"BY THEIR FRUITS YOU WILL KNOW THEM"
Matthew 7
by Larry Moyer
As many believers read, "Therefore by their fruits you will know them" (Mt. 7:20), they examine their lives and find areas where they have failed the Lord. They then ask themselves, "Since I’m not as fruitful a Christian as I’d like to be, is that verse saying I’m not a Christian?"
Every one of us should seek to live the holiest life possible (I Pet. 1:15). But in context that verse is not saying that the presence or absence of fruit in a person’s life is evidence of whether he knows the Lord.
In this chapter Christ confronted the Pharisaic teaching that the proper works and particularly strict adherence to laws and traditions made a person right in God’s eyes (Mt.15:1-9). In Matthew 7:15 He warned, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." What distinguishes a false prophet is his message, not his works. A false prophet often lives and acts like a Christian. How many times have you heard someone say of a cultist, "But he lives such a good life, I can’t believe he’s not a Christian." Therefore by "fruit" Christ referred to what they preached, not how they lived.
For that reason, He continued in verses 21-23,
"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Interestingly enough, Christ was not denying that they were doing the things He did
¾ prophesying, casting out demons, performing wonderful works ¾ or that they did them in His name. Their mistake was not doing the will of God which Christ defined in John 6:40 as believing in Christ for salvation. Instead the Pharisees trusted what they did for God to gain them acceptance with Him instead of what He did for them on a cross.In the context of Matthew 7:20, fruit refers to the wrong message, not the wrong kind of life. When a person tells you that doing good will get you to heaven, be warned that you have met a false prophet.
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