Discerning by Fruit — Mose Stoltzfus

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But I hope it's more than that. Well Just a couple thoughts here. Before I forget it the matter of discernment. There is an extremism that can be fallen into. That I would just like to give a caution of here lest I forget it.

I'm getting of the age where I have many thoughts and I forget some of them but I don't do something about them and that's just come to me here a little bit ago, but there is The discerning as to trying to find out very critically whether a man is born again or not.

That is counterproductive to him becoming born again. Young Christians stand together and sometimes go into this argument, you know events that I think he's born again. I don't think so, you know and you have this real black-and-white Discussion concerning another individual in your family or congregation or someone, you know this study is more geared to discerning.

Discernment Without Judging the Eternal Soul

What? As far as I'm concerned what? Whether I can Relate to a situation or something or not in other words the effect it has on my life whether I can fellowship with it or whether I can Read that book or listen to that speaker or so on rather than to judge his eternal soul.

Notice the difference there. We must discern many things as to how they affect us and whether we can Expose our children to it or be part of that fellowship or sit under the feet of those men, but to judge Ultimately whether they are going to heaven or hell.

I like to let with God and So when we go down this road of discernment I wanted to make that clear line somehow this week that we understand there is an extremism that we go in to try to discern too critically as to whether a man is Right with God or not.

Even though there are methods and this scripture does talk about discerning between the righteous and the wicked and there's some of that in the Bible. Shall we bow our heads for prayer? Gracious God in heaven.

We come to you. We're needy men. We see through a glass darkly in many times here on earth, but then face to face. And we thank you for that. Hope that is within that purifies ourselves even as he Jesus is pure.

I pray break the bread of life again today and bring truth to us together as Men as we are assembled here and all those that should ever listen to this tape. That we recognize father and believe in our hearts and desire that truth Be spoken and truth be learned and not some fairy tale.

So we pray for that through the power of the Holy Spirit to give us unction put a door upon our lips to speak on those things which are true and right and Helpful and not those things which are not. We pray that in Jesus name.

Amen. After yesterday's sermon or teaching here someone came to me and Said did you know? That a poll was taken recently where of What the most popular verse is in the Bible? Now through the years it was for God so loved the world that he gave not his only begotten Son.

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But a recent poll was taken. What is your most favorite verse in the Bible? And guess what it was. Don't judge. Judge not that you be not judged.

Well, I thought that I just thought that was amazing, you know. How this whole? Ecumenical spirit and attitude is permeating our society. Alright, let us turn to Matthew chapter 7 for our opening meditation.

The Tree and Its Fruit as the Test of Discernment

We have alluded to here Beforehand and just want to go in and read the Word of God in verse 6 15 Through 23 for our opening text this morning beware of False prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing.

But inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather thorns grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? 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. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Sometimes I like to quote John 15 the first verses there concerning the vine and the branches. In light of this which basically things the same the same thing every branch in me. It doesn't bear good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire or men gather them cast them into the fire.

And they are burned. I've ever often wondered whether we have the reality and Has ever gripped us of these two passages of Scripture and and others just like it that speak like this. But what it's simply saying is that good fruit is not an option.

Because it says that if there is no fruit That it is hewn down and cast into the fire now in the great mercy of God in comparing Scripture with Scripture. We also recognize that sometimes the tree doesn't have any fruit and a man is allowed to dig around it and don't eat and See if it'll bear fruit and if it does in three years the the vine gardener was waiting on fruit for three years and and Wasn't any and just and I think that was Jesus with Israel there and perhaps many other applications in some of our situations likewise.

That he was around He was allowed to dig around the tree and dug it and see if it bear fruit one more year. And if it doesn't then good hew it down. If it does of course then fine. It can continue in the vineyard, and I think that balance of judgment and mercy we find in this Allegory through the scripture on this matter of the tree and its fruit.

