By Their Fruits

Somewhere, right now, farmers are in their fields, checking the state of their crops. People are checking the state of their animals, their trees. It is very important right now that a unique event takes place, something that people are growing in anticipation for, various parts of the earth right now.

An event that's different than anything else, the farmer, or the rancher, or the person working in the vineyards, or the orchards, does all year long. It's a unique event. It changes their schedule totally. Their focus is totally different. No more growing, no more watering, no more weeding, no more fertilizing.

It's time for something called the harvest. Now it's time to reach in deep and pull out that which you have been producing. Now it's time to reach in and take instead of grow, to reap instead of sow, to realize the reward of all that you've been doing with your plants, your animals, your trees, to receive the finished products. Harvest seasons are very exciting to those involved in them. It's something that generates great enthusiasm. Indeed, harvest festivals are common in almost all countries of the world.

There's excitement for harvest of an infinite variety of things that God made that grow.

And the festivals are interesting as well because they're very unique. There's the Cranberry Festival of Massachusetts, the Date Festival of California, and also in Morocco. There's the Cane Festival of Barbados, the Wine Festival of France, also the Wine Festivals of Tuscany and Austria. There's the Cattle and Beer Festivals of Germany, the Bread and Potatoes Festivals of Ireland, the Rye and Sauerkraut Festivals of the Czech Republic, the Rice Festivals of Eastern and Southern India, the Wheat Festival of Northern India, the Yam Festivals held in Nigeria and Ghana, the Salmon Festival of Alaska, the Lavender Festival of Australia, the Peanut Festivals of Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina, the Mushroom Festival of almost every state of the union, and finally, the Curry Festival. The Curry Festivals are held in many major countries around the world except for India.

You are someone's plant. Your farmer is anticipating harvesting a crop from you. Let's take a look at who you are and what you are becoming in relationship to an exciting harvest that is coming very soon. The title of the sermon today is, By Their Fruits. It's a very serious subject, also a very exciting subject, and it is really the purpose for your and my existence. Most agriculture in temperate regions experiences two growing seasons. There are many climates around the world, whether you're equatorial or up towards one of the northern climes, yet it seems like two harvest seasons are quite common. Equatorial regions, for instance, don't experience spring and fall. They have fairly consistent weather, and yet they typically still will experience two growing seasons.

Minimal growing season is quite common, and it's caused by rainfall and temperature variations that are less than the larger growing season. You'll have one that's cooler, less rain, less sunshine, and it will produce minimal crops. But there's also a maximum growing season, and of course that is also due to increased rainfall, increased sunshine, increased temperatures. Each region has uniqueness, but as I said, most seem to have two seasons.

And that goes for even harvesting animals. There can be two seasons for animals. Sometimes you'll take the adult animals in one season, and then sometimes you'll take the lambs or other animals in a different season. Well, God's plan for salvation involves two growing seasons. Two harvests. The first growing season is unique in that it's difficult. It's a little more austere. It has less of the things that contribute to producing a bumper crop. There's less sunshine, there's less warmth, there's less rainfall, typically.

Some or all of those are less. I'd like to take a look in Leviticus 23 and verse 10 and just notice with regards to the festivals of God, the uniqueness of these two harvests. Verse 10 of Leviticus 23, it says, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land which I give you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. Dropping down to verse 16. As that harvest continues and finally gets close to concluding, it says, Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath, after that wave sheaf is offered, then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.

You shall bring from your dwellings two wavelengths of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven. They are the first fruits to the Lord. What we've had here is a challenging time where that barley, especially, was put in at a difficult time. It was then cold. The nutrients were not able to be absorbed. The sunlight, the warmth wasn't there for germination and rapid growth.

It was a very difficult time that ended up producing a harvest. Well, how do you get to be in that harvest? Back in Matthew 13, verses 1-12, this is a correlation to a spiritual harvest of first fruits that will take place at Christ's return. In Matthew 13, beginning in verse 1, it says, On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea, and great multitudes were gathered to him. A lot of people were very interested, so that he got into a boat and sat. Interesting environment. You have lots of people and a boat and water and a lake, and probably stillness is involved there.

He went out a little bit from shore. A whole multitude stood on the shore, and he spoke many things to them in parable, saying, Behold, a sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them.

There's some seed that wouldn't be growing anything. There's some seed that found difficult times in the world in which we live, and the austerity of the water, the austerity of the warm temperature, and the austerity of the sunlight made things challenging, and they were devoured. They didn't make it. Some fell on stony places where they did not have much earth, and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.

But when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. And these did not participate in the first fruit's harvest. They didn't have anything to bring in. And some, verse 7, fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them, and they didn't have anything for the harvest.

This is a tough time to be trying to produce fruit for a harvest. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop. There was something there. They persevered and they yielded a crop some 100 times what was planted. And you put a seed in the ground, up came the sprig, and in the heads it filled with 100 seeds.

Some 60, some 30-fold. Now notice what Jesus says in verse 9. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear. If you have an ear to hear, understand. Please hear. It's about a crop. It's about developing a big crop. It's about being harvested. And Jesus, with exclamation, says, those of you who have been able to understand this mystery, listen, let him hear. And the disciples came and said to him, why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered and said, because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But to them it has not been given.

