Repentance and Fruit Bearing!

Repentance is meaningless without producing spiritual results and collaborating with others in faith.  Fruit bearing is a requirement and condition of repentance.  Repentance has no meaning unless it leads to fruit bearing in character and in spiritual work – the work of the Holy Spirit – not fleshly labor.

You can cry a river of tears and repent deeply.  But that is only half of the equation.  Your next step is to produce spiritual fruit, good fruit for the Kingdom of God.

John the Baptist said,

    Therefore,

 bear fruit 

in keeping with repentance.

 (Matthew 3:8)

And just brings about good fruit bearing? 

Abide in Christ (John 15:7).

Abide in the love of Christ (John 15:9).

Keep Christ’s commandments (John 15:10).

Love others (John 15:12).

Lay down your life for your friends (John 15:13).

If you repent, you will change your mind 180 degrees from what it was before you repented. On the other hand, you can say you repented but your mind and heart are still in the same mud as before.  Therefore, your repentance is a false repentance, and false repentance does not bear fruit – just weeds.

A true change of mind results from a powerful revelation in the heart by the moving of the Holy Spirit.

Thus, the only thing that changes the mind is the light of Christ that penetrates the darkness of the human heart.

It then alerts the mind (soul) of its condition and causes the mind to turn and go a different direction away from transgression, iniquity, and or rebellion arising out of the heart.

God cleanses the heart when we ask.  We renew our minds from the new condition of the heart and meditating daily on God's Word.

A year after David sinned with Bathsheba, He came to the Lord and cried out,

…..my sin is ever before me…..

Create in me a clean heart, O’ God,

and

 renew a right spirit within me.

(Psalm 51:3,10)

David new that his heart was festering with sin and he finally arrived at a place where he repented of his sin, but he followed his repentance with bearing fruit for His God. 

 Listen to this new man as he tells God what he will do after his repentance and restoration:

Restore to me

the joy of Your salvation

 and

sustain me with a willing spirit.

 Then,

I will teach

 transgressors Your ways,

and

sinners will be converted to You.

(Psalm 12-13)

David understood that genuine repentance required action, so he taught sinners the path to God.

Repentance without good spiritual fruit being brought forth is hollow and self-serving.  It is soulish and without merit in the eyes of the Divine Council.  We ccn say that repentance uncoupled to good works for the Kingdom of God is not pleasing to God.

John the Baptist spared no uncertain words about this link between repentance and bearing fruit when he says,

  The axe

 is already laid at the

 root of the trees;

 therefore, every tree

that does not bear good fruit

is cut down

 and

 thrown into the fire.

 (Matthew 3:11)

Let us understand that the ax is God’s judgment and the root is the Christian’s foundation.  

          God will strike at the very foundation of a person for not bearing good fruit in their lives after repentance has been made. 

In other words, He will shake their faith, disturb them, discipline them, and even allow affliction to come for their neglect of good works.

Apostle John remarks that even their relationship to Him can be severed and result in being thrown in the fire - fire being hell. 

Hard words from the evangelist and words you do not hear from the American church pulpit.  This is not the easy gospel, but the gospel people should hear today.

  But one would say, “But how could a good God do something like that?  I thought once saved, always saved. I did not have to worry about anything else. I thought I could automatically go to heaven?”    

It is interesting to note that Jesus picked up on this same theme when he also parallels what John the Baptist is saying,

If anyone does not

abide in Me,

 he is thrown away

as a branch and dries up;

 and

 they gather them,

and

 cast them into the fire

 and

they are burned.

(John 15:6)

Abiding in Christ requires bearing fruit, much fruit, and fruit that remains. (John 15:8,16) Christ further says,

 By this is My Father

 glorified, that you

 bear much fruit,

 and

so prove to be My disciples.

 (John 15:8)

Repentance and fruit bearing are two sides of the same coin of doing the Father’s appointed work.  Even Apostle Paul states,

Bear fruit in every good work.

  (Colossians 1:10)

Repentance and bearing much fruit and fruit that remains comes from roots that go deep into Christ.  Isaiah told Israel that the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear bruit upward (Isaiah 37:31).

Taking root downward…..

…. is to stand before Him in humility, brokenness, and repentance in terms of your character, passions, desires, and relationships.

Bearing fruit upward…..

…..is a result of your taking root downward.  The degree of fruit bearing is dependent on the depth of your roots.  If the roots of your tree are shallow, your fruit production will be small or next to nothing.

  If your relationship to Christ is weak, your love for others can be lukewarm or cold.  if your desires and passions are worldly and if your character is more self-focused rather than other focused, than your roots (relationship to Christ) are barely below the surface of the ground.  They can become deformed and will not support the trunk (your character), branches (your righteousness), and the fruit of the tree (your spiritual work being done for the Kingdom of God).

Repentance plus fruit bearing and fruit that remains are co-mingled in the Scriptures to bring glory to the Father and to the Son.  After repenting, you leave the altar to share the positive results of your repentance with those who are lost or lukewarm.

Rich Arnold

Servant of the Lord

311 Adelaide Ave SW

Hartville, Ohio 44632

330-704-9306

richarnold3@gmail.com