Multimedia, Appearances, and the Difficulty of Inspecting Fruit

Now I would like to speak just a little bit about it. That is such a good test of discernment for our day. We are living in a day where we learn or the world is learning and the people are learning by multimedia.

Where they see a man on a video screen or a television screen? And they are trying to discern whether this man is speaking the truth or not and they don't have a clue as to what the actual fruit is in his life and That makes it almost impossible to try to discern the fruit.

So the way the whole thing has been arranged in this last 50 years has introduced us to receive Information without being able to discern fruit and that puts us at a great disadvantage. In in some ways that even affects the cassette tape ministry but what we enjoy and are blessed with which is happening here this week and happens to us all the time is that people come and visit and visit in our homes and stay in our homes and eat with us and sleep with us and and Sit and talk and ask questions and that is very valuable in light of a ministry like this.

Where you do not just hear it. But we do believe there is the witness of the Spirit which I will talk about a little later the illumination of the Holy Ghost is Able to help us to discern good from evil, but so many people have been deceived by not having any way to inspect or to examine the fruit.

Now my title of my message the tape ministry likes the title at the beginning rather than the end. So they can get ready back. There is discerning by fruit. This morning discerning by fruit, and we would like to go down through a list of ways in which we can discern spiritual discernment and judgment by the fruit of the speaker or minister or teachers lives.

Here in this scripture I like it so well because it what is so nice about the tree and its fruit is that you remember how Jesus came up to the tree and there had beautiful leaves on it. And he pulled the leaves apart and went in there looking for figs.

I think it was or went in there looking for fruit and there wasn't any and he stood back and cursed the tree and when they Came back the next day the thing was dried up from the roots and that was also a very prophetic and a very Metaphorically spoken of the of the Israel the nation of Israel.

I think because he came looking for fruit. They had all the outward leaves of it of religion. But when he put the leaves apart and looked inside there for fruit there wasn't any. And then he cursed it and that's exactly what happened to Israel, but The reason fruit is so important is that Fruit does not depend So much on the outward environment it's one of the blessings of our day that we can still have fruit with all the bugs and all the Things that are out there that want to get to the fruit that we can actually put poison on the tree on the outside actually of the Developing fruit and because the sap and the strength and the development of the fruit comes from Deep within down from the root system and up through the trunk and out through the branches and develop that fruit.

You can have fruit even though there's all kinds of things attacking it from the outside and you can actually put poison on that peach on that apple on that pear that is developing and And the fruit still develops.

Not Saying scientifically or chemically there isn't a little bit of transfer there probably there is more than more than we might realize in all the heavy Spraying that has to be done but the secret is that fruit comes from the depth of a man's soul from the from the real you and and from the where everything is is down where the motives of the heart and the outworkings of the heart and the soul.

Come out and Jesus said this many times in different ways by The mouth how the mouth just speaks out of the abundance of the heart down in the center of man. We have this reservoir of a soul the spirit of man.

Which there is where we commune with God or we don't commune with God. There is where realities exist and then of course the fruit comes out of that and if that is rotten. Then it is impossible for a man to camouflage it and cover it in all areas of life for time.

Somewhere there's spring a leak. Somewhere it springs a leak and comes out. If you just pray and watch long enough and as I said yesterday sometimes you have to put them on the shelf and and just wait a while, you know, because because of that but.

So that is why this analogy is so good here that a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. And it was also such a consolation to me when we started as a fellowship a few of you remember those days and how the condemnation was was Incredible Extraordinary against us.

They thought we were we had went off a deep end we were out of our minds to begin to try to start a church on the basis that of the scripture and and that we could not find in this community and yet it is so heavily churched as many of you recognize driving around here and.

And The consolation was to us after some years of going. Was that there were changed lives people actually did become born again and overcame their sins and and and made a major dramatic change in their life and this was fruit out of the teaching and preaching and doesn't always reflect directly on the private lives of the individual doing it because God does honor his word.

So we have to be a little careful with that but finally there was some fruit from the effort that we. Would we actually console ourselves a little bit and said well, how come or others would do it to us?