For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away. This is a very challenging time to try to be producing fruit. Now, there is a second growing season, and there's a second festival season. And this growing season is much easier. It's going to be much more bountiful. There's going to be lots of rainfall, lots of sunshine, lots of warm temperature. Fewer, no weeds to choke anything out.

It's going to be crop abundant. Very easy in comparison. We find this in Leviticus chapter 23, verses 39 through 40. Leviticus chapter 23, beginning in verse 39.

Also, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, notice how this is described a little differently, now you have all the fruits of the land coming off after the summer. You shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days. On the first day, there shall be a Sabbath rest. Unlike the early harvest feasts, there's a one-day festival, and you had some bread there that you baked.

Now you've got seven days. On the first day, there will be a Sabbath rest. On the eighth day of Sabbath rest, in verse 40, you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, the willows of the brook. There's going to be so much growth, you see. Make your little tabernacle, your thing you're going to dwell in, your succor. Make that out of all this extravagant fruit of the trees. You know, it's just going to be a lush time. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. Continue on this theme in Deuteronomy chapter 14, in verse 22 through 26.

Deuteronomy 14 verse 22. You shall truly tithe, this is your festival tithe, on all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. There's a lot of stuff, and you'll tithe on that. It's going to give you a lot of profit, because this is the second larger, easier harvest. And not only that, you'll eat before the Lord your God and the place where he chooses to make his name abide, the tithe of your grain, the tithe of your new wine, and of your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, all the things that the big harvest is bringing in, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God.

Verse 24. If the journey is too long for you, so that you're not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far from you, verse 25, then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires.

There's going to be a lot of money there because this harvest was big. And you can spend it on whatever your heart desires, auction, sheep, wine, similar drink, whatever your heart desires. You shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice you and your household.

And he talks about remembering others. You can see the differences between the two harvests. Now, the important thing for us to realize, you are growing in the first growing season. You and I live in the tough growing season. It's a little more difficult, a little more severe, and the harvest, as Jesus said, is very sparse. Why is that? In 1 John 5, verses 19-20, we are told that there's a lot of adversity during our growing season. 1 John 5, verse 19. And don't get jealous of the easy growing season because the rewards for being successful in this difficult growing season appear to be much higher than that of the easy growing season.

If you read Revelation 20, verses 4 and 6. But here we see in 1 John 5, verse 19, that we know that we are of God, we are growing, producing fruit, godly fruit, and that the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God is common, has given us an understanding, like Jesus said. Some of us have years to hear, that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God in eternal life. So even though there are these adversarial conditions in which we are growing, we are of God, we have an advocate, we have strength, we have a source of life, but it's challenging.

Now let's go to what Jesus said in Matthew 22, verses 11 through 14. If we think that this is just a cakewalk, we can go with God's help, that we don't have to work, or that we can just say, Oh, bring on Jesus, come on back, I'm ready to kick back, and end my worries and my troubles in this life.

Let's see what this harvest entails. Matthew 22, verse 11, But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. Oh, he was all for the wedding. Yep, I want to be part of the bride, we might say. I want to be resurrected and rule with Christ. But he didn't have on the wedding garment. And in this case, it was that outer garment of righteousness, that white garment that the bride needs to put on.

So he said to him, Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. And the king said to his servants, Bind him hand and foot, Take him away, and cast him in outer darkness, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Notice, verse 14, For many are called, but few are chosen for this harvest. This is the small harvest. It's just the first harvest, but it's a small harvest, and it's a difficult one. You know, some farmers just have to farm.

We lived up in the Dakotas, where some of you are from, and we're in our former congregation. We saw people who had to farm. They were born to farm. It was in their blood to farm. It didn't matter if you couldn't make money farming. Many farmed till they farmed all their money away. And then they wanted to farm some more. And it was just frustrating not to be able to farm. Well, God is all about farming.

He's all about growing a crop for the harvest. And He's going to have a harvest and a good one, or He'll die trying, you know, to kind of put it in a little funny there, because that's what Jesus wants. He wants fruit. He wants to present His Father with a harvest of children, and He's given His very life for it. And that's what God is about.

He is going to have a harvest. In Matthew 9, we see through Christ's eyes, through one of the members of the God family, the importance of this harvest. They want to gather in the godly fruits, the godly individuals that they are growing through their spirit. Matthew 9, verse 35 through 38. When Jesus saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

And then He said to His disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful. See, He's focused on the harvest. He said there's a lot of potential for a harvest, but like these sheep are out there needing to be fed, they have no shepherd. There's nobody to feed. There's nobody to develop the fruit for the harvest. The laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest. Now that's a title of God, the Lord of the harvest, to send out laborers into His harvest.

This is something that's important to God. This is something God is getting excited about. He's pouring Himself into the development of you. Every day, every minute, He wants to develop fruit. That's why Jesus said He'll trim, the Father will trim. They'll do anything to produce more fruit. Now there are pretty common harvests, you know, grain and vegetables, fruit, nuts, tubers, spices, tree sap.

Can you think of a tree sap? Honey, other things like that. The anticipation when you come up to a harvest, like what Jesus is talking about, is not just anything that grows, but the quality of that harvest. I can remember going out with farmers into the field who were growing wheat, and they would go out and they would inspect what was in the heads, and they would rub it in their hands and blow, and they would look to see how those kernels were developing.

