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THE LAWS OF THE KINGDOM                         Lecture 17.

           THE LAW OF ROOTS AND FRUITS

MATTHEW .7:15-20

Verse. 15.  Beware  of false prophets,  which come to you in sheeps clothing,
            but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Verse. 16.  Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of
            thorns,  or figs of thistles?

Verse. 17.  Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt
            tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

Verse. 18.  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt
            tree bring forth good fruit.

Verse. 19.  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and
            cast into the fire.

Verse. 20.  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."

INTRODUCTION

When teaching on the "beauties of Jesus"  it is important to note thet the
applications  are always relevant to every age, culture, and personality.
Eternal truth has a way of standing the test of centuries.

Verse 15.   The very firstword, Beware, introduces the intent of the teaching.
            We are alerted.  Of what? Immediately there comes the cause for
            concern false prophets.

Verse 16.   How shall we recognise this danger and be prepared to meet it? "Ye
            shall know..." Isn't that comforting? If we have time to get our
            guard up, any danger loses some of its potential.  We are told to
            examine not only outward appearance, but take a look under the
            sheepskin.  No need to have the wool pulled over our eyes if we
            heed what follows: "...by their fruits." The verse closes with a
            question.  Often by raising the ridiculous, we are made to see the
            valid.  Grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? Who would be
            taken in by such impossiblities?

Verse 17.   Here is presented the conclusion in the positive.  It is an
            agriculturally accepted fact.  The root determines the fruit.

Verse 18.   Now the conclusion comes in the negative aspect.  Again Jesus uses
            the word "cannot" meaning impossible!

Verse 19.   How to solve the problem? The answer is that of the action of
            every farmer or vinedresser in the audience, "Away with the
            unproductive!" All cultivatable soil was guarded with care.  There
            must have been much head-nodding assent to that edict.

Verse 20.   Repetition of the major premise closes the lesson.  No ifs, and or
            buts - by their fruits!

1.    The Law of Roots and Fruits is designed to protect your most valuable
      possession - that pearl of great price -your spiritual life.  Once you
      have "sold all and purchased the pearl," from then on it is your
      responsibility to "beware" - there are wolves on the prowl.

2.    Many of the Old Testiment writers warned about false prophets.  They
      pleaded with their people to beware.  And some of those prophets had to
      stand by watch their fellow men be taken captive - slaves because they
      would not heed the words of the true prophet.

3.    Today, as never before, spiritual fruit inspectors are necessary.  For
      many years the church veered away from the supernatural.
      a.    In our day, however, the Holy Spirit is bringing those who are
            tuned to His movings into a new realization o God's desire to pour
            out His signs and wonders.  Healings - deliverances miracles -
            prophecy - these are part of His workings.
      b.    Satan, at the same time, is loosing his powers in an attempt to
            nullify or weaken the effectiveness of God's power at work in the
            human situation.  The occult - false doctrine - drug abuse -
            distorted teachings on community living - all these are rampant in
            our society.

4.    How am I ever going to find my way safely though the confusion? First,
      recognise the need to BEWARE; then, learn to become a fruit inspector.

TEST YOUR TEACHERS (Vl5-20)

1.    In these verses Jesus tells His disciples to test preachers and teachers
      by their fruit. There are two tests:-
      a.    one is the fruit in the life of the preacher,
      b.    The other is the fruit of the doctrine.

2.    The fruit of a man's own life may be perfectly beautiful, and at the
      same time he may be teaching a doctrine which, if logically worked out,
      would produce the devil's fruit in other lives.

3.    It is easy to be captivated by a beautiful life and to argue that
      therefore what that life teaches must be right.  Jesus says, "Be
      careful, test your teacher by his fruit.'

Test the doctrine by its fruit, and test the teacher by his fruit.

POSSIBILITY OF PRETENCE V15

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
they are ravening wolves."

1.    Our Lord here is describing dangerous teachers, and He warns us of those
      who come clothed in right doctrine, but inwardly their spirit is that of
      Satan.

2.    It is appallingly easy to pretend. If once our eyes are off Jesus
      Christ, pious pretence is sure to follow. 1 John l:7 is an essential
      condition of the life of the saint, If we walk in the light as God is in
      the light,' i.e., with nothing folded up, nothing to hide.

3.    Immediately we depend upon anything other than our relationship to God,
      the possibility of pretence comes in, pious pretence.  We have to beware
      of pretence in ourselves.

4.    It is an easy business to appear to be what we are not.  It is easy to
      talk and to preach, and to preach our actual life to damnation.  It was
      realising this that made Paul say - "I keep under my body .... lest that
      by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a
      castaway."

PLACE OF PATIENCE V16

"Ye shall know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes of  thorns, or figs
of thistles?"
1.    This warning is against over zealousness on the part of heresy hunters.
      Our Lord would have us bide our time.  Luke 9:53-55 is a case in point.

2.    Take heed that you do not allow carnal suspicion to take the place of
      the discernment of the Spirit.

3.    Fruit and fruit alone is the test.  If you see the fruit in a life
      showing itself in thistles, Jesus says you will know the wrong root is
      there, for you do not gather thistles from any root but a thistle root.

4.    Remember that it is quite possible in wintertime to mistake a rose tree
      for something else, unless you are expert in judging.  So there is a
      place for patience, and our Lord would have us heed this.  Wait for the
      fruit to manifest itself and do not be guided by your own fancy.

5.    It is easy to get alarmed and to persuade ourselves that our particular
      convicitions are the standards of Christ, and to condemn every one to
      perdition who does not agree with us; we are obliged to do it because
      our convicitions have taken the place of God in us.

God's Book never tells us to walk in the light of convicitions, but in the
light of the Lord.

Always distinguish between those who object to your way of presenting the
Gospel and those who object to the Gospel itself.

PRINCIPLE OF PERFORMANCE V17-18

"Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree
bringeth forth evil fruit.  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither
can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit."

1.    If we say we are right with God, the world has a perfect right to watch
      our private life and see if we are SO.

2.    If we say we are born again, we are put under scrutiny, ad rightly so.

3.    If the performance of our life is to be steadily holy, the principle of
      our life must be holy, i.e., if we are going to bring forth good fruit,
      we must have a good root.

Fruit is clearly expounded in the Epistles, and it is quite different from the
gifts of the Spirit, or from the manifest seal of God on His own  word, it is
"the fruit of the Spirit," of an intimate union with Jesus Christ. (John15:15)

POWER OF PUBLICITY V19-20

"Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down) and cast into the
fire.  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."

1.    Jesus Christ makes publicity the test; He lived His own life publicly.
      (Johnl8:20) The thing that enraged our Lord's enemies was the public
      manifestation of His power.

2.    Today people are annoyed at public testimony.  It is no use saying, "Oh
      I live a holy life, but I don't say anything about it."  The two go
      together.

3.    If a thing has its root in the heart of God, it will want to be public,
      to get out, it must do things in the external and the open, and Jesus
      not only encouraged this publicity.  He insisted upon it.  For good or
      bad things must be dragged out.  "There is nothing covered that shall
      not be revealed; and hid that shall not be known." It is God's law that
      men cannot hide what they really are.

One of the dangers of the Higher Christian Life movement is the hole and
corner aspect - secret times alone with God.  God drags everything out in the
sun.

Paul couples sanctification and fornication, meaning that every type of high
spiritual emotion that is not worked out on its legitimate level will react on
a wrong level.