It would say well, how come that the fruit is good when the tree is rotten? That's kept coming up. You know, how come we see good fruit and yet this tree is supposed to be so Actually used to say it's not a church can't be a church you can't start a church like those fellas started a church and have a church and so they would Continue echoing over and over and over again.

It's not a church. But I remember one single lady came into the area. She had a former marriage and she came into the area moved to the area and she says I don't understand that. It looks like a church and it feels like a church and and those things.

Well, that's exactly what we have concerning discernment in this matter of bewaring of false prophets. Inwardly, they are ravening wolves and I usually say the same thing. I say well if it smells like a wolf and it growls and shows its teeth like a wolf and it howls at the moon at night like a wolf and it tears little lambs like a wolf then I believe it's a wolf and That's what I that's what I think we have to do.

A tree is known by its fruit and I do not believe that if a man is a true prophet of God a preacher of God a child of God that he goes around tearing little ones and and the Bible says it would be better that a Stone a millstone would be hung around their neck and they'd be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Then to offend one of these little ones that have believed on me and that does not mean two and three year old babies. It's talking about young Christians and how they are Manipulated and and used for whatever and and deceived and and and not brought to a right and beautiful and prosperous relationship with God now also, we want to notice that.

Works, Outward Conduct, and the Reality of Conversion

We notice here that works matter. Because it says here by their fruits He shall know them and then in the next verses says wherefore and then he had quoted this to wherefore by their fruits He shall know them not.

Everyone that sayeth Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But they he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven. And I keep bumping into this statement over and over again, what's not what it's only.

What's on the inside that matters, you know if a person's a Christian on the inside ball and that goes Together with the message on separation here that you just had it to close the other message. It is Impossible.

It is impossible to be a born-again Christian on the inside and have it not affect the outside. All that clothes and goings and Attendances to either the sports programs or the movie house or the Drinking house or all that all of our goings and all of our doings and all of our dressing actually are only a demonstration of what's on the inside and you can't separate those two and To say it's only what's on the inside as if on the outside nothing matters.

That's absurd. I can't be. Even though we come from extremes in some of those areas and have to say no, wait a minute you know you're getting on the other side and the other extreme and putting too much emphasis on the outside and Forgetting the heart and we've had to preach strong messages on heart Christianity in the matter of the heart in order to correct that but so that that is.

It is very true and I'll have maybe a few more scriptures on that. All right. I think I would like to finish up a little bit on the Word of God before I go Into some of these others. I was not finished with that.

There's just a few things here that I would like to say. I'm afraid it'll take Too much time, but we're just going to go through the week here as we can without letting too much on done. In some of the Rules that we have for Bible study and Bible interpretation I'd like to give you six very quickly here that answer to the word lights if you put L-I-G-H-T-S.

Six Principles for Interpreting Scripture

I'm going to save time. I'm not going to put it on the board. The first one L is a literal interpretation of the Bible. That has been the greatest help for me in life. When I became a Christian and I began reading the Bible and I've had lots of discussions with people on that.

I learned a phrase somewhere along the way that if literal sense makes sense all their sense is nonsense and Then when you get to scriptures where it doesn't that you have to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Lord Jesus.

You automatically know that something is not literal here. Something is spoken here in tights and and and is spoken metaphorically. And we're not going even though the Catholic Church has tried to bring in the doctrine of transubstantiation where the bread and the wine actually turn into the body and blood of the Lord and you know the ramifications of all that through history and what that means but This matter of literal interpretation and of course to you prophecy students, you know, that's that's that had that effect on me when I went into Revelation and found out that The Bible says that the devil is going to be bound with a great chain.

Then I believe that there will be a day coming when the devil would be bound by a great chain. And I got pushed in a corner in my young married life, you know about that thing. You mean that an angel is going to come down and bind the devil with an iron chain?