Were they filling up full? Because a big, full, thick piece of grain is going to weigh a lot. The value of it is a lot. It's going to be desirable. It's going to be easy to sell, and there's going to be quite a bit of profit from that. But something that's stunted and shriveled and small, not growing very well at all, well, they would look at that and say, you know, look at that. Nobody's going to want that. I'm not going to find a market for that.

It won't weigh enough to even put all the expense into harvesting that. And so it is that there's an anticipation for a good harvest, a valuable harvest, good fruit. Now, what kind of crop do you think God wants to bring into his family? What kind of kids, what kind of mentalities do you think God wants to populate the divine family of God with? Do you like bad fruit? Have you ever had bad fruit? You know, once in a while you'd be eating along on something, and you know, you look down and it's like, ugh, I don't want that in my mouth.

Dates sometimes on the outside look good, and I'm munching away on a date, and I look in there and, ugh, I've got this black powder on the inside, and ugh, and now I'm, what do you do with that? Pistachio nuts, you know, are kind of known to, once in a while, have a worm in there. Ooh, I wasn't expecting that. Hmm. We had a fish in the freezer, nice frozen fish in the freezer. It's frozen, it was in there fresh, and it was in there, and it was in there.

And one day Mary said, you know, the fridge out in the garage, freezer kind of smells a little bit. I think there's a fish in there that's gotten old. I said, fish can't go old, they're frozen. It's frozen! Don't worry about it. I was working out in the garage one day, and garage started smelling like fish. I thought, well, maybe I better cook that fish up. So I went over there and opened the freezer door, and woo!

Wow! Knocked me off! You know, it just about knocked me down. That was really strong fish! So I got it out of there. But, you know, it kind of circulated through the fridge, and everything started tasting like fish. Old, stinky fish. What do you do with rancid oil? Things that are rancid, oils, anything. Well, got a lot of it. Better eat it. Nuts that go rancid, and you know, it's terrible. What do you do with that stuff? Is it something that you really want to bring into your house? You want to say, oh, this stuff is all bad, but let's take it home.

Jesus said, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. You know, if you've got a tree and you're putting all this water and energy into it, but it keeps giving fruit that is terrible and no one can eat it, what do you do with it? You get rid of it. Just get a better tree. Let's go look at some bad fruit. In Galatians 5, beginning in verse 19, did you just notice what bad fruit is like, and what would you do with it? Galatians 5, verse 19 through 21, talks about the works of the flesh. Now, if you just look at these three verses, I'm not going to read them with you. There's some pretty nasty self-centered stuff in there. But if you just look at those three verses, what do you do with that stuff? Do you want to bring this home? Do you want to encourage your family to be like this? When you look at all these things, you say, Wow, what do I want to do with that stuff? Do you want to make a club? Maybe get your kids to be like that? Do you want to be like that? What do you do with fruit that's bad fruit? You just don't want anything to do with it, do you? Anybody want to harvest that stuff? God doesn't want to harvest that. He doesn't want to bring any of that into His house, into His family. And so He's going to get rid of that. Now, how do you feel about good fruit? It's a ripe, sweet fruit that is just wonderful. You think, wow, that even costs a little more, but give me twice as much as I was planning to buy because you just don't find this everywhere. You know, when you finally bump into a strawberry that's sweet, you say, wow, I don't care what they cost. I want a bunch of those and I want to make strawberry shortcake for all my friends. You find some good meats or some good various things that come out of the ground or out from animals. You say, you know what? I think I'm going to buy an extra freezer and pack some of that stuff in there, store some of that. We'll have a party with that. Bring it on. Fill the pantry. Well, in verse 21, verse 22, that is, the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace. Long suffering and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and meekness and self-control. And those things are good. And God says, wow, let's bring in all we can find of this. This is how we think. This is what makes us happy and makes the God family so happy and joyful. Let's go out and harvest every bit of it we can find and bring it in until it's overflowing.

And that's wonderful stuff.

God examines us. And we need to want to be examined. Like David said, God examine me, test my heart, test my mind, and create in me a clean heart. Create these fruits in me. That should be our daily desire to be repentant and say, God, I want to get rid of anything bad in there. Show it to me. And test me in what I think is good. Try it out. Help me develop it. Create this good fruit inside of me.

Quality is being tested by God. It's very important to God. Testing is a good thing. Don't think it's not. When was the last time you went out and bought a whole bunch of stuff without even sampling it? That would be foolish, wouldn't it?

