Few Christians Bring Fruit to Maturity. And
They Think God Will Spare Them the Judgment?
Well praise Jesus today everyone. The topic I
wanted to speak about today is bringing sinners to repentance and bearing good
fruit. See not a lot of Christians are bearing good fruit or bringing others to
repentance A lot of us have become too timid to share our faith or scared what
other people think, worried about the things of the world. And because these things have become in our
life so big and Jesus so small, we can't produce fruit. Now a lot of people
especially in America have heard the gospel. They're not ignorant of what the
Bible teaches, they're not ignorant of what Jesus said in the Gospels. They
haven't had the gospel immediately snatched away from them. They have grown to
some sort of maturity in their life. But as they walk forward in life, they started
to lose their faith. The devil started to ebb away at them. And instead of bearing more good fruit they
started bearing less in the things of this world, got the best of them. Now we
know what good fruit is, we know what the fruit of the Holy Spirit is, but what it basically comes down to is living
holy, being separate from things in the world that are truly ungodly and making disciples for Jesus Christ.
I want to read to you the parable of the four soils
and you will see which soil you belong to. You will see what soil you are like
or what soil the nation we live in is like. “4And when a great multitude had gathered, and
they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: 5“A sower went out
to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled
down, and the birds of the air devoured it.6Some fell on rock; and as soon as
it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.7And some fell among
thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.8But others fell on good
ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.”
When he had said these things, he cried “he who has an ear to hear let him hear”. Then his disciples asked him saying, “what does this parable mean?”
10And He said, “To you it has been given to
know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in
parables, that
‘Seeing they may not see,
And hearing they may not understand.’ ”
See this right here is an interesting reason
that Jesus speaks to people in parables. There are a lot of pastors and
teachers and Christians that think that Jesus spoke to people in parables to
help them understand but actually it was for the exact opposite reason. He
spoke in parables that people that wanted to hear would seek more and that
people that didn't hear would just walk away and they wouldn't understand
anything. Because the gospel is very precious it is not
to be thrown to pigs. But a lot of Christians want the gospel to be
for pigs. They dumb down the gospel. They mix the gospel with lies and they make
the gospel something that people with itching ears want to hear. It is the money
gospel the gospel that says, “Just seek after riches, seek after your own pleasure, seek after your own lusts, chase what you want to chase, and in the end God will let you into heaven
also”.
Jesus calls us to truly deny ourselves, pick up our cross and to be unashamed of
standing for the truth, to be uncompromising. But sadly, most Christians have compromised
their faith. And instead of growing with Jesus and
spreading the gospel, they're now just spreading flat-out lies. So
Jesus goes on to explain this parable.
11“Now the parable is this: The seed is the
word of God.12Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes
and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be
saved.”
This is the person who hears the gospel and
immediately turns their back, they say, “Well, I was born homosexual, I will never listen to the truth of God”, “I was born that way, I will not repent.” Satan immediately snatches away the gospel and
they don't even listen to one message of any messenger of God who speaks the
gospel.
“13But the ones on the rock are those who, when
they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a
while and in time of temptation fall away.”
So we all know this sort of Christian or this
sort of person, they're the people who we share the gospel
with, and at first when they hear this gospel they're
very excited to hear it. But because they have no depth in Jesus, they don't really want to walk with the Lord.
As soon as just a very basic temptations of this world come, they walk away
from the truth for the next big thing for the next fad.
“14Now the ones that
fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked
with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”
Guys, I think this represents most of all of Christians. It represents most all of America. Because America has heard the gospel, they have went out already to try to spread
the gospel, they have started churches, they've started families, they have started a way of life, they have started their traditions, but then what crept in is all the cares of the
world riches, the pleasures of life. And with all of these pleasures of life and
all the cares of the world has brought upon them no ability to bear good fruit, so they're not bringing fruit to maturity. We
have to be very careful not to allow the pleasures of life and the money that
we're making and the things that we enjoy doing to choke out the Word of God.