What? No, it doesn't say an iron chain. See how they they tried to make it say something. It didn't say it says a great chain and I said if it says a great chain I believe it's a great chain and there we can stop.

We don't have to decide whether it's brass or iron or stainless steel or whatever. And that has been a great help to me in my Christian life and I recommend the same to you because it is in that without all the theological ramifications of the seminaries and and some of the Bible institutions in college and teaching institutions of America and what they have done to the minds of the people.

Concerning literal interpretation is an incredible thing. They have made them unbelievers. When they're done with them that they don't believe the record that God has given of his son. And so I make a real plea for literal interpretation when it comes to Some of these things that set us apart from the other evangelical world.

In practical things you will have to agree that it's because that we come across those scriptures and take them literally and do not agree that. That well Paul he had it in for the women, you know, he just didn't like women he wasn't married.

He wasn't close to one. So I kind of think he had it in for him and didn't want him to speak in church you know, and then another one comes up with the idea, you know that Paul he he was he was only speaking in the traditional and local and cultural context of where he lived.

Well. You do that with. The rest of the things that Paul said and we're in trouble we might as well do like Zedekiah or what's-his-name was the king and get the penknife out and cut the pages out and put them in the fire.

Till you're done with it. Yeah, you don't have any left. And I forget that's something you would probably know but there was an actual king who did that. You know. He didn't like a page and he he'd cut it out and he'd cut it out and they say when the man was done He only had a few pages left.

But that is what men are doing in their hearts theologically and that is dangerous business. So stay with a literal interpretation you come upon upon a scripture. You don't understand. You pray for God to illuminate your heart that you can understand it and you set your heart to bring it into reality and practice in your life and That will bring some changes out of this easy believism that we have today.

The next one is the illumination of the Holy Spirit. I. The illumination of the Holy Spirit. I Wanted to mention yet on on Literal, you know when you come upon that Jesus is the door you automatically know.

He's not talking about a wooden door with hinges. You know. You're you know that that he's speaking about an entrance into something different and and of course then you go for that. All right. Illumination.

The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Understanding

We must interpret scripture with the illumination of the Holy Spirit. I'm not going to elaborate this because then he had mentioned about the necessity of a new birth. But the natural minded man cannot understand the things of the Spirit they are spiritually understood and discerned and.

So therefore unconverted people that's what what I believe the problem is. Without judging them too severely with the seminary professors. They simply do not understand the things of the Spirit and so they bring everything with human logic and reasoning and try to explain these things and get into trouble that scriptures must be understood with the Illumination of the Spirit of God and that means it must be done after conversion in order to even halfway begin to understand these words.

The Holy Spirit resides in each child and The Bible even says he has no need that any man teach him. Because that anointing abides with him and shall teach him and guide him into all truth. And that does not mean and take away that there are not to be any teachers.

It simply says that if a man is born again. And this is a joy to my heart in Russia and Africa and India wherever to meet people who never had a teacher. But somehow and it got born again and God taught them the principles of the oracles of God by the Holy Spirit.

You meet those occasion. They don't have to sit there for 20 years and wait on a teacher to come now. It's good if one goes and I think it's very important that we see that need to teach the old things of God around the world but There is at times the Holy Spirit ministering and the same thing happens to hear the brother who testified last night.

That was a crystal-clear. He didn't have to wait until somebody who had developed all those convictions came and taught him all those things. But the Spirit of God showed him at his conversion that this has to go Illumination and of course the acid test of scripture along with that illumination is is.

Or it for any doctrine is is the test of scripture whether the scripture substantiates What we are trying to say or believe? Now the next one is grammatical principle. That's the G grammatical principle.

This G or the grammatical principle will remind you that in the scripture the scripture Has to be interpreted in accordance with the typical rules of grammar Syntax in style and for this reason it is important that the student of scripture have a basic understanding of grammatical principle.

Let me illustrate. The seventh-day Adventists do not believe in soul sleep. Okay, so you have Jesus hanging on the cross turning to the thief beside him and saying Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.