So God needs to test. You ever get a good deal and lots of it? What are good deals? They come easy, don't they? And they come cheap. And there's a lot of it. And then they'll put it on special. If you buy 10, you'll get a good deal. You just pack this stuff. Ever do that, you've packed a whole bunch of it home. And then it's like, well, I sure have a lot of it. Popcorn, it doesn't taste like eating meat that's too tough to chew. Vegetables that are picked so green that even when they ripen, they don't taste like anything. No wonder somebody wanted to offload that stuff at a cheap price. That's not what God wants. He wants to test it out first. He wants to not get a good deal. He wants to get the real deal. The real quality thing. And so in James chapter 1 and verses 2 through 4, we're told about this phenomenon of being tested. James 1 and verse 2 says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. It produces the real deal. You know, you can go pick up a piece of citrus fruit, maybe an orange that's really, really orange on the outside because they can put that with chemicals and gases to make green turn orange. But what he's saying here is the testing of your faith produces perseverance. You open that orange up. If it's the real orange on the inside, it continues to be the real thing. It doesn't matter what it goes through. It continues to be the real thing. You can juice it. You can peel it. You can segment it. You can chop it. It continues to be juicy and wonderful. But let perseverance have its complete work, that you may be fully mature and complete, lacking nothing. God wants us to really mature into something that is harvestable, lacking nothing, fully mature, complete. God helps us develop fruit. He helps us develop fruits for his harvest. He plants us. He waters us. He nourishes us. And then He harvests us. Our job is to grow. We need to grow. We need to take in God's Spirit, that water. We need to take in the light. We need to take in God's love and warmth. And we need to grow by it. We need to radiate that back out. And become more like God is. But we are to grow. And we are in the tough growing season. So we have to grow in any condition, no matter what. We grow. It doesn't matter what goes on around us. We continue to grow. Because that's what we're about. And God will not forsake us in that. Kind of like a date tree growing out in the middle of the Sahara Desert in Morocco. There's no water out there. And it gets hot. And the winds blow through there three or four times a year. Different wind seasons blow through there. And what happens? The date trees keep producing dates. They produce a crop. They produce a harvest. And when people come through the little oases there and they have nothing to eat, they can take a date, 50 calories per date, full of sugar, delicious tasting. They can keep it in temperatures 130 degrees. It will not spoil. They can travel across country with 50 kilos of it in their backpack or on their camel.

And they have lots of food because that date will produce a crop even in very austere conditions. It's a small crop, but that's what God asks for us. And we are to grow no matter what. In Acts 14, verses 21 and 22, Paul, who was no stranger to challenges, was with a group and when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to some other cities, three other cities. What did they do there? This is a tough growing season. So they returned to some other cities where they had made disciples, strengthening the souls, strengthening the lives of the disciples, encouraging them, strengthening under those difficult conditions, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying, we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. That is our growing season, brethren. And to think of it any other way is to be looking through rose-colored glasses. It's to not be real. This is the austere, difficult, trying time that God has called us in. And it's through many tribulations or trials, through many tests, many difficulties that we enter the kingdom of God. Let's go to 1 Peter 4 and verse 12 on this same theme. Peter, like Paul, puts this out very frankly and explains it in a way that I think we can appreciate and understand. 1 Peter 4 and verse 12.

Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you as though some strange thing has happened to you. And yet it feels that way. We expect this to be an easy growing season. Somehow we are just programmed to think, well, this is going to be easy. We're in the true church. We've got the real gospel. We've got the real law. We've got the real command. We've got God on our side. What could be easier? But he says, fiery trial. He says, don't think it is though some strange thing happened to you. Why not? Well, because your crop is being inspected for genuineness. God only wants the real deals, the real fruit, to come in and reign with his son, Jesus Christ. And so your crop is being inspected, and it will be. It's being sorted for good and bad. You know how it is when you pull in any kind of a crop? You have tables, and those tables or machines will go through, and they'll sort. They'll size. They'll sort for rightness, for quality, for the way things appear on the outside. And the good stuff is kept gathered over here. The other stuff goes out the door. Verse 18, Now if the righteous one is scarcely saved, that kind of reminds me of sorting dates at the canoed and date harvest each year. We're invited to come and participate in that harvest, all of us. And when you get there, the dates are dumped from the tree. The boughs are chopped off the tree. The dates come over, and they're pulled off. They're poured out of the bags onto the table. And then the sorting goes on. And how many dates actually are kept? You know, lots and lots of those dates are just going into the trash cans as fast as people can grab them and throw them. If the righteous one is scarcely saved, if the good date is scarcely saved, and there's always a little discussion about it, is that one good? I don't know. I don't think so. I think it's good. No, I don't think it's good. But he has their opinions, you know. And sometimes the opinion goes, No, I don't think it's good. Get rid of it. I thought it was good. Well, okay. It's gone. So if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and sinner appear? A point here to consider is the fruit that is being harvested is a finished product. It's what you and I are at the end of our growing season. It's good or it's bad. It's whatever it is, but it's done. And that's what makes it a unique part of a farmer's life, is that everything is now completed, and it is what it is. It's not going to change anymore from there. It is what it is. It's easy to assume that the entire field is going to get harvested. We'll go out there and we'll bring in the whole field, and it's all going to be harvested. Yuma, Arizona, USA Today, grows 90% of the vegetables that are sold in the United States during the winter months, right down there in the fields by Yuma, where it's desert, but it's irrigated, and it's warmer and sunnier than most other places in the country. And it's really interesting to go through and watch the harvest there, especially during this time of year, because they bring in the laborers from across the border, and a great many of them start through the fields. And many of us, including my wife, have gone down and watched, and it's amazing to see them as they go through what they leave behind. It's a field full of crops that is not harvested. It is left behind.

And we've asked the superintendents there, over-saying, why are you leaving all that food in the field? And he says, it doesn't measure up. It doesn't meet the standard for the harvest. And that to us is worthless. It'll just be thrown away, or anybody can come have it, or it's just worthless to us. Meaningless. And yet you wonder, well, did they even harvest anything out of the field? There's so much left in the field, you'd think, they ought to go back through there and harvest that again.

Well, it's easy to assume that the harvest will all be the same, because you have the same sun, same seed, same fertilizer. And yet there are endless variations, plant by plant, as to what is harvested.

