Why The Fruit Inspectors Get It Wrong - by Pastor Ralph Arnold
There are ministers, teachers and preachers out there which adhere to a false view of Lordship Salvation. It is usually the Calvinistic view of Lordship salvation which falls under the P in Calvinism's T.U.L.I.P. (i.e Perseverance of the Saints) And they will wrest Scriptures like Matthew 7:20-23, to try to teach that they can tell whose saved and who is lost, by observing how a person is living. But what they fail to realize is that in that passage in Matthew 7, Jesus said that a good tree CANNOT bring forth evil fruit, NEITHER CAN a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. (See vs. 18). If a Good Tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, that means it cannot produce or bring forth any bad fruit at all. Not even one bad fruit can come from a good tree, according Jesus' very own words in that passage. Now the question to consider is, Christian, after your salvation, have you ever did a bad deed? Have you ever sinned and had a bad thought??? If the answer is Yes, and obviously it is, and it is YES for ALL Christians, then that means we did bring forth a bad fruit. How could that be though?
If a Good Tree cannot even bring forth one bad fruit? The Answer is simply this. When Jesus Christ gave that remarkable illustration of the two trees, He was speaking about Old Nature (Bad Tree) and the New Nature (Good Tree). Our Old Sin Nature CANNOT even bring forth one good fruit. And Our New Nature CANNOT even bring forth one bad fruit. The Old Man (Bad and Corrupt Root) can only produce bad and evil fruit. And our New Man (Good Root) can only produce Good and wholesome fruit. Christians certainly can produce good fruit in their lives. And they should. But they can only produce this good fruit if they are walking in the Spirit and Yielding unto Him. And at the same time, a Christian can also produce bad and rotten fruit. Although they should not produce bad fruit, the truth is, all Christians have produced some level of bad fruit in their lives. and this is because all Christians at times will yield to the flesh and walk after the flesh (Old Man). And whensoever a Christian does walk after the flesh, they will produce the rotten fruit (bad works) of the flesh. please see Galatians 5.
For a born again Christian to bear good fruit, that Christian must abide in Christ and His Holy Scriptures. This is the only way that we can bear fruit. If we want to bear and produce any good fruit in our lives, if we want to live a changed, new and transformed life, we must abide in the Vine, which is Christ and His holy word. And if we as Christians do not abide in Christ, and do not abide in His words, and if we walk after the flesh (the bad tree), then any one of us can go back to our old life of sin. We could even get to a point where we deny the faith and turn from it. Yet though, we will still be saved. A Christian could even become a professing atheist. A born again Atheist????? Yes, it can actually get that bad. And yet, he would still be saved. Why? because the New Nature (Second Birth) is still in him. Just because a Christian lives and walks after the flesh (his first birth), that does not do away with his New Nature (Second Birth).
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