Faithful....Fruitful! | Matthew 21:19

[00:00:00] Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths. If you sat down with a loved one or a friend

[00:00:13] and asked them this question, what would they say? Here's the question. Can you tell by

[00:00:18] the way I live and interact with other people that I'm a follower of Jesus? I asked my

[00:00:24] wife that the other day and she looked me. She said, no, I can't tell. No, she didn't

[00:00:29] but what a question that is, right? So we've got to ask that of people who know us best.

[00:00:34] Can you tell that I'm a follower of Jesus by the way I live? We're in Matthew chapter 21 and remember

[00:00:40] Jesus, this is during the Holy Week and Jesus is coming back into the city after getting some

[00:00:45] rest in Bethany and this is what it says in verse 18 and we talked about this first part

[00:00:50] yesterday in the morning as he was returning to the city he became hungry and seeing a fig tree

[00:00:56] by the wayside. He went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves and he said to it,

[00:01:02] may no fruit ever come from you again and the fig tree withered at once. This was a free

[00:01:10] prefiguring, a foreshadowing of what was going to happen to Jerusalem in 70 AD. Basically, Jerusalem

[00:01:16] was cursed and Jesus was cursing it because he was saying there's no fruit here in this city. In

[00:01:23] other words, you've rejected me, you've rejected my messianic rule later that week obviously he was

[00:01:29] going to be relegated to a common criminal's cross. He was saying you guys don't believe in me,

[00:01:34] you're not bearing fruit and your judgment is coming in 70 AD when the Romans sacked your city

[00:01:40] and destroyed your temple. That's what Jesus was saying, you're faithless and so you're

[00:01:46] fruitless. Now I want to tell you down through the years you and I have met people who said

[00:01:51] they believed in Jesus, they said they were faithful to Christ but they were fruitless in their deeds.

[00:01:58] They were vindictive, spiteful, angry, selfish, they manifested bad speech, they consistently told

[00:02:06] dirty jokes, etc., etc. They said they believed in Jesus, they said they were faithful but they were

[00:02:14] fruitless. You see if you're faithful to Christ, you're going to be fruitful in your life.

[00:02:20] Let me say that again, if you're faithful to Christ, if you trust in Jesus, there is going to be fruit.

[00:02:27] And so what happens when a person says I believe in Jesus but their life does not give evidence to it?

[00:02:33] Here's the thing, James said these words, faith without, and you know this, faith without

[00:02:39] works is dead. So someone who's faithful to Christ will be fruitful for Christ,

[00:02:45] someone who's faithless in Christ will be fruitless in their life. Now Galatians 5, 22 says this,

[00:02:54] the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

[00:03:00] gentleness and self-control. In other words, if we are believers in Jesus, if our faith

[00:03:06] is rooted in Jesus Christ, the byproduct of that will be the things that Galatians talk about,

[00:03:12] love, joy, peace, patience, etc. You see connected to Jesus, being a branch connected to the vine,

[00:03:18] his life, his love, his forgiveness flows into us and as a result of that we are fruitful

[00:03:25] for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I got to say this, we're not always fruitful for Jesus. Sometimes

[00:03:31] our life doesn't give evidence that we belong to Christ. Sometimes our thought, words, and speech

[00:03:37] is not congruent with the Word of God and sometimes we demonstrate a sinful life instead of an obedient

[00:03:44] life. And as a result of that what do we do? We go back to the cross, we drown our sin in the

[00:03:49] blood of the Lamb, we allow Jesus to take away our sin through his death on the cross,

[00:03:55] he breathes new life into us through the Holy Spirit and we start to practice the fruits

[00:03:59] of the Spirit once again. So here's the question, are you a follower of Jesus whereby your lifestyle

[00:04:08] gives evidence that you believe in him? Here's the probing question, sit down with someone in

[00:04:16] your life who loves you and asks this question, can you tell by my life that I believe in Jesus?

[00:04:25] And hopefully they will say, oh yeah, you're faithful to Jesus therefore you are fruitful for

[00:04:34] Jesus. Faithful? Fruitful. That's the way it has to be if you're a follower of Jesus. And again

[00:04:43] when I sit down on my loved ones I want to consistently ask that question, can you tell

[00:04:48] by my life that I trust in my Lord Jesus? And hopefully they will say consistently every time,

[00:04:55] yeah, dad, yeah Dave we can tell. Hopefully by God's grace when you sit down with your loved ones

[00:05:07] and I would make that an assignment for you today. Ask someone who really loves you and

[00:05:13] knows you well, can you tell I believe in Jesus? And hopefully they will say, yeah,

[00:05:19] let it be so and let it be done to the glory of God's holy and saving name. And that is today's

[00:05:25] Daily Truth. Thank you for tuning in to Daily Truths with Dave Alman. Master Dave Alman is the

[00:05:31] pastor of Mount Hope Church in Boulder, Colorado. If this ministry is blessing you please consider

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