Let's go to Matthew 13, verses 24 through 30. Matthew 13, verses 24. Now, I use a lot of Scriptures because the Bible is absolute truth. The words of God that are inspired in this word are more important than my words. And it's really exciting to see here what God says and what we can really, really rely on. In Matthew 13, verse 24, Jesus said this in a parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. You go out there, you sow your seed, you water it, you fertilize it. And what do you expect? You expect a whole field full of good crops. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. Why tares grow among wheat? I will never know. But any time you grow wheat, there's this wheat-looking plant that grows up with it. And so in this analogy, he says an enemy, referring to Satan, I'm sure, sowed tares and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares? People will come into the church of God and they'll say, Hey, I thought I was coming to a room full of perfect people. How come their people here aren't perfect? You know, it lets them down. Well, where do these unfinished characteristics and traits in our life come from? And he said an enemy has done this. The servants said to him, Do you want us to go then and gather them up? Now that's an interesting concept. From time to time, somebody will say, Now look, there's this person or other person in the church, and they're obviously not converted. They're not growing this way alive. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And therefore, why don't you just tell them to go away? Okay. Let's just say for an instant that somebody says, All right, this person over there, they don't really look like, they don't really seem like they're a real converted, growing member of the church. We'll just pull that person up, okay? And we'll say, Go away! I don't give God's Holy Spirit, neither do you. I don't know who has God's Holy Spirit. I really don't. Some individuals are called in a life that has very little similarity to what you might see in the Bible as a godly person. And from that place in which they are called, they grow. Some thirty-fold, some sixty-fold, some hundred-fold. Now, just because a person has grown a hundred times from where they started and doesn't look like somebody you think is the model Christian yet, doesn't mean that they haven't really produced a lot of fruit. You take somebody else who was born looking like a godly person. Almost their personality would match it, and they just look like the perfect person. That person may not grow at all. And we'd say, Oh, now there's a converted person. So they ask the question here, should we go in and start pulling people up based on, what do we see, the exterior? Because you and I don't judge the heart, do we? We don't know. We don't give the Spirit. Should we start pulling people up based on our impressions?

And Jesus said, Ah, no, verse 29, lest while you gather up the tares, you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, first gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.

You know, wheat and tares, sheep and goats, wise and foolish virgins. There are two types growing in the field, Jesus said, at any time. Yet it's the same field. The question for you and me becomes, which am I? And do I want to change that? No use branding yourself or anybody else, because we're still in the growing season. But do I want to change, if I'm a tare, if the fruits tend to be more not-godly, do I want to make a change in that before the harvest comes?

Again, normal conditions, we would think, produce normal crops. But in the growing season in which we are in, there's not much normal. You know, when you're trying to grow in the winter, which is what that barley crop, pictured by the first fruits harvest there in Leviticus, you don't know what winter brings. It often brings really severe conditions. Sometimes you'll get enough water to get things going, and then the snows come and the ice comes, and then it'll warm up and things will start to sprout and grow, and then all of a sudden, long comes another northerner, and then it freezes all the growth out and kills things off.

We tend to expect normal, common conditions and normal, common crops.

But we live in a world of drought. You know, there's a lack of God's Holy Spirit in the world in which we grow.

And drought brings on struggling crops. Drought brings on insects that prey on crops, wildfires that blow through on dry crops, blowing dust that strip the nutrients. These things we consider shocking, and we wonder, why is this happening? Well, it's because we're the small harvest, and not many are going to survive it.

The millennium, on the other hand, and the Second Resurrection especially, are going to be very good growing conditions. When Christ returns, you get rid of the deceiver, you know, bring in the new age, and things are really going to flourish. For instance, in Isaiah 35, we'll look in verses 5-8 to begin with. Isaiah 35, verse 5, Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened. There's a time coming when those who Jesus said, seeing cannot see, hearing cannot hear, will have their eyes opened to the truth.

And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. They will be able to hear and to understand. And then those who could not walk God's way, the lame, shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dung, who had nothing fit to say, will sing. Why? For waters will burst forth in the wilderness. The Holy Spirit of God and the knowledge of God is going to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And streams in the desert, where there's no water today, where there's no Spirit, God's Holy Spirit today, streams of His Spirit will be there for people in the future.

The parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water. You see, it's going to be a very productive growing season. Very productive. But then it says there will be grass with reeds and rushes. Where you have reeds and rushes, they grow in standing water. There's going to be so much knowledge of God and encouragement and lack of adversaries that there's going to be a lot of growth. However, you and I don't live then. We do not. In verse 6.5, notice some of the things that were being said there. It says, waters in the wilderness. It's going to be unique. Right now, we're in the wilderness. Streams in the desert are coming, but we live in the desert. The parched ground is where we are. It will become a pool, but now it's parched. The habitation of jackals, the thirsty land. See? That's our growing environment today. You know, wheat is sometimes grown in very austere conditions. I remember my father and I and Mr. Randy Scriber's father and him and some others used to go out quail hunting in Southern California, as we were growing up. One time, my father and I and another minister and his bird dog went out in a wheat field. We were all excited. We got out there, cracked on, and we were driven a long way. We got out with the dog, and off we went hunting quail. We hunted and hunted and hunted, and the sun came up. It got hotter and hotter. That wheat had produced a very good crop in very austere conditions. But it was so hot that we were so thirsty, it was unimaginably thirsty. This bird dog had worked very hard, and we had walked very far. We got back to the car. We did not have any water. Being out in that environment without water, with the sun beating down on you, was very, very hard on us. So hard, in fact, the dog died later that day. We were just in a mess, but the wheat did just fine. The wheat was growing. It persevered. It did very, very well. It made a crop. We are kind of like that. We're expected to make a crop under very unusual conditions. This is an evil age, the Bible says. A time in which, in the future, no flesh would even be saved alive if Christ didn't intervene. This age is a spiritual drought. There's no light. There's no water. People wander, as it were, in darkness. There's no food. And there's a devourer.

