The Fruit of True Discipleship: A Heart Transformed

This is really part two of what we started last week, losing friends and influencing people.

But with that said, we've subtitled today, The Fruit of True Discipleship.

And so we're going to start out today, really how to identify tree types.

And one of the greatest dangers, I think, in reading a powerful message like

the Sermon on the Plain that we've been looking at is that we might just take

it as instruction to launch a program, because sometimes, you know,

Baptists love programs, right?

And other churches too, but some kind of program of external behavior modification

or something to that effect.

In fact, in the next verses, though, we read earlier today as well that Jesus,

you know, earlier in this passage, and then today we picked up and talking about

the, you know, looking at the speck in your eye first before your brother's eye.

We're going to get to that in a moment, but earlier in this passage in Luke

6, we actually read Jesus teaching us to turn the other cheek,

to give away our shirt, and to do good to our enemies.

And we could easily, anyone in this room could easily be tempted to aim to just

do better at being a Christian.

So it's helpful, I think, to hear Jesus teaching us about the need,

church, for a radical heart transformation before we can genuinely change.

And he does that at the end of his sermon. And that's where we picked up in

our passage today. But I hope y'all get that. Don't lose that today.

Our heart, God wants to shepherd our heart, right?

He wants to shepherd our heart and we'll never be able to change without a radical

heart transformation through the power of Jesus Christ.

Behavior modification, as you probably already discovered in your own life, It does not work.

It's not behavior modification, it's heart transformation. But in verses 43

through 45, we read it earlier, Jesus actually uses a simple agricultural principle

in order to illustrate a powerful spiritual reality, right?

Many trees, put it this way, many trees look alike, and if we were just to merely

look at a branch or, you know, the structure or whatever,

and maybe the shape of its leaves, sometimes it might be difficult to distinguish

one type of tree from the other. just at a glance.

But Jesus reminds us in verse 44 that we read, each tree is recognized by its own what?

Fruit. And if you see pears, in other words, you know that you're not dealing

with a thorn bush, but with a pear tree, right?

And if you see grapes, you know that you're not dealing with a greenbriar bush

or anything like that, but a grapevine.

And there's a direct connection, I think, between the quality of a tree,

church, and the quality of the fruit that it produces. We see that in verse 43 that we read earlier.

In fact, the whole Bible, and here in this passage, the scripture,

actually, this principle, actually sheds light on a spiritual reality, like I said.

For just as a tree brings forth fruit that's consistent, get this,

church, with its nature.

Consistent with its nature so a good man

it says in scripture brings good things out of the good that's stored up in

his heart and the evil man brings evil things that is stored up in his heart

it says in verse 45 so again our external behavior the words we speak our thoughts our attitudes

and our actions will inevitably manifest the motivations and loves of our heart.

It's going to come out. It's going to come out.

You spend enough time around a person, you're going to see their character through

their words and their actions.

I mean, it's just as simple as that, it plain as day.

And if we take what Jesus is saying seriously, as we see in this next slide,

we have a powerful warning that we must carry with us, I think,

through the rest of this whole passage, right?

Any attempt, again, to live out the commands that Jesus gives must come from

a heart that's captivated by his grace, amen?

Captivated by his grace. In fact, too often I think that we think about growth

and holiness when we think about that.

We're just content to do what the pastor or maybe a teacher says.

In fact, I have an example. Paul Tripp, actually he calls this fruit stapling.

And I thought I would share this with you from his book.

He says, if a tree produces bad apples year after year, there's something drastically

wrong with its system. down to its very roots, it won't solve the problem by

stapling new apples onto the branches.

They also will rot because they are not attached to a life-giving root system.

And next spring, I'll have the same problem again, he said.

I will not see a new crop of healthy apples because my solution has not gone

to the heart of the problem. If he says, if the tree's roots remain unchanged,

it will never produce good apples.

The point is this, he says, in personal ministry, much of what we do to produce

growth and change in ourselves and others is little more than fruit stapling.

It attempts to exchange apples for apples without examining the heart,

the root behind the behavior.

And that's from his book, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands.

But we got to realize that church. We got to realize that it's not about that

modification. Oh, I'll be better. I'll be a better Christian.

How many of you ever said that to yourself? Instead of saying,

Lord, change my heart, help me to be humble before you, Lord,

do a heart transformation.

