It is clear that the millennium is the promised restoration of the Kingdom, for the faithful remnant of Israel, and only God knows how great a remnant that will be. You may, up to now, have well pleased God and exercised the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph or you may feel you are uncertain of your position with God. No man can judge the heart of another man. The Holy Scriptures teach, however, that you can know a man by his fruits. You can also know your own heart by examining your own “fruit.” Listen to God’s Word.
Matthew 7:7-23 (NKJ)
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9 “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10 “Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
12 “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16 “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17 “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
James 3:11-12 (NKJ)
11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?
12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring can yield both salt water and fresh.
How do you and I feel when we find ourselves bearing the “wrong” kind of fruit? If we say that we love God, yet we are saying and doing things that make us appear to be totally out of sync with God’s expectations of us, what has happened? I believe the answer is that we have chosen, at least for the moment, to revert to the power of the flesh. Our inconsistency reminds us of our situation. We are “in the flesh,” yet wish to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is a dilemma that has only one solution. We must “die to the flesh” so that God’s Spirit can live in us. We must crucify the flesh, constantly, so that the Spirit may fill us. We must not yield to the temptation to let our minds and our mouths serve Satan.
Listen to what the Holy Scriptures have to say about the fruit one should bear if you say that you love God.
Proverbs 11:30-31 (NKJ)
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
31 If the righteous will be recompensed on the earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner.
Proverbs 8:17-21 (NKJ)
17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me.
18 Riches and honor are with me, enduring riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver.
20 I traverse the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice,
21 That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, that I may fill their treasuries.
Proverbs 12:12-15 (NKJ)
12 The wicked covet the catch of evil men, but the root of the righteous yields fruit.
13 The wicked is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous will come through trouble.
14 A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the recompense of a man’s hands will be rendered to him.
15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.
Proverbs 18:20-21 (NKJ)
20 A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth, from the produce of his lips he shall be filled.
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Isaiah 57:19-21 (NKJ)
19 “I create the fruit of the lips: peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,” says the LORD, “And I will heal him.”
20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
Jeremiah 17:7-10 (NKJ)
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.
8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.
9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?
10 I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
Jeremiah 32:17-19 (NKJ)
17 ‘Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
18 ‘You show lovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them– the Great, the Mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
19 ‘You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.
Galatians 5:19-26 (NKJ)
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Psalm 92:12-15 (NKJ)
12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing,
15 To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
One can ask, moment by moment, what sort of fruit is my life bearing. Every time you find yourself angry, depressed, anxious, impatient, unkind and every other sort of ill mood, just think about the fruit you are bearing. You are sending the wrong signal to yourself and to others if you are allowing yourself to yield bad fruit, fruit that makes Satan smile at your circumstance. Failure of that sort should motivate you to claim the power of the Holy Spirit in you so that you can have victory over sin. Just focus on verse 15 of Psalm 92 above and then enjoy the reality of Galatians 5:22-23.