This is the early harvest growing season for those of the firstfruits. Let's look at this from a couple of perspectives of biblical prophecy in the first chapter of Joel.

Joel is very forthright in this prophecy, something that is true, it's honest, it's right in our face. We need to take a look at it.

Two types of prophecy. One is talking about the physical house of Israel and the twelve tribes, regarding what is often called the Old Covenant. And the other is the same thing in dual prophecies. It refers to the spiritual house of Israel, the New Covenant Church.

And if we read this in Joel 1, let's hear what the word of the Lord says.

Hear this, you elders. You ministers. Listen. And give ear all you inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell it to your children and their children and their children, another generation.

Verse 4. What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten. What the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten. You know, brethren, this is really our growing season. This is describing our world. What do you expect is going to develop easily out of this?

Awake you drunkards and weep, and wail all you drinkers of wine because of the new wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth.

For a nation has come up against my land, strong and without number. His teeth are a teeth of lion. He has fangs of a fierce lion. What do we read about in the Bible about lions?

There is one who is like a roaring lion who also comes after us.

And he has fangs of a fierce lion. And he has laid waste my vine. You know, there's lots of trials and persecutions that have come in the church and that will come in the church. And in our growing season, God tells us, you know what? Satan is out to devour you, and he's going to lay waste his church. He's ruined my fig tree, stripped it bare, thrown it away. Its branches are made white.

In verse 10, the field is wasted, the land mourns, the grain is ruined, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails. Christ will not return until the falling away has taken place. He says that many will wax cold in the church, and that will draw away others. And the love of many will wax cold. He wonders if there will be faith on the earth when he returns.

The priests mourn who minister to the Lord, the field is wasted, the land mourns, for the grain is ruined. Be ashamed, you farmers, wail you vine-dressers for the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. You know, this is really what the Apostle John, the Apostle Jude, the Apostle Peter, and the Apostle Paul talk about towards the end of the New Testament. As they write their books, they're saying, the harvest is failing. What's going on with you people? You're leaving for a different gospel. You're following people off here. You know, the church is just being decimated.

Be ashamed, you farmers.

Verse 12, the vine is dried up, the fig tree is withered, the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, the apple tree, the trees of the field are withered. Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men. Surely we can look at this in the literal concept of society and the degeneration of the twelve tribes, but we also can look at this through the dual lens of what will happen to God's church. Gird yourselves and lament, you priests. Wail, you who minister before the altar. Come and lie all night in sackcloth, you who minister to my God, for the grain offering, the drink offering, are withheld from the house of your God. What do we do about this? What do we do about this? Verse 14, consecrate a fast.

Call a sacred assembly. I like to see how when there's trials in the church, the church responds by a fast. You'll be getting a letter, if you haven't already, from the Council of Elders talking about the good things that the church is going through and also some challenges. It asks the ministry this month to all take a day and fast. It also asks you to fast.

These things come up from time to time. Again, consecrate a fast. Examine yourself. Why are things the way they are? What in me needs to be changed? Don't be fasting for someone else. Fast for your own sins to be exposed so that blessings can come.

Gather the elders and the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry out to the Lord. Alas, for the day, the day of the Lord is at hand. This is serious. The harvest of the first fruits is coming.

It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.

Verse 17, the seed that God wants to harvest shrivels under the cloth. Storehouses are in shambles. Barns are broken down. The grain is withered. Is this the kind of harvest that God wants to come back to? No. We need to be serious about the fruits that we are producing for the kingdom.

O Lord, to you I cry out, for fire has devoured the open pastures and a flame has burned all the trees of the field.

This is an important, critical time, and God wants a good harvest of the first fruits. But how big will that harvest be? And will you and I be part of it?

Consider the fruit that you are developing.

What are you growing into?

Are you growing into being like the God family? Or are you growing into being like Satan's gang? Those are the two trees that we eat off of. The result is that it is towards one way or the other.

We could ask the question, as I am growing, where am I getting my light from?

Am I getting my light, my intelligence, the real light? Is it coming from TV and movie stars and education and the important people in society? Is that where I am getting it from?

Or is it coming from the way, the truth, the life, the light of the world? Where am I getting my water from? What spirit am I being nourished by? Where am I getting my food, my fertilizer? Jesus said, I am the true bread. Whatever else you eat mentally is not real bread. I am the true bread of life. Eat me.

And this food must come through the church. It must come through the shepherds.

We don't want it that way. That's the way it is. Ephesians 4, verses 11-16 absolutely shows that God feeds through the shepherds.

Let's go to Acts 20, verses 28-31 and see something kind of scolding and very important to the ministry.