Give me that heart of flesh, Lord, transform my life because then my heart has been shepherd.

My heart is surrendered to God and the right behaviors are going to flow from

that the right speech is going to flow from that well now we move on to two kinds of builders,

jesus he really sharpens his point even further in the passage in fact what

kind of fruit is it that we should be looking for in the life of somebody whose

heart truly belongs to jesus,

in other words what is the good that a faithful person,

brings out of her heart or his heart that it talks about in verse 45.

Jesus really frames the fruit that we're looking for in terms of the words that

we speak with our mouths, right?

And we then assume that the kind of fruit, a good heart, sometimes is just merely

confession of faith in Jesus. Sometimes we think about that, right?

I have a good heart just because I confess faith in Jesus.

And it seems that some people in the crowd were apparently, if you look in verse

46 that we read, they were apparently calling Jesus, Lord, Lord, right?

From their mouth, right? Lord, Lord. And that would seem to indicate that they're

good trees just on the surface, right?

But Eastwood, true discipleship involves not only verbal approval of Jesus.

In other words, you just say, Jesus, Jesus, and wear a t-shirt, right?

Not just the word Jesus, not just verbal approval.

He was a good man or a good teacher or anything like that, but also practical

obedience to his command. In fact, he says in scripture, if you love me,

you will obey my commandments, right?

It's just an overflow of a heart that's been changed and the fruit of obedience

and not merely a profession of devotion to Jesus.

It shows that the heart below the surface, guess what? Is committed to Jesus.

And Jesus vividly, you know, he actually presses the point home with a story.

I'm getting to it of two men who each build a house and upon casual observation

right both houses may well have looked similar on the outside right the only

significant difference between the two houses were located is what located where

foundation right one was built on what.

Solid ground, the rock, right? And the other one just didn't have that foundation.

It was built on the sand, built on the ground, right?

In fact, we all know what happened. He saw in the verse that it was time-consuming

there probably to build a foundation on the rock, right?

It required a heart transformation. It was time-consuming.

But when the flood hit, the house survived, right?

That house represents the spiritual safety of the one who, in Jesus' words,

get this, look at verse 47 again, comes to me and hears my words. Is that what it says?

That's right. And what puts them into practice?

How many times have we been guilty of hearing the truth of God's holy word and

maybe even saying amen, but yet we leave and we do nothing about it.

We don't surrender. We don't repent.

We don't let God change us from the heart level, right?

It's just mere profession of words. It's like, I hear the words, hallelujah, Jesus.

But if we don't put it into practice, if we don't live it out through the power

of the Holy Spirit church, guess where our foundation is?

It's on the ground, right? It's on the sand. It's on the shifting sand.

And when the floods hit, and the flood will hit, in fact, the flood may be of

just everyday life, but ultimately the flood of God's judgment is going to hit one day.

Where's our house going to be? Is it going to crumble?

Because this tells me, church, that you can attend every service at Eastwood

Baptist Church and still die and go to hell in your sins.

I know that's a morbid thought, but it's reality. Look, church attendance is

wonderful, and it should be the fruit of a Christian, right?

All these things. It's wonderful, but if there's been no heart transformation,

the warning is your house is going to crumble one day, your spiritual house. It's going to crumble.

When that flood comes, and like I said, the ultimate flood is the flood of God's

judgment. It's not going to survive.

But the other house has just been put together quickly, hasn't it?

Without a foundation. Hopefully that's not any of us, but if it is,

boy, today would be an awesome day for us to build on the rock, amen?

An awesome day for us to say, Lord, forgive me a sinner. I'm in need of a Savior.

Or Lord, I've been saying this with my mouth, maybe as a Christian in this particular

area of my life, but Lord, it's time for me to surrender my heart to you in

this area, and I want to see a change through the power of the Spirit in this area.

I'm tired of just hearing your words, Jesus, and not putting them into practice, not obeying them.

You see, because that house was utterly devastated the moment that the torrent

hit, right? We see that in verse 49.

This house represents, again, the spiritual danger, Eastwood,

that really looms over anyone who hears Jesus' words and refuses to do them.

Y'all, I know we can sit here and say, yeah, yeah, but Jesus said in his word,

let me just throw out an example.

