"Trees Do Not Eat Their Own Fruit!"

                                    "Trees do not eat their own fruit!  The fruit is for others."
                                                                                 Paul Washer


          Christians are to share the fruit of the Spirit with other people.  We are not to
     keep it to ourselves, but should give it away to show others who God is, so they
     will come to Him for salvation.


          What is this fruit?

                                        "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. peace,
                                         patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
                                         gentleness, and self-control; against such
                                         things there is no law."
                                                                            Galatians 5:22-23


           "When a Christian walks by the Spirit and manifests his fruit, he needs no
             external law to produce the attitudes and behavior that please God."
                                                                            John MacArthur


                                       "By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful
                                        flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
                                        in order that the righteous requirement of the law
                                        might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according
                                        to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
                                                                            Romans 8:3b-4

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          When we love the unlovely, we bear fruit.

          When we show the joy of the Lord to others, we bear fruit.

          When we have peace with God and our fellow man, we bear fruit.

          When we show patience to the impatient, we bear fruit.

          When we are kind to those in need, we bear fruit.

          When we are good to those who can't repay us, we bear fruit.

          When we are faithful to God and His Word, we bear fruit.

          When we are humble, gentle, and meek, we bear fruit.

          When we turn from our fleshly desires, and to God, we bear fruit.

                                                *****************

                                      [Jesus said], "I am the vine, and my Father is the
                                      vinedresser.  Every branch in me that does not bear
                                      fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear
                                      fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit."
                                                                                   John 15:1-2

          "The picture is of the vinedresser (the Father) getting rid of dead wood so
            that the living, fruit-bearing branches may be sharply distinguished.  This
            is a picture of apostate Christians who never genuinely believed and will
            be taken away in judgment; the transforming life of Christ has never pul-
            sated within them. 
            God removes all things in the believer's life that would hinder fruit bearing,
            i.e., He chastises to cut away sin and hindrances that would drain spiritual
            life just as the farmer removes anything on the branches that keep them from
            bearing maximum fruit."
                                                                                    John MacArthur


                                      "Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch
                                       cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides
                                       in the vine, neither can you, unless you
                                       abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the
                                       branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in
                                       him, he it is that bears much fruit, for a-
                                       part from me you can do nothing."
                                                                                John 15:4-5


           "The word 'abide' means to remain or stay around.  The 'remaining' is evidence
             that salvation has already taken place and not vice versa.  The fruit or evidence
             of salvation is continuance in service to Him and His teaching.  The abiding
             believer is the only legitimate believer.  Abiding and believing actually are
             addressing the same issue of genuine salvation."
                                                                                John MacArthur


                                     [Jesus said to the disciples], "You did not choose me,
                                     but I chose you and appointed you that you should
                                     go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so
                                     that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may
                                     give it to you."
                                                                                John 15:16


         "In case any pretense might exist among the disciples in terms of spiritual pride
          because of the privileges they enjoyed, Jesus made it clear that such privilege
          rested not in their own merit, but on His sovereign choice of them.  God chose
          Israel (Isa. 45:4), but not for any merit.  God elected angels to be forever holy
          (1 Tim. 5:21).  He elected believers to salvation apart from any merit (Rom.
          8:29-33; Eph. 1:3-6; Col. 3:12; Titus 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:2).  One purpose of God's
          sovereign election is that the disciples who have been blessed with such reve-
          lation and understanding should produce spiritual fruit."
                                                                              John MacArthur


          God's people will continue to produce fruit throughout their lives, through the
     power of the Holy Spirit.

                                       "The righteous flourish lie the palm tree and grow
                                         like a cedar in Lebanon.  They are planted in the
                                         house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts
                                         of our God.  They still bear fruit in old age; they
                                         are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the
                                         LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no
                                         unrighteousness in Him."
                                                                               Psalm 92:12-15