Acts 20, verses 28-31 Here the Apostle Paul had been in the area that's modern Turkey today.

He had lived for three years in the town of Ephesus, a town very close to the coast with its streets and a river that came through there, that meandered and changed its course all the time, from which we get the term meandering, by the way. Meander came from that little river that came through the town. And they eventually ran him out of town.

But there was a time when he wanted to talk to the ministry in particular, that he had left there with feeding the sheep of Ephesus. And he was very concerned for that church, and he had been very concerned. And so he came to the town of Miletus, which is just a few miles away. Miletus, a very, very small town right on the coast in Paul's day. Today the river that came past that town has gone out and created sort of a delta of silt. So the actual ocean front is several miles away from there. But the little, little tiny town. You go to the town of Miletus, and here is where Paul said these words. To ministry. Verse 28. Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock. This is about growing lambs for the harvest, among which the Holy Spirit has made your overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. You don't think this crop is important to Jesus Christ? He gave His own blood, growing these sheep. And you take heed to yourselves how you shepherd the church of God, he says. Verse 29. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, among the ministry. Not sparing the flock. You know, it's bad enough that you're trying to grow as a lamb, or as a stalk of wheat or barley, to have these enemies come in. Wolves, savage wolves, come in to tear the church apart. Verse 30. Also, from among yourselves, from among the ministry, men will rise up speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. They're going to be speaking things to try to get that crop to come with them, to draw away after themselves. Therefore, watch and remember that for three years, when I lived there with you in Ephesus, I did not cease to warn everyone day and night with tears. Jesus Christ has given us the warning, and we have been at a time of real ease up till now, but He's warned us that real difficult and deceptive people and perilous conditions, dangerous conditions, are coming spiritually. That's going to try to take away your fruit. Going to try to make sure you don't have anything from the harvest. He says, watch. How do you watch? How do you determine who to follow as they follow Christ? Jesus tells us in Matthew 7, verse 15, some important information, and I want you to be armed with this information. I want you to keep it in the forefront of your mind as you go through developing fruit for the kingdom, because He Himself is concerned and has given us some instructions.

Beware, He said, of false prophets. The word prophets in the Greek can mean teachers. It doesn't mean you have to be making prophecies that are going to come to pass or not come to pass. It's teachers and prophets. But beware of false teachers who come to you in sheep's clothing. They look like the real deal. Sheep's clothing. Sheep's clothing means they have the law of God. They have the feasts of God. They have all the commandments of God. They're teaching the truth. Beware of those. Inwardly, they are ravenous wolves. The wolf family gangs up. The wolf family picks off the weak. The wolf family likes to saddle up and become friends with dogs and then run off in the wilderness with the dogs and eat them.

Verse 16. You will know them by their fruits. You won't know them by what they look like. You won't know them by what they say. Notice. When they come to you in sheep's clothing, they're going to be preaching the truth.

Beware of them. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. This sermon is about fruit. And by their fruits, you will know them. And by your fruits, you will be known by God. It's about fruit. And just because you're in the church, just because you've got the guy, just because you've got the right governance, just because you've got the right commandments, the laws, you've got the prophecies all figured out, you've got the holidays and all this stuff, doesn't mean that you will not be misled or devoured by someone who teaches those things.

It's about fruit. Verse 18, a good tree cannot bear bad fruit. What are the fruits that God is looking for? What are the fruits of righteousness? The fruit in Galatians 5, verses 22 and 23 of the Spirit, is intense love for others, not talking about it. There's the difference. Somebody comes talking about love, talking about giving, talking about humility, talking about service. Look out if they're not doing it. That's what Jesus is saying here. A bad tree cannot bear good fruit, and every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Therefore, by their fruits, you will know them. Don't get inspired by somebody. Don't get, oh, that's got to be it. That just sounds so good. That's so knowledgeable. That's so wonderful. That's amazing. That's the way I ought to be. That individual is in sheep's clothing. To judge a minister is what Jesus Christ is saying here. You better judge your shepherds. You better judge the ministry. You better look for the fruits. And to judge a minister, judge his subtle fruits. I don't like saying this to you. But as one who wants you to be in the kingdom of God, Jesus is saying this to you.

And I'm encouraging you to be really, really, really serious about where you get your source of food from and water and nourishment. Judge the subtle fruits. Don't judge the sheep-like exterior. Don't be impressed by something of a human. The key is having the mind of Christ. Back in Philippians 2, you'll find throughout there, it says, let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. He humbled himself, and then he came and served all that he could, and he gave his life for you.

Have that mind in you. Not the one who comes along and says, I've got the truth. I'm the main guy. I can really impress you. You all ought to follow me. We're going to go together. You stick with me. You'll be in good shape. It's all about me. I remember growing up under Mr. Herbert Armstrong, who was a very great man for the simple fact. It wasn't about him. He was my pastor since I was born, growing up through my teens.

And he was always talking about the church and always talking about the members and trying to encourage and grow and preach the gospel. I never heard him get up and give a sermon about how important I am, how well I'm doing. He was always encouraging us and saying, why are you here? I see a lot of people coming after him saying, oh, I'm his replacement guy.