Do not be unequally yoked together. Do not be unequally yoked together.

That believers shouldn't marry or date unbelievers. How many people you think

have heard that before and say, I'm going to do my own thing,

Jesus. I got my own program going.

You see, that's just one little example, but I just want to throw something

out we can all relate to, right?

Because it's easy to think on the big stuff, right?

But the everyday decisions of life, we see what God's word says and we just ignore it sometimes.

And I say we, we all do it, right? We need to repent. we need to say,

Jesus, I want my life on your rock.

Lord, I want my life built on you, not on the shifting sands of this world.

You see, the fates of those houses remind us, I think, of what's at stake when

it comes to the teaching of Jesus.

Specifically here in the Sermon on the Plain, it's possible,

I want y'all to hear this today,

it's possible to be a fake disciple of christ it's possible to call him lord

lord with your mouth without ever really meaning it in the sense that it doesn't

change your heart your heart has not been transformed,

and i think some of the most dangerous place in the country

to be is the southern usa because everybody's

a christian but they're really not i'm just

telling y'all the fruit tells if

a tree is good or not a good tree will never produce bad fruit ever god says

in his word whether you believe it or not and a bad tree will never ever produce

good fruit and we're talking about fruit that lasts right we're talking not

just a show not just fruit stapling like paul tripp said,

because we look pretty on the outside right i mean we look at other passages

that how pretty they look on the outside but inside they're full of dead men's

bones right their mouth is an open the sepulcher.

You can shine it up to look pretty

on the outside. You can fool everybody else, but you can't fool God.

And when the true floods of life come and the true flood of God's judgment comes,

church, you can't fool God.

You can try to go, you know, pears out of a thorn bush of your heart,

but as we see in this next slide, it's not going to work.

You know why? Your heart will always be betrayed through your words and actions. Always.

Y'all, we have opportunities every day to respond to life, right?

You can respond. Something happens unexpected.

How many have had something happen unexpected in your life this week?

And I know this week started this morning, right?

You had a choice how you responded, right? You see, the words that come out

of your heart, that's where they come from.

And the actions show what's inside, shows your character.

Again, when the flood hits, either in trials of earthly life or ultimately in

the final judgment of the Lord, the truth about your spiritual condition,

the truth about my spiritual condition is going to be made clear.

But you know what? We need to love like our Father. Amen? We need to love like our Father.

Because I think we see in this passage now, we consider some ways in the heart

here of Jesus's message on the Sermon on the Plain here.

Look, in verses 20 through 26, we're backing up a little bit in this passage.

And I referred to this earlier.

We're preparing to live for future blessings

instead of pursuing immediate gratification, right, in this life.

And at the end of the sermon that we did look at earlier in verses 46 through

49, again, we're warned regarding the importance of actual obedience to Jesus' commands.

But in between there, in verses 27 through 42 specifically, Jesus tells us some

things. Look at verse 27.

Jesus tells those who are listening, are you listening this morning?

What commands are they exactly to obey? verses 27

and 28 we read an exhortation there to what

love your friends wait

wait what does it say come on

shout it out your enemies right followed by three more parallel exhortations

there that serve to just put a light on the theme of loving enemies right look

at what he says do good to those who hate you does that come natural have you

done that this week bless those who curse you,

what what would you usually do when somebody curses at you.

Pray for those who mistreat you. You see, if you listen to that,

have you done it or have you walked away?

Those four broad calls, church, to their counterintuitive love,

they're followed by four even more surprising examples. I think of what the

kind of love, what it might look like if it's put into practice. Look at this.

The first is contained here in verse 29, where Jesus says what?

Y'all are familiar with this. If someone slaps you on one cheek,

turn them the other also.

Most likely, what's in view here is not so much a punch in the jaw,

but rather a personal insult delivered in a disrespectful backhand slap, so to speak.

Jesus is, you know, enjoining his followers here not to fight,

in other words, for their own dignity in those type of situations, right?

But to remain engaged and even vulnerable to further insults for the cause of Christ.

Well, the second example of love for enemies is found at the end of verse 29. Look at it.

It says, if somebody takes your coat, what? Do not withhold your shirt from them.

The sense here is that the disciple is being robbed of his outer garment,

right? But instead of defending himself, he's not even to protect himself from

having his undergarment taken as well.

