor to fruit.
He says by their fruits ye shall know them. Know who? Know those who? He was previously talking about the false prophets.
You can identify people who are false prophets or who are actually saved Christians, real
preachers of the Word of God.
That's the subject of the passage which Jesus is talking about in verse 15 where he also says ye shall know them by their fruits.
So then Jesus teaches that
good trees bring forth good fruit, but corrupt trees bring forth evil fruit.
So how do we examine if somebody's saved? You examine their fruit, the fruit which they do bear.
If it's all just corrupt, if it's all just evil, then that person is not saved.
They're a false prophet.
But if the fruit that they bear is good and godly, then they are saved. Why? Because as Jesus said, a good tree cannot
bring forth evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
So the message of Jesus here is to simply say that those who are saved, those who are actual
preachers of God's Word, those who are not the false prophets, will bring forth good fruit.
But here's what we need to understand. Fruit is not the same thing as works.
There's a difference and this is what some heretics really need to get through their head because
there are people out there who use these verses to say well,
you know, as soon as somebody gets saved, they're automatically gonna do good works and therefore bring forth good fruit.
But just think about why the Bible calls it fruit in the first place. Humans are likened to trees, to good trees or corrupt
trees and the fruit that they bear
all throughout the Bible. It's not just in this passage as well.
But also in Colossians 2 6, Paul says, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus our Lord,
so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith.
So if we're saved, we're rooted in Christ. And since we're rooted in Christ, we cannot bring forth evil fruit.
Now, think about this. If a tree does not bring forth a certain type of fruit,
I'm talking about an actual tree now, like a lemon tree, does that mean that the tree doesn't exist?
Does that mean that the tree is not a tree or that the tree isn't a lemon tree? Does that mean the tree is fake?
If, for example, if no apples grow on an apple tree or if no lemons grow on a lemon tree,
does that mean that it's not an apple tree or a lemon tree? No, that doesn't make any sense.
It can still be an apple tree just because it doesn't bear apples.
But if you plant an apple tree and it bears something other than apples or just, you know,
apples that just rot and just don't ripen or there's something wrong with it, that's an evil tree.
There's something different about the tree. That's not the type of tree which you thought it was.
And likewise, if a Christian doesn't bear fruit whatsoever, it doesn't mean that they aren't a Christian.
Jesus is not saying if you don't do any works and bear no fruit, you're not a Christian.
He's saying in Matthew 7, if you bear evil fruit, you're not a Christian.
If a tree does not grow, if a tree is not watered and nourished, then it will not bear fruit.
In the same way, we need to grow in our faith and we need to walk in the Spirit in order to bear fruit.
Fruit is the result of our works, not the works itself.
Now the Bible says in Romans chapter 4 verse 5 to 7,
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth thee ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness,
even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God impudeth righteousness without works,
saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.
So here the Bible clearly teaches that somebody can have faith and not have any works.
Now some people, especially Calvinists, will teach that somebody who is born again
will just automatically have good works as a result of their salvation.
But we see that this isn't the case because the book of Romans talks about somebody who
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly.
He has the faith, but he doesn't have the works,
but he's still justified in the eyes of God.
The lack of works does not mean that he doesn't have faith. The works is not evidence of his faith.
Faith and works are entirely separate and we see that in this in Romans chapter 4.
That's why we constantly see Commandments in the New Testament for us to do good works.
For example, in James chapter 2, James is telling his brethren that having faith
but not having any works does not profit anybody else, okay?
Our faith is only something which helps us. It gets us to salvation, okay? But as it says in Romans 4-2,
if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.
So we're justified in the sight of man, but our works do not justify us in the sight of God.
Why? Because according to 1 Samuel 16-7, God looketh on the heart.
He doesn't care about the outward appearance like man does. Man, the unsaved Christians out there, will look on,
not unsaved Christians, but well unsaved
Christians, but also people of the world as well who will look at us will only judge us by our works because they cannot see
our faith. They cannot look into our heart. Now if we're going to help out somebody,
we need to have works to prove our faith to the world,
to those without as a testimony to the changes Christ has done to our life.
Now keep in mind that turning away from your sins is also a work. Jonah chapter 3 verse 10 says,
God saw their works that they turned from the evil ways. So turning from your evil ways obviously takes effort, therefore it's a work.
So if works are just automatic with salvation, then why are there passages in the Bible
which repeatedly tell us to put off the flesh and to walk in the Spirit? For example, in Romans chapter 7 verse 14 to 22,
it says, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do
I allow not, for what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that
which I would not, I consent to the law that is good. Now then it is no more I that do it,
but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing, for to will is to present with me, but how to perform that which is good
I find not. For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me, for I delight in the law of God
after the inward man.
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin
which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh the law of sin.
So from this passage Paul is admitting that it's entirely possible for him and other Christians to fall under sin,
because of the presence of our sinful flesh. He says with the mind I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh the law of sin.
So since our flesh is not born again, since we're born in the spirit,
we still have an obligation to do whatever we can to obey God through walking in the spirit.
Okay, the Bible says that, well I'll get to that passage in Galatians 5, if you
walk in the spirit you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
And we see these passages which
could go along with Romans chapter 7, such as Ephesians chapter 4 verse 20 to 24,
which says,
But ye have not so learned Christ,
if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off
concerning the former conversation of the old man,
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Colossians chapter 3 verse 3 to 11 says,
filthy communication out of your mouth,
lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free,
but Christ is all and in all. And then Galatians chapter 5 verse 16 to 18 says,
This I say then, walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh,
for the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other.
