Fruit Of The Branches Iv Series

FRUIT OF THE BRANCHES IV

Series on John 15 pt. 13

Heb 13:15; Gal. 5:22

3/18/07

I want to begin this morning message with a quote from the great 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon,

“It is of no use for any of you to try to be soul-winners if you are not bearing fruit in your own lives. How can you serve the Lord with your lips if you do not serve Him with your lives? How can you preach His gospel with your tongues, when with hands, feet, and heart you are preaching the devil’s gospel, and setting up an antichrist by your practical unholiness?”

That is a very practical statement. We cannot expect to be what God desires us to be if we are not bearing fruit in our lives. Fruit that brings God honor. A fruitless Christian is an anomaly. A fruitless Christian may very well not be a true Christian. Jesus is very clear in John 15:5, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” If you are truly abiding in Christ then you will bear fruit, because Christ in abiding in you. And that abiding, that living in Christ and Christ living in you WILL produce fruit.

Just as a vine that is cared for, nourished, and pruned, will bear fruit, so will the branches who are abiding in the true vine who is Christ.

In our look into John 15 we have been looking at what exactly is meant by the term fruit in the Bible. That is what is meant by good fruit, fruit that brings God glory.

We have seen thus far that this fruit must fall with in two categories. It must bring God glory, and it must be derived from the Holy Word of God. Last week we began to look at some specific fruit that is mentioned in the Bible.

We saw fruit of evangelism, the fruit of righteousness, and the fruit of giving. We saw how these fruits are seen in us through God.

Remember the words of Paul in 1 Cor 3:6-7 “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.” Which tells us that God gives the increase when it comes to evangelism. Any one who comes to Christ through our sharing of the gospel does so not by our abilities but through the working of the Holy Spirit of God. God produces the fruit in us.

We saw that with fruit of righteousness. We are told in Phil. 3:9 “and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;” Again we see that this fruit, the fruit of righteousness is seen in us through faith in Christ.

Also the fruit of giving. We looked that example of Zacchaeus. Did he give his money to the poor because he all of a sudden thought it would be a good idea to do it. No. He did because he had an encounter with Jesus Christ by which he was regenerated, he it was through that regeneration that the fruit of giving was produced. He no longer at an attachment to the material things of this world, but what was now important to him was Christ.

Thus what we have seen so far points back to the what is said in John 15:5; “"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.”

If you abide in Christ these fruit WILL be seen in your life. Not so much because you are turned into a swell person, but because Christ is now alive in you, and if He is alive in you it WILL show forth with fruit.

Let us continue now in looking at specific fruit that is mentioned in the Bible. We have two more that I want us to look at. The next fruit I want to point is the fruit of our lips.

Listen to Heb. 13:15; “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”

But before I get into the good fruit spoken here I want us to understand that what comes out of our mouth can be good fruit or bad fruit. And the bad fruit is not just bad fruit, but it is poison.

I think of the story of Snow White. Remember the witch who wants to be the fairest of them all. So she make a apple, but it is a poison apple. A poisoned fruit.