Are we bringing sinners to repentance? Are we
talking to our neighbor about Jesus Christ or are we more concerned about the
things of this life? Most Americans are very concerned about what's happening
on TV, their favorite sport, their hobbies, their education, what's happening
at the workplace. And because they're so concerned about these things
Jesus Christ is not their center. He's not the center of their conversation.
He's not the center about what they're thinking of. They're not seeking first
the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Now obviously guys it's not
wrong to run, to be an athlete, to participate in sports in high school or in
college, I have done all of those things. But it is wrong to take your eyes off of the
kingdom of God and to let these things overtake you as most Christians have. If
you're not sure the difference between seeking first the kingdom of God and
allowing something in the world to take over your life, you need to ask Jesus is, “what I'm participating in is it beneficial for the
kingdom of God? I'm playing soccer. Is this good for the kingdom of God or is it
taking me away from heaven? I'm participating in in sports in high school, maybe track, maybe basketball. Are these
things good for my spiritual health? Am I growing with Jesus in these things or
are they causing me to be unfruitful? Am I falling away from the kingdom of God
because I'm being influenced by peers that are taking me away from the kingdom
of God or is it really an opportunity for me to share my faith about Jesus? Am
I living a life that I'm not compromising in talking about Jesus and growing in
my faith?” So each of us in our own hearts have to
address that to see if we really are for Jesus in these things or if we're
being choked out by the things in the world.
But finally Jesus says, “15But the ones
that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble
and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”
This is the sort of fruit we want to be. We
want to bear good fruit and we want to be diligent to bring that fruit to
complete maturity. So few of us are bringing our faith to complete maturity. We
get stunted in kindergarten or in first grade and although we grow to be
complete men in the world or complete women in the world, spiritually we're
still infants or kindergartners or third graders. And this is a big problem, because the only one who makes it into God's
eternal kingdom is the one who brings fruit to full maturity. So ask yourself, are you bringing spiritual fruit to full
maturity? Are you living holy? Are you separate to serve the Lord? Are you
separate from things of the world? Are you bearing good fruit by bringing
people to repentance? Or are you ashamed of the gospel? Are you ashamed to
speak out for Jesus Christ? Are you stunted in your faith? So ask yourself this
question and then figure out how you can overcome. Because we want to be those who overcome with
Jesus not those who are bogged down by the things of the world, ashamed of the
gospel, too timid to stand for what matters, or just simply bogged down by work or by relationships
in this world, by things that seem good on the outside but ultimately
are keeping us from growing in our faith with Jesus.
So I want to pray for those of you who are
hearing this message and want to overcome, you want to bear good fruit, you
want to live holy and be righteous, you want to make disciples. So, “Lord Jesus I pray for my fellow brothers and
sisters in the Lord who want to overcome Satan in your name, who want to
overcome the temptations of flesh that lead to evil and ultimately physical and
spiritual death. I pray that my fellow brothers and sisters in your true church
would repent of any sin that's in their life, drugs, alcohol, impure
relationships, sex outside of marriage, all the things that cause us to stumble
in worldliness. We pray that we can sanctify ourselves to be separate from the
world, that we can be unstained from the world, touch nothing that is unclean
in the world and that everything that we participate in would be something that
would bring you glory in your kingdom. We pray to stay separate from everything
that's ungodly and we want to make sure that we don't join ourselves with
sinners, with people that are ungodly, that people that are wicked and cause us
to fall into all sorts of sin and temptations. We pray to stay separate that we
can be used for your purpose, that we can burn our bridges with the devil and
with the evil empire, that we can be holding fast to the truth in your kingdom
and the children of the light that truly bear good fruit for you Lord. So help
us to overcome in your name, let us cast out demons in your name, heal the sick
in your name and do good for you every day, preaching righteousness, living
holy, making disciples and always seeking first your kingdom Lord. So please
grant that more people can come into faith and do good for you, that we may be
the children of the light and completely enter into your kingdom with our white
robes. In your name I pray Lord Jesus, Amen.”