So that you cannot do the things that you would, but if you be led of the spirit, you're not under the law.
So in these three passages, we see that we're being admonished, we're being warned,
we're being told to put off, to mortify, to get rid of the flesh, to walk in the spirit.
It's a daily struggle to obey God. Paul said, I die daily in 1st Corinthians 15 31.
So it's not just an automatic thing that comes with salvation.
It's not just, oh well I turned from my sin, and I started to do what God wants for my life once I got saved.
No, the working part of a Christian's life is something that we need to walk towards. It's something that we need to
grow in. It's not something that just happens automatically as a result of being saved. And how do we do that?
Well as Galatians 5 says, walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
He doesn't say you're just automatically going to walk in the spirit. He's telling us to walk in the spirit.
It's a command to walk in the spirit. Now
this is exactly what Jesus spoke of in John chapter 15 when he said in verse 1 to 5,
I am the true vine, and my father is the husband. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit
he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit
he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word
which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine. No more can ye except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that abideth in me, and I in him. The same bringeth forth much fruit,
for without me you can do nothing. So those who are
disobedient Christians, God simply removes out of the way. It doesn't mean that they're not saved.
It doesn't mean that they're not the children of God.
It just means that God isn't going to waste his time with them for fulfilling his purposes on the earth, such as preaching the gospel.
Rather those who actually make an attempt to walk in the spirit, who actually make an attempt to obey the commandments of God,
God will bless them by purging them that they bring forth more fruit, that they do more work so that they can have more
results, more fruit to bear, as it says in verse 2. So abiding in him is talking about walking in the spirit.
We cannot bear fruit by our own selves.
We need the spirit to guide us. If we abide, which means continue in Christ, we will bring forth much fruit.
So the backsliders, those who fail to put off the old man, as we're constantly commanded to do throughout the New Testament,
they're not going to get anything done.
They're not going to do good works and therefore not bear good fruit.
Now the same illustration of us being a tree which bears good fruit is shown in Psalm 1 as well.
It says in verse 1 to 3,
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seed of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in the season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
So here it teaches that those who walk after God, who meditate in the law, who obey God's commandments, are the ones who bring forth good fruit.
But again, as the Bible shows, not all Christians are necessarily going to do that.
If they all did that, then it wouldn't be a command to put off the flesh or to mortify the flesh, as it
continuously says in Ephesians 4 and
Galatians 5 and Romans 7, etc.
Some will fall back into sin because they do not walk in the Spirit. It doesn't mean that they're not saved,
and it's not evidence that they're a false prophet either. Now the illustration in Matthew chapter 7, going back to that,
shows us that a good tree cannot bring forth corrupt fruit. It's not about whether or not we bear fruit at all,
it's about whether that fruit is good or not.
That's why Paul prays for believers to be fruitful in their work, saying in Colossians chapter 1,
verse 9 to 10,
So he says that he does not cease to pray for these Christians in Colossae,
so that they could be fruitful in every good work.
So if it's just automatic, if it's just something that just automatically takes place when you get saved,
why does he not cease to pray about it? Well the answer is simple, because fruit cannot be born.
We cannot bear good fruit, except one makes the decision to obey God and do his work in the first place.
Now it says in Matthew chapter 7, verse 21 to 23,
So the bearing of fruit, and by extent, the works which we need to do in order to do so,
to win somebody to the Lord, for example, they're not an evidence of salvation.
These people illustrated in Jesus's message,
which comes right after the depiction of false prophets in verse 15 to 20, are an example of who he's talking about, the false prophets.
These people have clearly done good works. They've clearly worked for God.
They've clearly done things which Jesus has commanded us to do, and they do so in the name of Jesus, and they even brag about it.
But people who are unsaved can still do works. People who don't have the Spirit,
just because they do good works doesn't mean that they're saved. They need to have faith, and that's what saved them.
Jesus calls them workers of iniquity.
So even though they've done the works, the works result in evil fruit. So they're workers of iniquity, because it's evil.
And that's one of the ways in which we determine if somebody's a false prophet. If there's
somebody who claims to be a preacher of the Word of God, and they go out
soul-winning, for example, but either they never get somebody saved, or the people that they do convert turn out to be
heretics or false prophets themselves, well, that's a sign that the preacher is a false prophet, and that he's unsaved.
Why? Is it because he's not bearing any fruit? No, he's bearing fruit, but the fruit he's bearing is evil. The fruit
he's bearing are false prophets and heretics. Those he converts, he converts to lies and false doctrines instead of the truth.
So that's bearing evil fruit. So just to summarize this video,
not only are we not saved by works, but works are not the automatic result of being saved either. Fruit,
for a saved converted Christian, is the result of
works, but we need to make the choice to put off the old man and to walk in the Spirit in order to bear it,
in order to do what God wants us to do. So we need to understand that distinction.
And not go into the false doctrine that Christians will just automatically do good work, because that makes us judge people who might actually be
saved and who might actually
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and put their faith in them and say, well, they don't have any fruit.
They've never gone out soul-winning. They've never done any works for God. So I can't see that they're
actually a Christian or anything. Well, that's not a, that's not a test given in the Bible to determine if somebody's saved or not.
You never see that. So thank you everybody for watching and goodbye.
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