Well that doesn't fit their presuppositional apologetics and their understanding of Interpretation of the scripture and so they it moves a comma and say today comma. I Tell you today thou shalt be with me in paradise sometime in the future that kind of manipulation With the grammar and the interpretation of scripture to make it say what they want to say because they Believe in soul sleep until the resurrection morning.

That is just an illustration of what I'm talking about. If you do not know the Greek in Hebrew don't despair there are so many helps out there with the vines expository dictionary. Strong's Concordance gives the Greek word that you know or lexicon various Greek lexicons give you the word-for-word Interpretation of scripture that you can on your own study what was Spoken in the original language of when it was written.

Grammatical Principles, Translation, and the Inerrant Word

I believe in the inerrant Word of God, but I do believe it is possible that there are slight grammatical errors in a translation. I don't believe any of them is 100 Foolproof in that I don't know how many of you believe it or ever heard it, but I've heard already that in the translation of He that is angry with his brother without a cause.

That King James made sure they put in there without a cause because he had a brother he hated and so he stuck that in there because Whichever is angry without a cause you know is in danger of hellfire or is in danger of the judgment.

He thought he had a just cause and I don't know what all that is true or not. But I'm saying little things like that can be done. But it does not change the inerrant Word of God that was given from God that There are not enough of grammatical errors to to say it contradicts itself and is anything wrong with it all right, I Give you another illustration Of that and how some of those things are changed.

Let me see here the H is the historical context. No, that's I'm sorry. I still have something to give there. Getting a little mixed up here on my notes. On the Greek and Hebrew text I had mentioned that.

Another thing I just simply believe many times. Like I said if literal sense makes sense all the senses nonsense we simply have to use some common sense with the Interpretation of Scripture as I mentioned yesterday try to get the message that was intended by the word.

Instead of reading so many things into it now. I wanted to give the illustration yet about John Aviceni one of the I think a word of faith preacher. I'm not real familiar with him. In Mark 12 44 where Jesus speaking to the poor widow States they all gave out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty.

Or in Luke It says penury the word penury and but Aviceni Talks about the word poverty poverty and changed it well actually I think maybe in the King James Version It says she out of her want so here comes a word of faith man, and he says well She wasn't poor she was giving so she could receive.

Because she was giving so because she had some want she had some want there. You know so she was giving out of her want out of her desire for more. Imagine the resting and twisting of Scripture. When That word want in the Greek simply means extreme poverty or penury as given over in Luke.

All you would have had to do is go to the same Passage in Luke and found the word penury and then he'd understood that that's that's Serious poverty not only that Jesus interpreted himself when he said she put it all she had.

But those are the kind of manipulations that people to to the written Word of God. Now the H is the historical principle it is highly valuable. Not an absolute must but a highly valuable to understand the historical setting of which it was written.

If you study a bit of the Jewish customs and and the practices there Of which it was written. Like I mentioned yesterday and in testing the spirits or trying the spirits if they don't confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh to see the influence of Gnosticism in that day and what a an effect that had for John to say that Has a different light and a different meaning of that statement that historical Content or historical principle is very valuable.

In the King James version of 3rd John verse 2 the verse says beloved. I wish all things or That thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth. Oh Roberts gets a hold of that when he read it.

He went to his wife Evelyn excitedly, and he said hey look at this first. God wants us to prosper. Well after discovering that verse God gave him a brand-new Buick and so he started telling the people that God gave him a brand-new Buick after he discovered this verse in the Bible and He would say that everything that has happened to them since that day.

Started with that verse in Scripture. Well there again that is a sad manipulation of the Scripture because That simply could have Made possibly have simply meant is spiritual prosperity a growing in the Lord you see how these men think.

They think Consciously they think Materialistically they think money, and they're simply it's not right. But they read a verse like that the same thing with the prayer of Javis. Look at that thing what has happened now called the cult of Javis because I just wanted more land.

