Sons of Galilee​

The Fruit worthy of Repentance

 

"Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,"

"And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." 

-Matthew 3:8,10

 

Being saved is a miraculous event that gives someone who is spiritually dead life from above and makes them a child of God. They are now justified with God and perfect before His Judgment seat. This is becasue Jesus' death paid their penalty for sin and His righteousness is attributed to them. But true conversion will lead to repentance from Sin, just like a healthy egg will lead to a hatchling, and that hatchling eventually into a perfectly formed adult of the species that laid it. This can be referered to as a type of spiritual DNA. 

 

In order to properly understand this cause and effect relationship we need to understand what it isn't. It is not if you do such and such (i.e. stop getting drunk and having extramarital sex) you will get to heaven. True repentance is a gift from God. And it is also a human responsibility. The human being can only fulfill this responsibility if God has granted new life, and thereby giving the believer power over the sin that once dominated them.

 

In fact, if anyone has tried to quit sin on their own they know that just because they stop outwardly sinning doesn't mean the heart doesn't still want to. Many "religious people" today, from all types of faiths, have an outward moral appearance. Evidence of false repentance is that the person begins to become prideful because of their actions or inaction's. They may become severely agitated at their own inability to truly change. They look down on others. Many want nothing to do with true conversion to God. Others use behavior as a way to try and bridge the gap between God and themselves, a gap that can only be bridged by Jesus Christ. Only God can grant the desire and will to change in the way He requires; and true conversion has the unmistakable quality of humbling a person.  

 

True Salvation will produce obedience; as we will see below:

 

So let's study what is said about believers, repentance and sin in the Scripture:

 

"He commands all people everywhere to repent, because

He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness

by a Man whom He has appointed"

- Acts 17:30

 

The Apostles taught that salvation consists of "repentance toward God and

of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ" -(Acts 20:21)

 

to believers the Scripture is absolutely clear on the subject:

 

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify 

the desires of the flesh.

 

For the desires of the flesh 

are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit 

are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, 

to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 

But if you are led by the Spirit,you are not under the law." 

 

"Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: 

adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 

idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, 

outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, 

heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; 

 

of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told 

you in time past, that those who practice such things 

will not inherit the kingdom of God" 

-Galatians 5:19-21

 

Any parent will tell you that the best way to remove an unwanted item from a child is not just by taking it away, but by replacing it with something that is good. Just removing will only leave an empty space and the desire to fill that with something. This is the same principle for the Children of God. This is why Galatians 5 explicitly says "walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh"

 

In Matthew chapter 7 Jesus explains that not everyone who professes the name of Christ gets into Heaven, saying:

 

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’

will enter the kingdom of heaven,

but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

 

On that day many will say to Me,

‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,

and cast out demons in your name,

and do many mighty works in your name?’

 

And then will I declare to them,

‘I never knew you; depart from Me, 

you workers of lawlessness.’

- Matthew 7:21-23

 

"I never knew you" is absolutely the very last thing anyone wants to hear on Judgement Day, but there are clearly some who will hear it. But even though these people worked "lawlessness" as you can see from the text, this is a character attribute, the reason they are not allowed into Heaven is because they were never "Born again" by the Holy Spirit; if they were born again Christ would not have have said "I never knew you"? 

 

So being born again makes you a child of God, and it also puts God in you. Because God is in you you will overcome the World, the flesh, and the Devil because God is greater than these things. Your Spiritual DNA will make you an overcomer. Jesus isn't saying the people in Matthew 7 are not allowed in because they sinned too much, He is saying they pratice sin, because they were never really born of God.

 

Lets review some texts that might help illuminate what The Holy Spirit is saying. John confirms the message of Matthew 7 in an epistle by saying:

 

"No one born of God makes a practice of sinning,

for God’s seed abides in him,

and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God"

- 1 John 3:9

 

John is essentially saying the acid test of being born again is the Holy Spirit's work in our lives, specifically in the area of sin. Lets continue and clarify what we mean.

 

Even though some Christians get caught up in sin, they cannot stay in sin because as John says  "he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God" 

 

This is what Peter alludes to when he mentions being overcome below:

 

"For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world 

through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

they are again entangled in them and overcome, 

the last state has become worse for them than the first"

- 2 Peter 2:20

 

He explains in the verse before:

"For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved"

-2 Peter 2:19

 

John explains that our faith overcomes the world:

"For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith"

-1 John 5:4

 

So John says all people who are born again overcome. It's simply written in their Spiritual DNA to do so.

 

Lets let Jesus explain this in His own words:  

 

"If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself

and take up his cross and follow Me"

-Matthew 16:24

 

and He clarifies this in another passage saying:

“If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples"

-John 8:31

 

John says this again in 1 John 3:3:

"Beloved, we are God's children now,

and what we will be has not yet appeared;

but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him,

because we shall see Him as He is.

 

And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure"

 

Maybe this next Scripture explains it best:

 

"But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: 

 

“The Lord knows those who are His,”

 

and,

 

“Let everyone who names the name of the Lord

depart from iniquity.”

-2 Timothy 2:19

 

First, God knows those who are His, so salvation isn't God in Heaven twiddling His thumbs over whether people just happen by the correct magic formula to be saved. It's God Sovereignly giving rebirth to those whom He chooses as specified in Romans 9. God knows what He is doing and if He has indeed begun a good work in us He is faithful to complete it. as it is written:

 

"And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you 

will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ"

- Philippians 1:6

 

But the imminently practical portion of this Scripture is that if you and I name the name of Christ, we absolutely better depart from all known sin in our lives.   

 

This is exactly why Paul makes this statement:

 

"Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those

who have been brought from death to life,

and your members to God as instruments for righteousness"

 

and then goes on to explain:

 

"Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey,

 

whether of sin leading to death,

or of obedience leading to righteousness? 

-Romans 6:13, 16

 

This is NOT to say believers will ever achieve a place of no sin, all people whom God ever dealt with are just sinners saved by grace, through faith, by the work of Jesus on the Cross. In fact, John also says:

 

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us"

- 1 John 1:8

 

Finally, as a way of completely clarifying. Those who are born again are responsible, (and are only able to achieve this through the power of God the Holy Spirit), to do the following things described in the Scripture:

 

"His Divine Power has granted to us

all things that pertain to life and godliness,

through the knowledge of Him who called

us to His own glory and excellence,"  

 

"by which He has granted to us His precious

and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the Divine Nature,

having escaped from the corruption that is in the world

because of sinful desire." 

 

"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement

your faith with virtue,

and virtue with knowledge,

and knowledge with self-control,

and self-control with steadfastness,

and steadfastness with godliness,

and godliness with brotherly affection,

and brotherly affection with love.

 

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing,

they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful

in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind,

having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

 

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to

confirm your calling and election,

for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

 

For in this way there will be richly provided for you 

an entrance into the eternal kingdom of

our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"

- 2 Peter 1

 

 

For further study, read Ephesians 5, Galatians 5, Romans 6-8, and 1 John