By Their Fruits

Scripture:  Matthew 7 v 16 - 20:  "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17  Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."

Ephesians 1 v 3 - 4: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 
 4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:"

The plan of salvation started before the world was formed, and starting at Genesis was the advanced rescue plan to first undo all that Satan had done to us in His effort to dethrone God and rule the universe.

That's why we inwardly groan waiting for the redemption of our spiritual body.  The whole of creation is groaning because everything was warped, poisoned, twisted, maimed, destroyed by the God of this world.  Jesus calls him Satan the Father of Lies.  We all fell because of believing those lies.

Once we are born again we need to renew our minds according to the will of God.  We need to audit the lies and bondage of mind and emotions and fall out of agreement with them.  We need to replace them with truth about Jesus and believe Him.  He said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.  The Devil's lie says all paths lead to God.  Which one do you believe?  It will determine your eternal destination.

We also need to become like Jesus and consecrate our bodies to be conformed to Him.  We are pre-destinated to be conformed to Him when we are born again of water and the Spirit.  The instruction goes out to change us to become like Jesus.

We must have His nature which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit within us: love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, faith, goodness, meekness, gentleness.  I once had these words on a computer screensaver in my office.  A man was sitting in my office while I attended to his colleague.  

Afterwards the friend asked me why those words were on my screen.  I told him it was to keep me reminded of the nature of Jesus.  He broke down saying, I have none of those qualities.  He was convicted of sin, righteousness and judgment by the Holy Spirit and gave his heart to Jesus that very day.

These are the fruits that make us aliens to the world.  The "peculiar people" the Bible says we are. We are no longer part of the world, we have changed from sinner to saint, but just journeying through it, hopefully collecting souls along the way, who recognise us by our fruits.  Bringing in souls is another form of fruit the Lord Jesus loves very much.

Jesus Christ is our prototype to whom we must conform.  We must know the Word and use it as a guide for our lifestyle and manner of being.  He was the Son of God who became the Son of Man who returned to Heaven and is seated on the right hand of the Father.  We are seated in Christ in heavenly places.  Let us make Him glad He made that sacrifice.  Let us do our best to let Him shine through our changed lives to bring the lost back to Him.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You for Jesus, the firstfruits of a new creation, Christian believers.  Help us to truly reflect everything He planned for each one of us so we conform to Him in mind and body.  Let us be known by our fruits! In Jesus' name. Amen.