You know and they just grabbed that thing it became a best-seller and people made millions off of the writing of the book. And all it was is a scripture taken out of context and run with. Oh, it's so greasy when just Their pernicious ways and doctrines of demons doctrines of devils.

They are coming up with these things one after the other and before one is off the pages of popularity our next one comes and Like I said, we can't even keep up all right. The next one is the tea is the teaching principle.

Teaching Ministry and Scriptural Harmony

And this tea reminds us that there is an illumination of Scripture that comes through the ministry the gifted Holy Spirit illuminated ministry of teaching. And even though the Holy Spirit guides us in all truth.

There is a ministry of teaching the Word of God that illuminates and opens up Scripture to us and so we want to recognize that gift for what it is that God has uniquely gifted human teachers as Ephesians 411 lists there in the gifts of the Spirit and the last one the The S there is scriptural harmony scriptural harmony.

What is spoken or? Interpreted in the Word of God must harmonize with the rest of the book. You cannot take something and run with it like these men are running with it. Did Jesus teach prosperity? I know they had a fundraiser here in the area years ago and a girl I was working with at the time was invited by a friend to go and That fella that fella he'd get up there at that fundraiser and made a whole deal that Jesus wrote a donkey and that was like a Mercedes or a Cadillac today versus walking On he wrote a donkey.

God didn't want him to be poor and just walk and that was the best Transportation of the day, you know on me build a principle on that whole thing and run with it on the prosperity gospel. Scriptural harmony.

All right, let us go on. Now let us look at Galatians chapter 5 on the fruit of the Spirit. Then I think I'll just have to read from verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy. Peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith.

Meekness temperance. Against such there is no law and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh. With the affections and lusts. Now, it's very very interesting that those two verses are next to each other.

Then he says if we walk not if we experience but if we walk in the Spirit. But if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory provoking one another and envying one another.

The fruit of the Spirit is listed here and I do not have time to go into all of these things but I'm simply saying that this has got to be the outflow of The individual's life there must be fruit of these things in a man's life.

If he is a man of God if he is a Christian if he's born again There's no such thing. I believe of a man being born again With some time behind him and have none of these fruit of fruits in his life if there is.

Versus all in the other verses there on the 17 is I think it is sins that are mentioned. They're not 17, but a list of them here I think Romans 1 has 17 but in in verse 19 through 21 We have all of these works of the flesh that are manifest they manifest themselves and hatred emulations and revelings seem to be the big ones with those word-of-faith men and those money hungry and greedy men as They continue with their pernicious doctrines across America to rake it in for themselves and for their High living and they many of them are not even known for the fruit of their lives and when Occasionally they do get exposed they have Outright lied many times in their messages and And given many many false statements that are not true, so we need the fruit of the Spirit in Titus.

Titus chapter 1 Verse 15 and 16. Under the pure all things are pure, but under them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. But even their mind and conscience is defiled they profess that they know God.

But in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate there must be a Correlation there between What they say and what they do they profess that they know God, but in works they deny him All right.

Testing Prophecies Against Scripture

The next one is test their prophecy. This is a good one. I Hope that you have been exercised in perhaps somewhere along the way as a young man. I remember Of a man coming to our house a salesman who felt by Jesus they have figured out that Jesus would come again in 1972 my I didn't forget that I was only about Oh, maybe 12 or 13 or 14 somewhere around that I heard those words.

And I knew there weren't wasn't many years, and I wondered how they know and all that it intrigued me but 1972 and 1988 and all the others have long come and gone and Jesus has not come and the interesting thing about it.

You know that if they set dates, they're wrong. Because the Lord Jesus says he even doesn't know only the Father in heaven. But in Deuteronomy chapter 18 we have that wonderful scripture in verse 22 that says When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord if the thing follow not Nor come to pass that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken.

But the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Thou shalt not be afraid of him. It is not of God. I don't know about you, but you know I grieve that anybody goes down this road. But when they go down this road, then I rejoice when they set dates.