The sense is very similar to that previous example.

Personal affronts, in other words, are to be met with open-heartedness and even generosity.

And then I'm going to talk about this a little bit deeper in a minute.

But the third example, give to everyone who asks you.

And the fourth, if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

And in verse 30, you know, they're very similar there.

Those who would love as Christ commands these would must be ready.

That's us if we desire that, right? Hopefully all of us to be self-sacrificially

generous to those who ask for help.

Also to those who help themselves to our possessions, your possessions, you know, whatever.

The scope of those commands, though, is very broad.

Remain generous and vulnerable and,

everyone, it says, and anyone. Now, I'm going to go a little deeper here.

There is a question, and maybe you've had this question, of whether Jesus intended

for these commands to be implemented literally. And I want to just share with

you, based on scripture, and again, you don't just read a Bible verse, right?

You read the whole chapter, you read the whole Bible in context, all of it.

I believe that it's unlikely that he did.

It's fairly easy to think of scenarios where a literal implementation of those

principles would be absurd and displeasing to God, okay?

Let me explain it. For example, a woman who's being abused by her spouse should

not feel constrained to subject herself to that abuse in the name of turning

the other cheek. That's not what he's talking about.

Or if a heroin addict asks for money to buy heroin, right, then we shouldn't

give it to him, right? Jesus is not talking about that, right?

Because why? He's going to further, you know, enslave himself in that addiction, right?

Christlike love, this is what we need to get. Christlike love would compel us

as Christians not to give it to him if he's an addict, right?

Even though a literal implementation of Jesus's words would seem to demand that

very thing if you take it literally.

Instead, though, I want y'all to get this today. Instead, Jesus, it seems here,

is speaking in extreme terms, get this church, in order to make a serious point

about the way we love, his followers love.

Wow. Even in the insults, the wrongs, Christian love should be generous.

It should be forbearing, patient, gracious, treating others,

It says in verse 31, how, as we would wish to be treated.

But in the rush to think of ways that each one of these commands here would

apply, maybe in a certain real life situation, I think it's easy to miss the big picture.

Don't miss the big picture, Eastwood. The distinctive fruit in the life of a follower of Christ.

How many of you are disciples of Christ, followers of Christ? the

distinctive fruit in your life is

love for one's enemies it says

in verse 35 it doesn't require a transformed heart does it to love those who

love you right like it says in verse 32 it's easy to love people who love me

how about you yeah to do good to those who are good to you as it says in verse 33,

anyone can lend generously when they expect to be repaid.

Talks about that in verse 34. People with no relationship with God,

sinners separated from God, they do those kind of things just instinctively.

That kind of love is relatively, dare I say it, cheap.

But when somebody loves Eastwood as the Most High loves, like your father,

they are going to be children of the Most High, it says. You see that in verse 35?

They're going to be children of the Most High. That's not meant to indicate

that somehow our loving has the power to make us into God's children. That's not it.

But rather that when we love like God, we demonstrate the fact of our identity

as children of the Most High God.

I know y'all have seen this before. We've mentioned this before too.

You know, you look at the kids of people and it's like, they look just like

you. They look just like you, right?

And that's what he's really saying here. When you love that way,

you're going to say, you look just like your child of the most high.

You look just like your father. You look just like your father.

Because God's love is distinct, right? It's distinctive in that he pursues and

he saves and sacrificially he gave his son, not for good people,

Eastwood, but for his enemies.

Sometimes we think, hey, we were good people. No, we were not. We were his enemies.

He says in his word that we were enemies in our minds through wicked works.

We were not friends of God. There was none who did good. No, not even one.

God gave his son sacrificially, gave him up on the cross, and Jesus willingly

died in our place so that we could be set free. Our sin could be covered.

We could have his righteousness instead of our own.

But he didn't die because we were good people.

We were his enemies. But God demonstrated his love to us and that while we were

still enemies, he died for us.

I sometimes think we lose that fact, especially in the church crowd.

Because I promise you, it takes some humility, right, to say,

I'm not good. There's only one good, and that's God.

The only good in me is the righteousness of Christ.

All my goodness is filthy rags. That's what the Word of God says.

And so you've got to realize, look, we were his enemies, and he laid down his

life for us. Would you die for your enemy?

