FBC Daily Devotional – January 18, 2021

Good Monday to you. I hope your week's getting off to a good start. Had a good

Lord's Day yesterday and fruitful weekend, profitable weekend. Maybe Saturday is your day off.

If so, I hope you were able to get some projects done if that's what your goals were for the day or maybe just some extra rest and refreshment, but whatever the case.

Ready to charge into another week and hope you're doing well in anticipation of the week ahead.

Well in our Bible reading today, if you're following along the Bible reading plan, we're in Matthew chapter 7 and Jesus says this in verses 17 to 20.

He says every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits and the them that Jesus is talking about is false prophets.

He says you'll be able to know and discern false prophets by their fruit. But the principle that Jesus brings out here applies beyond or broader than, more broadly than, just to false prophets.

You know, so we ask ourselves, legitimately ask ourselves some questions, some probing questions.

You know, what kind of fruit am I bearing in my life? Every good tree brings forth good fruit.

Can I point to any good fruit in my life? Now, we're not talking here about sinless perfection.

That is beyond the scope of what Jesus is talking about. He's looking at the life and the fruit that is being produced in that life.

And when you think later on in the book of Galatians, Paul talks about the fruit of the

Spirit. He says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, long -suffering, and so forth.

Can I see some evidence of those qualities in my life being born?

Again, not to perfection. This is not going to happen in our lifetime, but is the fruit being produced?

Can I see growth in love, and in joy, and in peace, and so forth? A good tree yields good fruit.

A tree that has been planted by the rivers of water, as the psalmist says, is a tree that brings forth its fruit in its season.

Can I point to some good fruit? Well, then Jesus goes on in verses 21 to 23 with a very sobering statement.

He says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into 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 mighty works in your name?

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

That's a pretty sobering statement, isn't it? Sobering reality that a person can talk the talk of the

Christian life without actually being one, can actually do some pretty stupendous things in the name of Christ as a professed

Christian, and yet really not be one, calling Jesus, Lord, going through all the religious motions, and yet not really knowing

Jesus, and more significantly, not being known of him, not being one of his children.

I don't know of too many Christians who, real genuine Christians, who haven't read this passage and been a little uncomfortable about it.

Is that me? I mean, I call Jesus Lord, and Romans 10 does say that whosoever shall call upon the name of the

Lord shall be saved, whoever shall call upon him as Lord shall be saved, and I've done so, but Jesus says, not everyone who says

Lord, Lord is really known of me and isn't really my own. That can cause a little bit of discomfort, but Jesus offers a helpful point of evaluation.

He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my

Father, who is in heaven, does the will of the Father. And from that point,

Jesus goes on to tell the story of these two builders, the wise builder and the foolish builder.

You know, the wise man, he builds his house upon a rock, the foolish man builds his house on the sand, the storm comes, the wind and waves beat against the houses, and the house built on the rock stands, the house built on the sand collapses and falls, and leaves you with a challenge.

Am I a foolish or a wise builder? Well, which one is the wise builder? The one who hears the sayings of Jesus and does them, he who does the will of the

Father. So a good point of evaluation is, do

I do the will of my Father? Again, in the bigger picture, you know, talking about the good tree yielding good fruit doesn't mean life is a life of perfection, and there's a sinless perfection that's not attainable in this lifetime.

It's something that the true believer longs for and wants and grows toward. But what a true believer can do is point to his life and say, it is my desire to do the will of the

Father. It is my practice to offer my body a living sacrifice to the Lord so that I may demonstrate what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of my

Father. I endeavor to, I live to do the will of my

Father who is in heaven. So if that is your passion, that's your desire, that is your that's your drive, and that's evident in your life, that you do the will of the

Father, you bear the fruit of the Spirit, then I don't think you really have a great deal to be concerned with regarding this warning.

But it is a point to consider, and it is something for us to think about and mull over, those of us who profess to be believers.

Does our profession actually reflect a possession?

Well, I trust the Lord will encourage you in this passage today and not cause you to be frightful and fearful, look to the life.

Has the Lord brought forth fruit? Look to the life. Has he by his grace enabled you to do the will of the

Father who is in heaven? So our Father and our God, I pray that even these sayings of Jesus that on the one hand can cause discomfort, will on the other hand provide some encouragement to your people, those who are genuinely

Christ. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Well, have a good rest of your