Luke 6:43-45

Luke chapter 6 verses 43 to 45 for our text and study this morning. For a good tree bringeth forth corrupt fruit, neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. for thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush, gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil, or of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. God bless to us his sacred and holy word this morning. Fake gems have been around for thousands of years. It was a way of deceiving the unsuspecting. But back in the days of paste gems, someone with a skill, the eye could detect right rather quite easily what was real and what was not. However, technology has so advanced in our society today that fake gems are also skillfully made. Fakes are now much harder to detect with the naked eye. There are synthetic gems that are made in a laboratory that closely resemble real gemstones. They even capture the natural’s gems, physical, and chemical properties. Synthetic gemstones are like that. Simulated gemstones, a little different, are also man-made. The color can duplicate that of a real stone, but it’s very different physical. physically and chemically. Cubic zirconium is one example of a diamond simulation that we have today. So buyers are gemstones are told to be more cautious, you know, get it checked, be careful, because sometimes we might be deceived about what is real and what is not. In the spiritual realm, God’s people are classified as jewels in the book of Malachi chapter 3 and verse 17. But there are fake Christians. People who profess to believe in Christ, and yet their profession is not genuine. line. Our Lord is explaining how to distinguish the real Christian from the fake Christian in our text this morning. Christ states here that good trees and bad trees are known by examining their fruit. That seems like a well-established fact, and acknowledged. Only in this case he indicates in verse 45 that the tree is actually referring to the heart of man. And the fruit is the doctrine or the actions of this person. You may know the character of a person’s heart by considering what it produces. For if it has an abundance of evil in it, it presents, it presents. produces evil things. But if it has an abundance of goodness in it, it produces good things. So the words and actions of a person reveal whether they’re good trees or whether they’re bad trees. Let me begin by saying this this morning. Being a true follower of God is not a matter of appearance, but of inner character. character. Your outward appearance does not necessarily reveal your true character. Christ calls your attention to this fact. Trees, which may resemble one another, do not necessarily produce the same quality of fruit. Take an apple orchard, for example. two trees may look a lot alike. But when you taste the fruit of each of them, they’re very different. The apples of a good tree are edible. They’re sweet and a delicious fruit. But the apples of a corrupt tree are not edible being sour and bitter to the taste. A corrupt tree is not a tree that’s rotten or decaying. simply one that does produce very poor fruit. In Christ’s point is this. Trees which look alike may produce very vastly different fruits, or kinds of apples, if you would, when you taste the fruit. A farmer had a nice-sized-sized-difference. always invited his pastor over during harvest time. He said, come on over. I’ll give you a bush of apples. The pastor never came over. So, well, finally, after a couple years of this, the farmers said, well, how come you never come over for any apples? And the pastor, a little embarrassed, said, well, to tell you the truth, I stopped by the roadside, where your apple orchard ends, and I picked an apple off the trees, and he said, it really was kind of bitter and sire, and he said, I didn’t want a whole bushel of those apples. And that’s why I haven’t come. The farmer started laughing. He said, let me explain. He said, I planted those sire apple trees around the border. of my orchard. So the boys in the neighborhood, when they picked the apples, would think, oh, these aren’t so good, and they would leave all the rest of the apples alone. So you come, I’ll give you some of the good apples in the center of the orchard. Now, the application of this illustration about the fruit trees is provided here in verse 45, and basically it is a good man produces good fruit. An evil man produces evil fruit. Christ declares that outward appearance does not necessarily reveal your character, but here’s the thing. Look at the fruit. Just like the trees and the farmer’s orchard might have looked alike. He knew they produced two different types of fruit, and the ones on the outside were just to keep away the riffraft. The little kids, young kids that might steal his apples. So your appearance, outward appearance, does not necessarily reveal your character. Now, being a Christian is a matter of your character rather than appearance. Now, on the surface, you may give the appearance of being a Christian. You may look like one of the good trees. The people of God in Scripture, Isaiah 61-3, are called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. But hypocrites are classified differently. Every plant which my Heavenly Father have not planted shall be rooted up. Some are not his plant. Some are. What you cannot change is your character. The true state of your heart. Either you are a good man or you’re an evil man. and depending on the state of your heart. That’s what verse 45 indicates to us. Some pass for good men, based upon the appearance of things, some type of form of religion that they have, perhaps. You may talk like a Christian. Maybe you have all the religious phrases down pat. You can talk about being born again. You can talk about profession professing faith in Christ you could talk about loving God you can use all those kind of phrases you may even faithfully attend church every week never miss you may even say thanks before your meals you may even bring a tide to the church and we might look at these things and you might say well these seemingly good in and of themselves things, but here they’re not revealing your true character. Anybody could do these religious things. You could learn the Christian terminology. However, being a Christian actually involves a change of heart. Your heart is the true source of godly character. If any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature, the old things are passed away. all things become new. You’re not like you used to be. It’s this change that’s important. Your very character has been changed if you’re a Christian. God doesn’t just fine-tune your old character. Look at what he says in Ezekiel 36, verses 26 and 27. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of you. your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them. You see there are two types of people here. There’s those with stony hearts and those with hearts of flesh. Those who have the spirit of God and therefore walk in the commandments of God and those who do not have the spirit of God and cannot walk according to the statutes and commandments. of the Lord. A stony heart is dead. It is lifeless with regard to the things of God. And that’s the way we all are by birth. We all come into this life in that state. God, however, by the work of his spirit, grants us a new heart. We call this regeneration. Or some would call it being born again. You’re given a heart of flesh, one that’s that’s alive to spiritual things. If you have a new heart, then you are a good tree. And therefore, you will bring forth that which is good. You are a tree planted by God. That’s the indication. However, without being granted this new heart by God, you are a corrupt tree, which can only bring forth that which is evil in the eyes of God. You’re not a tree planted by God. So you need to place your emphasis not on making yourself appear good before men, rather what you really are inside. Has your character been changed? Have you been regenerated by the power of God? Have you been given a new heart? Remember what Jesus. is told the scribes and the Pharisees. He said, you’re hypocrites. Because you make clean the outside of the platter and the cup, but within are full of excess, extortion, and so forth. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside may be clean also. If you’re not clean on the inside, it doesn’t matter how shiny you make it on the outside. The scribes and the Pharisees concentrate on being righteous before men, but their hearts were never changed, and therefore their hearts were far from God. Jesus speaks of cleansing first that which is within. Seek a new heart from God. So being a true follower of God is not a matter of appearance, but of inner character here. It’s a matter of heart change. Secondly, ultimately, you’re real character will reveal itself. Your tree will produce some kind of fruit. Suppose you visit sunny Florida before the fruit-bearing season and you’re from Pennsylvania and you don’t know anything about citrus trees. You see these trees in your the backyard or where you’re staying? Do you know if they’re lemon or lime or orange or grapefruit trees? You don’t know. How are you going to know? Well, eventually, the tree is going to produce fruit and you’ll know what kind of tree it is, right? You can just look and say, well, I can see, they’re lime, so that must be a lime tree. Their oranges, that must be an orange tree. Christ is saying something similar here about you. Your true nature whether you have a good heart or an evil heart is going to express itself either in spiritual graces, and these are the graces like in Galatians 522, or you don’t have a new heart and you’re not going to have those kind of graces produced in your life. What you are ultimately in the depths of your being is always going to reveal itself. Matthew 7, 20, says, wherefore by their fruits, you shall know them. Similar what do we see here in verse 44 of our text, for every tree is known by his own fruit. Your fruit is going to bud, it’s going to blossom, it’s going to blossom, it’s going to produce some kind of fruit. And that fruit, which is produced, will reveal the real you. Proverbs 237, for as he, a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Now, Jesus makes it clear that a corrupt tree cannot produce good fruit. Those with an evil heart, those who are unregenerate, cannot bring forth that which is good in God’s sight. It’s impossible. You cannot expect a thorn bush here, or a briar bush, to produce a crop of figs. You and I know that it’s never going to happen. It’s never going to happen that way. You can’t expect a bramble bush to somehow produce grapes, he says. Never going to happen. Therefore, an evil man’s heart can only bring forth that which is evil. The fruit, the words, the behavior produced will reveal what you are, what you are within your heart state. So your tree will produce some kind of fruit. Now, your real character always gives you away. Appearances can be deceptive, but you can only keep up appearances for so long. Eventually, the true nature of a person gets revealed. Judas is a case and point. He appeared for a time to be a faithful follower of Christ, to be a disciple. A true disciple of Christ. None of his fellow disciples suspected. him at first. In fact, they didn’t expect him really up till the end. Even then, they thought he was sent on a special errand by Christ and not the actual betrayer. He was considered trustworthy enough to be the treasurer of Christ’s little band of disciples. Carried the money bag. Here and there, however, as you look at the life of Judas, you see cracks. You see some evidence. of something being wrong. For example, when Mary was anointing Christ’s head and feet with his precious ointment, that was criticized. You remember by Judas? And Jesus repeatedly warned the disciples all along that one of them was a devil. One of them was going to betray him. And eventually, Judas tipped his hand. And, was revealed as someone with an evil heart. Why did Jesus say that he was a devil? Because he was serving Satan. He was serving Satan. He wasn’t serving Christ. His heart was evil. In the end, you see, Judas’ heart brought forth evil fruit. Covetousness reign in his heart. His criticism of Mary, adointing Jesus, was because he wanted the ointment sold, and the money from that put in the money bag where he’d have access to it. That’s what that was all about. It wasn’t about taking care of the poor. That was just a camouflage for what was going on. He stole money out of the money bag. He betrayed Christ for 30 pieces of silver. That tells you where his heart is that Puritans used to call these people. Temporary believers. I think that phrase is actually used one time in our confession. Temporary believers. Based on the parable of the sower. Jesus said when the seed falls on rocky ground, though it springs up quickly, it soon withers away. Luke 8.6. Jesus in explaining the parable says this. They on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy and these have no root which for a while believe. And