You know, you can almost look at it this way. And I know it's an extreme example,

but this is extreme. If you don't look at the cross and see an extreme love,

something's wrong, okay?

Would you die, or maybe better yet, would you let one of your kids die so a

terrorist could go free and be forgiven of all his sins?

I don't see any hands going up.

That's what Jesus did. You and I were the terrorists.

We were enemies through our wickedness and through our evilness,

our sin. Y'all, until you really see yourself in truth, and I see myself in

truth, guess what? You can't be saved.

You haven't been humbled at the foot of the cross knowing that without Jesus,

you have nothing. You have no goodness whatsoever.

You are desperate in need of a Savior. And that's when you want to cling to

Him and say, thank you, Lord.

Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for cleansing me of my sin.

And you realize how much of a sinner you and I are, were, cleansed?

You realize that, then you, guess what? You become thankful for the cross.

And you don't have to be begged to go share Jesus with people anymore. Do you know that?

Then it just flows out of your heart. It's about what you speak about every

day because your heart's been transformed.

Just saying. It's what God's word says, right?

It's just a love overflow. It's just loving people. It's just love in action.

For the Christian, it's encouraging that the kind of love that Jesus calls us

to, Eastwood, is a love that's largely foreign to the world,

right? It's actually consistent with who we are in Christ, though.

And as we see on this next slide, we're not being forced to do something unnatural to us.

What are we doing? We are simply living out the love that we have received by

the Father, whose Spirit lives within us.

Y'all, it's an unbounded church, an unbounded supply from which we can draw.

And as a result, we're able, guess

what, to love undeserving people with tenacity, with joy in our hearts.

You ever find there's some people in your life difficult to love?

You do know what the cure is, right?

Go to the foot of the cross and see yourself in truth.

That's the cure. Because the ground is level at the foot of the cross, as Dwight L. Moody said.

But it's also the place, y'all, I'm just telling you, where we realize how amazing grace really is.

So we'll close with this. Whose sin do you see? As we see in this last slide,

I believe it is. Whose sin do you see?

Jesus gives us a further example of what it looks like to be his follower.

We're not to judge or condemn, but instead we should what? According to verse 37, forgive, right?

And give others, you know, give to others. Again, we can't understand the point

of these commands unless we see them in the light of God's character and his

disposition towards his people.

Despite our sin, he has still, he loved us and he forgave us, right?

He's graciously, in other words, he would decline to judge or condemn us because

the blood of Jesus, Jesus took it all, right?

We were condemned already before, right? We were enemies and Jesus,

he willingly laid down his life for us.

And when we repent, put our faith and trust in him, we receive that forgiveness.

And if that's true, I have to ask this today. how can we have a judgmental or

critical spirit toward other people?

Jesus is not here. I want you all to hear this today. He's not,

of course, telling his believers that they should never exercise judgment.

In fact, Matthew 7, one of those most famous passages, the judge not,

lest you be judged, that's all they quote, right?

The whole passage deals with making judgments, the whole passage if you read it.

And that's what Jesus was saying, that we should never exercise judgment,

you know even if it were possible and it's not it's not a battle cry of tolerance

that many people imagine it to be there are places in scripture where christians are commanded,

and matthew 7 is one of them to exercise discernment regarding the behavior,

and the doctrine of other people i'll give you a couple other passages first

corinthians 5 Galatians 1.

So it can't be that in commanding us, do not judge that Jesus intends for his

followers never to evaluate ideas or behaviors negatively.

But instead, get this, don't miss out on this.

Instead, he's warning his hearers that their gaze should be on their own failures

before they ever look to the failures of others.

Whose sin do you see, in other words? A believer should acknowledge and address

the plank of sin in her own eye or his own eye before attempting to help his

brother or sister with a speck out of their eye.

If one is blind to his own failures, if we're blind to our own failures,

right, our own faults, we'll be of no use in leading others to address their

faults, will we? It says that in verse 39, by the way.

Someone in other words who has not acknowledged their

own sin can never teach others

to acknowledge their sin you got to ask

yourself today church have you done that

have you acknowledged your sin before christ or have you just been going through

the motions in other words here jesus is is warning us not to be so blind to

our own sin our own faults that we're prone to this critical heart or critical spirit.

