“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.”
Look, we have planted a sapling in our house, and everyone is eagerly waiting to see when it will grow and bear fruit. Even after it becomes a large tree, if it does not bear fruit, it will annoy everyone in the house. Some trees bear a lot of fruit but are too bitter to put into the mouth which cannot be eaten. It is right for everyone to say that this tree should be cut down immediately.
In the same way, our Lord Jesus Christ says: “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, you will recognize them by their fruits (Matthew 7:17-20). Thus says our Lord Jesus Christ.
Is our Lord Jesus Christ speaking with concern about trees? No, He is speaking about the human beings that He has created on earth. The Lord speaks about His people. That is, our God seeks good fruits in the human beings He has created. The fruit represents life, and the good fruit signifies a good life. Today, we see that human life is in disarray. Some say they do things without even realizing it (Romans 7:15). Therefore, God says that humanity is in a corrupted state and He would like it to be restored. While our Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples were conversing, they discussed certain matters. At that time, the disciples asked about Elijah’s coming. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that Elijah had come and restored everything (Matthew 17:10-11). In this context, our Lord Jesus Christ speaks about John the Baptist. Before our Lord Jesus Christ took human form and walked on this earth, God sent John the Baptist as a forerunner. He came and restored the people of Israel at that time. Similarly, in these last days, before the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, Elijah must come to restore the entire world. The prophet Malachi foretells this: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:5-6). Among the two tasks mentioned in this prophecy, one was fulfilled through John the Baptist. As the angel of the Lord speaks to his father Zacharias about John, he says, “He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord”. Through John the Baptist, God turned the hearts of the fathers to the children. What was the purpose of this? All the people of Israel had turned away from the Lord God and began to worship foreign gods after the time of Solomon. Therefore, John turned all those who had forsaken the Lord back to our Lord Jesus Christ. Before our Lord Jesus Christ came, He fulfilled all the necessary works as a forerunner and was killed through Herod (Mark 6:16-29).
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ is going to come a second time to gather His people. Before He comes, God will once again raise His forerunner Elijah to prepare all the people in this world for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look, now all the people around the world are accepting our Lord Jesus Christ. However, the corruption and bad traits in their lives have not changed. Whether they are servants of God or His children, they still exhibit their bad traits without change. Therefore, before the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, God is going to send His forerunner, Elijah, to change all the corruption found among His people and His servants, to sanctify them, and to set them before the Lord. This is what Malachi says. Furthermore, Malachi says, “Behold, the great and terrible day of the Lord is coming” (Malachi 4:5, 6). Read these words of the Lord carefully. The times of John the Baptist are not referred to as the great and terrible day of the Lord. He was sent to give the baptism of knowledge to our Lord Jesus Christ and to warn the people of Judea, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the kings of that time to restore them. The Lord did not call that time a great and terrible day. It is a message concerning the last days. This is that time. In this last time, Elijah is to rise to restore all the nations and Christian people across the world, preparing their hearts just as the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob followed God. Pay attention to how God says to prepare His people in this time like the hearts of our patriarchs. When the Lord speaks to Isaac, the son of Abraham, He says, “Your father Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Genesis 26:4). In this way, the Lord is going to raise Elijah to help the current people of God or Christians to hold fast to God’s commandments, just like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When the Lord speaks about this, John the Baptist (Elijah) was sent to prepare the people of Israel at that time (Luke 1:17). But in the last few days, the Elijah I am going to raise must work to restore the entire world and prepare them for my coming (Isaiah 41:2-4, 46:11). The Lord says this work is already taking place in secret. Therefore, O servants of God! O people of God! Be careful. We urge you in the name of the Lord to be careful to hold on to the commandments and statutes of the Lord. No one who does not hold to God’s commandments can be prepared for the Lord’s coming. Therefore, we beseech you in the name of the Lord to live carefully as Christians. Now, let’s move on to the matter at hand.
Now, dear ones! We are very quick to cut down a tree in our house if it does not bear fruit. In the same way, our Lord Jesus Christ has called us and saved us for so long. How many years have we been serving the Lord? How many years have we been believers in the church? But what change has occurred in our lives? If not, then the Lord says we are like that fruitless tree. Therefore, the Lord grieves over those whose lives show no change. The Lord says that those without any change in their lives are like a tree that bears no fruit! The fruitless tree! He says you will be cut down and thrown into the fire (hell) (Matthew 7:19).
Dear ones!
The time of the Lord’s coming is very near. Therefore, be very vigilant. Let go of the things you need to release. When our Lord Jesus Christ comes, do not be found unprepared like those foolish virgins. Those virgins were indeed waiting for the coming of the bridegroom Christ, but they were found without the Holy Spirit (Matthew 25:1-13). Similarly, many today are found without the baptism of knowledge (Luke 7:30). Furthermore, those who have received the Holy Spirit are supposed to bear the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23). Additionally, righteousness and truth (Ephesians 5:9) are also fruits of the Spirit. Our Lord God seeks these fruits (life) from us. The Lord says that this is what is considered good fruit in His sight. Those who do not possess this life, who do not bear fruits, are called by our Lord God as those who do not bear fruits. The Lord calls them a fruitless tree (Matthew 7:19) and a barren branch (John 15:1-8). Our Lord Jesus Christ states that a bad tree cannot bear good fruits (Matthew 7:17-18). What this means is that the Lord is referring to wrong people and those who have a wrong life. That is, those who have accepted Christ but have no change in their lives. Those living a sinful life are referred to as a bad tree, and the works of their flesh are described as bad fruits. The works of the flesh include fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, and reveling. The Lord calls these works of the flesh as bad fruits. Those who engage in such actions are called a bad tree by the Lord. Therefore, the Lord says that every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire (hell) (Matthew 7:19).
Therefore, our Lord God expects nothing but good fruits (good life) from us. Let us examine ourselves (1 Corinthians 11:31): is there a change in our lives? Are we trees that bear good fruits, or trees that bear bad fruits, or fruitless trees? Think about which type of tree you belong to. Pay attention! The Lord says that the fruitless tree and the tree that bears bad fruit will be thrown into the fire (hell) (Matthew 7:19). Thus, it is a time when our Lord God is seeking fruits from us. When He comes to see us, if there are no fruits, we will be like that barren fig tree (Matthew 21:18-20). Moreover, our Lord Jesus says: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while he prunes every branch that does bear fruit so that it will be even more fruitful. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples (John 15:1-8).
Therefore, dear ones, be careful. Now, let us get to the point: the Lord says that every tree that does not bear fruit (good fruit) will be cut down and thrown into the fire (hell)!
By: Pas Paul
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