Matthew 7:16-20 part 1

Day 57-Matthew 7:16-20 – part 1

7-6-25

Two Trees – Two Fruits

Pray

Read scripture: Matthew 7:15-23

(NIV 1984) “16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

REVIEW:

What did you think of the video last week?
Questions about it?
Or Questions about False Prophets or False Teachers?

Note: Millions and millions of people in every generation are deceived and led astray by false teachers and false prophets. 
Mormons and JW’s alone have 2-300,000 converts each year. 
In each of those cults, there are millions of people who believe in a Jesus that does not exist. That is extremely sad because genuine and sincere belief in a God or a Jesus, NO MATTER HOW SINCERE, cannot ever save. The misconception is known as universalism, which is a hideously false doctrine. Only belief in the real, historical Jesus of the scriptures can save. The Bible is VERY clear about this. 

Now for our verses today. Matt 7:16-20. 

Q: What is this first vs saying? And what do you think it means? (In general)

“By their fruit you will recognize them.”

A: In this context, Jesus is speaking to 1) ‘crowds’ (Matthew 5:1) and 2) ‘His disciples,’ hence believers or potential believers. 3) believers today.  So, Jesus is saying that there are ways that it is possible to be able, depending on how discerning we are (?), to discern two different types of people in specific contexts (i.e., False Prpohets and, to some extent, false teachers.) 

Q:  Who is the word “their” referring to?

A: False prophets (see verse 7:15; and true prophets(by logical extension)

Q:  What is “fruit” referring to?)

A: Words and or Works; either bad and good of the false prophets (and, by logical extension, true prophets)

Q:  Now, what do you think about what the rest of vs 16 is saying? 

“Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”

Q:What kind of question is that? And what is the answer?

A: Rhetorical. The answer is NO.

Q: Why do you think Jesus asks this question? 

A: To illustrate a point. He tells the story of the trees to create a “teaching moment.”

Q: What is the point?

So far Jesus is painting a picture … one that will be hard to forget. 

A simple picture of what simply can and cannot be, that we can logically apply to our lives.

Here is the simple, profound truth: Grapes can only come from grapevines. Grapes CANNOT EVER come from thornbushes or from thistles. Neither can figs. It just cannot happen. 

Human beings have an amazing history of massaging the truth, twisting it a little, re-defining words just a little, developing all kinds of humanistic philosophies designed to get around simple truths that are HARD TRUTHS. We try to “bend” the truth just a little bit to make it “not as hard,” to make it a little easier to accept, to make is sound not so bad or not so convicting or condemning. However, these slightly bent, slightly modified “human truths” are not God’s truth. 

Q:  What is the truth Jesus is trying to teach us here?

A: Jesus said TWICE, “By their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matt. 7:16, 20)

You can look at an apple tree and know immediately that it is an apple tree. You can also know immediately that it is not a thorn bush or a thistle plant. You know that simply by the apples. No matter what our long-winded and convoluted human philosophies try to tell us, an apple tree will always be an apple tree, and a thistle will always be a thistle. You will never find figs on thorn bushes. And you will never find thorns on apple trees. 

You can also know immediately that an orange tree or a lemon or grapefruit or banana or cocoanut tree is not a thistle or a thorn bushes. 

Since Jesus said a bad tree cannot bear good fruit and a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, this also means that an apple tree (a good tree) cannot bear bad fruit. This means that if an apple has a worm in it, that it is not a bad fruit. It is a good fruit with a worm. The analogy between fruit and Christians is clear. Just because a Christian sins (has a worm), this does not mean that he suddenly is a bad fruit (see 1 John 1:8-9). In this life, we will sin. In this life, some apples will have worms. That does not make the tree or the Christian is inherently bad.

A thorn bushes will always be a thorn bush and an apple tree will always be an apple tree.

“By their fruit you will recognize them.”

Note on Thistles: 

They can be beautiful, but …

Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterized by leaves with sharp spikes on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. (Wikipedia)

Thistles are among the most disliked plants in the world. Sure, they’re spiny, and some species have become invasive after being transported outside their native range.  (Wikipedia)

Thistles are notorious for draining nutrients from the soil around them, so they can be very damaging to pastures and crops. They also use large amounts of water, so they can make soil dry and increase erosion potential. (Nation Park Service – https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/canada-and-bull-thistles-acadia.htm#:~:text=Thistles are notorious for draining, dry and increase erosion potential.)

Before we close for today, i have two passages i would like you to think about over this upcoming week. Then, we will finish this passage next week. 

The first is:

Luke 6:43-45 (NIV 1984)

“Let’s look at the parallel version of this verse in Luke 6:45:

No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

The next is:

Matthew 12:33-37 (NIV 1984) “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

It always boils down to a matter of the heart. 

Give us clean hearts oh God. Give us clean hearts. 

And remember Matthew 19:26 (NIV 1984) 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Next week: Part Two of Matthew 7:16-20

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Notes:

* Everything with an asterisk and is italicized and purple is my own added words and thoughts and are not part of the actual verse or quote.