in time of temptation they fall away. Luke 8.13. Now when Jesus stated this, he was not saying that someone who actually does believe truly can lose their salvation. That’s not what he means. He’s using this word belief from man’s perspective. He’s going to the outward profession. They seem to make a profession of faith in Christ. These people are not truly saved. Jesus calls these rocky ground believers or hearers than temporary believers because their profession of faith does not last. Nor does it produce any fruit, does it? No fruit. Ah, if the heart had been changed, their fruit would be produced. The heart has now changed. So these individuals profess to be believers, which for a while believed, and gave the appearance of being converted, but they were not. Eventually, they’ll give clear evidence. were never converted. Remember Simon Magus, the sorcerer of Samaria, that we read about in Acts Chapter 8? Here comes Philip. He preaches the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you read the people of the city believed, and then you read this phrase, then Simon himself believed also, and was baptized. And he continued with Philip. Well, that sounds positive, doesn’t it? That’s in Acts A-13. He was accepted for a time as someone who seemed to be a true believer. But when Peter, I believe it was John, came and laid hands on these people so that they received extraordinary gifts of the spirit, he marveled that people could be given these gifts of the Spirit. And he tried to purchase, being a sorcerer, you know, he’s all into power and things of this nature. He tried to purchase the power of the spirit that Peter possessed. And Peter rebukes Simon. And he says, Thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter. And I think he’s referred. to salvation here. For thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Your heart isn’t right. Thus Peter illustrates the case here of a temporary believer. We read about it in 2.2.22. The dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that was washed to her walling in the mire. Even a filthy sow. You can take the pig you can wash it all off, you can scrub it down, you can put a little shampoo on it, get it all cleaned up, put a bow on its head, but you can’t change the character. And that pig loves the wallow in the mire. And therefore, what does it do after you’ve cleaned it all up outside? It’s still, the nature drives it to the mud. And back it goes, what an illustration of a man. And with the outward aspect of religion, outward profession, heart not changed, always going back to where his character drives him to the filth and corruption of this world. A dog rooting through the trash of the city may eat something, it makes him sick, and he vomits out what he ate. However, he’s a foolish dog. He has no understanding about the matter. Ends up eating the vomit that he threw up, even though it made him sick in the first place. So he goes back to it. The same idea is carried in this account. People act just like the sow and the dog when it comes to the spiritual things. The appearance on the outside may be somewhat changed. But if the heart isn’t renewed, they’re always going to go back to what their character drives them to do. Evil. Peter’s saying there’s a kind of superficial cleansing that does not change the character. And that’s what Jesus I think is indicating here in our text. You can clean up your life. Maybe even reform some bad habits. But if your heart is not renewed, is it not regenerated, you’re the same person. If you’re a corrupt tree, evil fruit will be produced despite all your external efforts, to appear righteous before others, it’s going to reveal itself. So ultimately your real character will reveal itself. Let me make two thought, practical observations here. And the first is this. You see your absolute need of regeneration. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again. He cannot see. the kingdom of God. John 3. 3. Or as Titus tells, as Paul wrote to Titus, Titus 3.5, according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit has to do an internal washing of your soul. Cleansing of the heart. If you’ve been given regeneration, if you have a new heart, then you’re capable of producing good spiritual fruit because you have the Holy Spirit’s activity within you. Do you think you can do something good without God? You cannot. Newness of heart alone results in a good heart. Where this is lacking, everything is superficial and unacceptable before God. So you need to ask yourself this morning, have I been born again? Have I been given? a new heart by God. Because all your religion is vain. Otherwise, you’re a Pharisee. You see your absolute need of regeneration. If the heart isn’t right, can’t do anything good. Secondly, you see the truth here of the total depravity of man. Remember what it says in Job 14.4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. If the heart is evil, how can you possibly do anything good? How sad man’s state is as a fallen sinner? You have no ability to do good in man’s sight. You can bring forth good fruit only if your heart’s been changed. Think about this a minute. How can you bring forth good fruit if your heart is as scripture revealed, it to be in Genesis 6.5. Every imagination of the thoughts of your heart are only evil continually. How can that heart bring forth anything good? How can you produce good fruit from an unclean heart? Now, people try to deny total inability of the fallen individual. But the scriptures are very clear about this. There is none that doeth good, no, Not one. There are no exceptions unless your heart’s been changed. No exceptions. It is the spirit that produces the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, temperance, meekness, so forth. None of those things are produced without the Holy Spirit. This being the case, and you throw yourself on the mercy of God. Plead with him to grant you a new heart. Jesus Christ alone is the Savior sinners. He is the one we appeal to. You find the truth of man’s total depravity. Let me close by saying this. There are fake gems today that are very hard to detect by the naked eye. We can be deceived. There are also fake Christians. And we could be deceived by them for a time. But our Lord explains how to distinguish the real and the false Christian here. And ultimately, what is important is the state of your heart? Have you been regenerated by the power of God? Because that’s the only way good fruit can be reduced in your life. Let us close with a word of prayer.