A Christian should not judge others harshly or relish the opportunity to criticize

others and rejoice when they find faults in other people, right?

They shouldn't be that way. They shouldn't be negative in judgments towards

others because as we see in verse 38,

in the end, what Jesus is really concerned about

is the measure that his

followers use to judge other people what

is that measure the same measure that's

been shown to us right the same measure y'all

I have a feeling I'm gonna start with I'm just gonna say I'm this way all of

us starting with me I think we could use a heavy dose of reality of God's love

and forgiveness because there should be nobody brother Ronnie on this planet

that we should look at and say they're beyond God's reach.

Died for his enemies. That's you. That's me. I think we can share his love with our enemies.

And you know what? We will if he's really our father.

So be clear. Doesn't mean that Christians should not, you know,

should be indifferent to the sins of other people, especially brothers and sisters in Christ.

Jesus actually assumes here in this passage that we should remove the speck

in our brother's eye in verse 42.

A passionate commitment, though, to this teaching here demands that we do that.

We do that ourselves, right? We do that.

In fact, the Bible here repeatedly commends rebuke and correction.

Y'all know this by studying the word as a way to actually show love to someone

who professes to be a Christian, right?

In the household of faith. And Matthew 18, verse 15, talks about that.

Matthew 18:15

Proverbs 28, verse 23 talks about that.

Proverbs 28:23

But only someone who's been made merciful and patient by the mercy and patient

grace of God is going to be properly positioned to help somebody else deal with their sin.

Y'all, the heart window of judgmentalism is what we come to.

And yeah, I realize it's my second closing, but hang out with me.

We're not having church tonight. We're going to be on the road.

We're doing it on the road tonight. I'll tell you about that in a minute.

But this issue of judgmentalism gives a window into our hearts, doesn't it?

If we're critical of our brothers and sisters, our hearts don't comprehend who God is, do they?

Or who we are, or how he's forgiven us of our sin.

How many times are we quick to make those critical words talking about other people?

But I also throw this out there to you. If somebody talks with you about somebody

else behind their back, just know they're talking about you behind your back.

Okay, just make a note of that, okay? And so that's why those who judge will be judged.

Those who condemn will be condemned. And those who forgive will be forgiven, right?

Those who are generous and charitable towards others will receive an abundance.

A good measure, it says, press down, shake it together and run it over, right? Luke 6, 38.

The measure you use, I use, will show the state of our heart.

Show the state of your heart and as

a result it's going to correspond to the measure god will use

to judge you according to this passage those who

are acutely aware get this eastwood if

you're acutely aware of your own sin and god's extravagant mercy that was displayed

for you on the cross and that you've received you will inevitably be merciful

and patient with others but if your heart is proud, there we go,

Brother Ronnie, back to pride,

and hard and haughty, then it raises the question, seriously.

The scriptures raise the question of whether you've really comprehended the gospel at all.

It indicates that you perhaps have never humbled yourself and gone to God for

mercy through Christ alone.

And so you stand what? In grave danger.

All of those instructions, All of these instructions and warnings help us to

further understand what Jesus meant when he said this back in chapter 5,

verse 32, that he came to call who to repentance. Do you remember?

If you're not acknowledging that you're a sinner, he doesn't call you, right?

In the sense of he came to call sinners, so those he calls are sinners,

whether you think you are or not.

Let me just say it that way. That's more accurate.

We sometimes act as if Jesus came to make scandalous sinners like Levi or something

into well-behaved religious people like the Pharisees.

And we might be, again, tempted towards that external behavior modification,

attendance at certain church programs, maybe a kind of personal appearance,

but a true, leave with this today, a true indicator that somebody is a follower of Jesus.

The mercy that Jesus shows is not meant to lead us merely to clean up our exteriors, is it?

But it's meant to make us merciful, generous, tenderhearted towards other people.

Y'all, sharing the good news, like one beggar finding food, sharing that with another beggar.

Those things, Eastwood, are the good fruit that grows on a tree that has experienced God's grace.

If you hadn't experienced that today, I want to encourage you,

cry out to Jesus for mercy.

Then you're going to be able, guess what? To show others mercy too.

You see, that's the fruit of true discipleship.

That's the fruit. Let's stand together, if you would.