”You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” Matthew 7:16
“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14
This morning the Lord is showing me about the fruit a man bears, he shows this to me many times over the years. And it has been an ongoing thing. But this morning he broke things down a bit more and categorized it because of a discussion my wife and I had.
As a man who lived in the flesh as we all do for the first part of our life, and if or when the second part happens where you are really born again, you see the difference. But when living in the flesh we only do the things of the flesh and cannot see the difference.
But to put people in categories because this is how it works. First is the guy like we all are at the first birth, we do not know God nor do we do anything to even care. Some are worse than others because some are atheist and do not believe there is a God. But also there is the atheist religious person, the one who believes there is a God but knows nothing about him nor is seeking him. This represents by far the majority of the religions including any form of christianity.
The second group is the ones who know something about God, and probably even have heard him speak to them. But they tippy toe this line where they do not die unto themselves and walk in the world, ignoring much of what God is saying to them. They only hear and obey the parts which work into their beliefs and way of thinking, and ignore the light on the rest of it. This is dangerous because it allows satan to come in and make you believe the lie you want to believe and stay out of the Kingdom and also keep others from entering into the Kingdom. Yesterday’s message had a lot to do with this, but the Pharisees are the perfect example, pushing their doctrine while ignoring the son of God, Yeshua whom they had been waiting for when he was standing right in front of them. And Yeshua said this about them, ‘You do not enter into the Kingdom nor do you allow anyone else to enter into it.” In other words because you do not believe in the truth and teach the lies, or some version or truth and lies, no one else enters either because they follow you instead of coming to know God. The bad part is they attach anything of God in you that does not line up with their beliefs of who they think God is and or should be. But they do not pay attention to the fruit they bear.
The next one is the man who knows and hears God and is seeking him but has not yet achieved. The verdict is out on this man also because at any minute he can return to his vomit. Just like the rich young ruler, he may be doing almost everything right and working hard at being righteous in his actions (bearing good fruit). But he could come up to a stumbling block where what he is asked to do by the Lord causes him to fall, and he turns back and walks away sad because it was too much for him to do.
The last man is the one who did what Yeshua said, where he is doing all the right things, and when Yeshua says sell all you have and give it to the poor and follow me. Or something similar as we each have our thing we view as being more important than God we must give up or get rid of. And this man does it without understanding why he must do so.
In my life I had that moment, more than once actually where I had to decide to continue down the same road or obey which cost me and my older girls. Well sort of because my older girls were not talking to me anyways so it really did not affect them.
For me it was similar to the rich young ruler, although the Lord already took what little wealth I accumulated through a nasty downturn in the market plus a nasty divorce and BIG attorney bills. And of course not taking care of the money the Lord gave me and spending foolishly. Not bearing good fruit at all.
But the real story is when with a few moving parts that could only be orchestrated by God. First was one day out of the blue God told me to sell my home in Clear Lake, one I just finished remodeling and feeling like I was home. So I said to the Lord, OK, if it is you when I go to the restaurant tonight to eat, the realtor guy I know. If he is there I will list it to sell, if not I won’t. Sounds a bit like Gideon! Well, I went and he was there which normally is about a 25% chance he would be. A few months later we got an offer and sold it and closed on it. I then planned a one month vacation in Tijuana, so the day of closing I basically packed up my car and came to Tijuana. Contemplating what to do next for a place to live. While here in TJ the Lord said to me, now move here. I argued with him, like what about my family and friends, what will I do for work…? All the worldly things.
The Lord never answered anything other than “move.” It was a HUGE decision, and no one ever told me that you obey at all cost. As a matter of fact the religious community I was in thought I was crazy and should not do it, that it was not of God. Saying what about this or that…?
But in the end I obeyed, and moved. Shortly after I was in a church one day and the Lord said to me, now give $1,000 dollars to the church and what they were raising money for. I was floored because I only had $2,000 in my bank account and wondering how I would pay the bills without it. But I obeyed and did it.
It was shortly after where the Lord set me free in a dark afternoon filled with demons. A story for another day. But the point is in order to get to the point where the Lord has complete control over your life and be a part of the last group where you bear good fruit (not good fruit according to the world because they will never understand) but good fruit according to God. Keep in mind again the religious Jewish leaders always were attaching Yeshua for his works, trying to find a twist on them making them evil at least in their minds. Justifying their ways again at least in their minds. The religious people do this, where the Spiritual people do not. The religious people cannot understand the Spirit, but the Spiritual people can and do understand the people of the flesh because the Spirit shows it to them, and makes it clear to you where you came from and who you are now in him.