I'm the main man. I'm important and I'm this and I'm that. All of us can have a tendency to be wolves. I'm talking about the ministry. If we are not focused on loving and serving and giving all we have to others, when it becomes about us, when it becomes about something important and something prestigious or all of us are following some individual instead of a biblical principle, then somebody in sheep's clothing who's got all the right laws and all the right material is bamboozling people to look at him.

Don't look at people. Look at God. Look at Jesus Christ. We are just replacement shepherds for the Great Shepherd. We're only working in His service. And when we fall and go away, it doesn't matter, because somebody else is called to take over right after us. It's not about us, it's about Him. We don't do anything great. We do everything in the name of Jesus Christ. We don't claim to be smart or intelligent or anything. It's God that gets the glory, because He is the one that inspires. He's the one that has knowledge and truth.

In chapter 25 of Proverbs 14, you don't have to turn there. It's very short, but just listen to these words. These are very important. Whoever falsely boasts of giving, you know what that means? I'm a giver. I really do a lot. Whoever falsely boasts of giving, not a person who really gives, but whoever falsely boasts of giving is like clouds and wind without rain. Remember the clouds and the wind without rain. Now let me read you some scriptures about clouds and wind without rain that apply to the ministry. Jude 1, verse 12. These are spots in your love feet. While they feast with you and without fear, serving themselves only. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds. They're falsely boasting about loving and serving.

But they are laid on trees without fruit. You want to judge them by their fruits.

They don't have fruit. The ones who boast of giving. They're twice dead. They're pulled up by the roots. Who am I talking about? You think I'm talking about somebody? I'm talking about me. I'm talking about anybody who is a minister. We have to be very, very serious about being the real shepherds, being the real deal. And I'm not putting myself in a way that's any kind of example at all. But I am asking you to judge me. I always will ask you to judge and to see if the fruits are there. And if they aren't, be warned. Because Jesus said, beware about those who teach you. And you will judge them by their fruits. You'll know them by their fruits. 2 Peter, chapter 12.

2 Peter, chapter 2, verses 17 through 19. These are wells without water carried about by the winds, carried about by a tempest. These are strong winds for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. What was their love? What was their problem? Lack of love. Lack of love for others. In verse 10, it said of 2 Peter 2, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise others' authority. I want to be the authority. I want it to be about me. I want to advance myself. And you see various individuals who get into the ministry and pretty soon they're wrangling with others and they want to be bigger. They're kind of like the disciples, you know, who's going to be the greatest? Paul had to contend with that. They are presumptuous. They're presumptuous.

Self-willed, it says. Verse 10, they're not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries. Why?

Because it's about me. I don't want anybody else to look good. It's about me. Promoting me. It's very appealing to my carnality. Well, that's part of the test, you see. That's part of the test. Verse 18, 2 Peter 2, For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness they allure through the lust of the flesh. I don't know. I've seen individuals in the ministry get close to other people. You're my buddy. You know, you stick with me. Where one goes, we all go. Call out names of people all the time and, you know, kind of the group, kind of the clique. It says here, through the lust of the flesh. I don't know, but somehow the, you know, the self, the members' selves kind of feel advanced because the lust of their flesh through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error are drawn away. And while they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption. Corruption means rotting in death. It's bad fruit. It's just bad fruit. Your fruit's going to be checked. You're offered fruit from two different trees. You're offered nutrition from two different sources, and you have to choose. I have to choose every day. This harvest that's coming is very important to the family of God. They're getting really, really excited. There are harvest festivals for this harvest and the one to follow. And those who are really, really serious about producing godly fruit in any condition, through any circumstances, that make it through all the deceptions and still can be the genuine deal are going to have a fantastic future that the angel of Revelation chapter 20 and verse 6 says, Oh, how extremely, supremely blessed are those who have a part in the first resurrection. It's a great harvest. It's something to really work for. And I hope that you will be very successful in producing fruit for it. In conclusion, what are you doing to bring fruit to the first fruit's harvest in your life? What are you developing? What are you growing? Let's conclude by looking at Galatians chapter 6 verses 7 through 10.

Galatians chapter 6 verses 7 through 10. These are the subjects I'm going through in my life, and I want to share them with you today. I want to make them very pointed, very blunt. At the same time, if we're serious, we're going to be very successful because the Lord of the harvest is all about making your fruit remain. He wants that fruit to remain. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 7 through 10. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. He's not going to get all fuzzy-headed when it comes time for the harvest. He's not going to say, Oh, yeah, bring in the bad fruit, too. Let's have those rotten apples, those stinking oranges, bring in that smelly fish. No, God is not mocked for whatever a man sows, that he also will reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap rottenness. But he who sows to the spirit, love, serve, humility, will in the spirit or of the spirit reap everlasting life. In verse 9, in our growing season, let us not grow weary while doing good. For in due season we shall reap. We will be harvested if we do not lose heart, if we endure to the end, if we persevere, if we're the real deal and we just keep being the real deal no matter what comes along. Verse 10, Therefore, because of what has been said, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all. That's what it boils down to. You wonder, how do I prove that?

How do I produce fruit for the harvest? Everything I've said today, he just wraps it up and says, Therefore, based on all of this, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all.

Love God with all your heart, soul, and might. Love your neighbor as yourself. And produce that fruit of godliness in your life, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

What are your fruits? What are your teachers' fruits? And what fruit will remain and be ripe when Jesus Christ returns? As you proceed towards the kingdom of God, remember that God will choose His harvest by their fruits.