Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 5
Words are Fruit
We will just try to hit this quickly… Men are trees. Their mouths are trees, planted in their hearts, and their WORDS, which come out of their hearts, are their fruits.
Here is how Jesus said it:
Matthew 7:18-20 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
This is how we are supposed to judge men and know men: by their FRUITS.
Why did Jesus tell us to judge this way? Because this is how HE is going to judge men, to know whether each man is a tree of life or tree of death.
By whether they have FRUIT.. the FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS!
Judging by fruit is the right way to judge men!
You say “Oh no, God isn’t going to judge men by fruits.” Oh, yes. He absolutely is!
Matthew 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Matthew 21:19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
When Jesus comes back, when you stand before Him, if you have NO FRUIT, you are going to be “hewn down, and cast into the first”. You MUST have fruit.
And this is why the teachings of “works are fruit” and “works are proof of salvation” are so damnable!
Because good fruit is REQUIRED to be saved on Judgment Day.
So if you think works are fruit, then you believe that every Real Christian MUST have good works! You believe fleshly good works are a required part of salvation. You have defiled grace with FLESH and BLOOD… your own fleshly works!
Jesus is going to judge men BY THEIR FRUITS, which means, He will judge them BY THEIR WORDS. Here is where He explains just that:
Matthew 12:33-37 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
God is going to know men BY THIER FRUITS. He is going to judge men, justifying or condemning them, by their FRUITS… by their WORDS!
Luke 6:43-45 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
What comes out of your heart? Your fruit. How do you bring your fruit out of your heart? Your mouth SPEAKS WORDS. It doesn’t say “his flesh worketh”, it says, “his MOUTH SPEAKETH!
I’m going to show you more, but to me, these two passages prove that your words are your fruits, more clearly than any others.
If you don’t have good FRUIT, not good works, but good FRUIT – you will be cast into the fire.
Matthew 3:8-10 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: [the common interpretation here is what? – a changed life full of good works, right??? A repentant lifestyle!! “We just do good works now BECAUSE we are really saved. If we really believed, then that belief will produce a repentance life, full of good works!” But that isn’t what John was saying good FRUIT was at all. He was not teaching that works are fruit.. but rather that WORDS are fruit] 9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Your THOUGHTS within your heart, are your fruit. Thinking, “We’re good! We obey. We keep the law.” This is evil fruit. And that is all the proof that Jesus will need to judge mankind. Their thoughts that they think within themselves… are their fruit.
So if your words are your fruit. And your words come out of your mouth, then that makes your mouth, your tongue…
Proverbs 15:4 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.
And your tree produces your fruit.
Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Proverbs 18:20-21 A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
A man’s fruit are NOT his works. A man’s fruits are his WORDS.
Proverbs 3:13,18 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. … 18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
Wisdom… get pure salvation doctrine… is a tree of life. You need to get wisdom, believe it in your heart, and confess it out of your mouth.
You need to SPEAK the words of eternal life, that pure salvation doctrine, in a salvation prayer.
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
If your words are your fruit, and the words of the gospel are the fruits of a tree of life… then a salvation prayer is a man’s FIRST FRUITS. The first fruits which PROVE to God, spiritually, that he is a good tree.
I hear a lot of people today saying that the sinner’s prayer is not Biblical. Some of them say you have to keep working… but others say we are saved ONLY by believing, and that we don’t have to confess.
But unfortunately, if you believe only… but don’t confess. If you refuse to call upon God… then you will not be saved. You will not have your sins forgiven.
Your sins are not forgiven without FRUIT.
Isaiah 27:9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; …
Good fruit is required to obtain salvation. FRUIT is not just a result of salvation. FRUIT is a part of getting saved. You must produce good fruit. You MUST confess the words of eternal life. You MUST call on the Lord for salvation.
WORDS are FRUIT. This is SOOO important to understand. This is how we produce spiritual GOOD FRUIT!
This is how we ABIDE in Christ.
John 15:1-8 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. [if you produce good fruit – the words of the gospel – ONE TIME – then you are PURGED CLEAN forever… now ABLE to produce more good fruit] 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. … 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you [and how is that known? By whether he has produced them as FRUIT], ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
No fruit, no salvation. Fruits are words… so no WORDS, no salvation.
You just have to hear His words… understand them, believe them, and produce them out of your mouth as FRUIT. Believe and confess the gospel one time. And if you do, then He KNOWS you have received them and they dwell in you. Then you are purged clean, and you remain in Him and He remains in you forever. That is the promise of eternal life.
We are saved by FRUIT, we are saved by WORDS.
Acts 11:14 Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
When you receive the gospel from the mouth of a preacher… that is receiving good fruit from a good tree. And when you partake of that fruit, you become a tree of life as well as that preacher is, also capable of producing good fruit, and capable of producing other trees of life with your fruit.
Your fruit, is now other people, other trees of life. Your “peaceable fruit of righteousness”, your words, your wisdom, that PURE salvation doctrine, when sown in other people: produces trees of life. It wins souls!
Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
If fleshly works were fruit, then every person who did a good work on the earth, and every person who received a good work on the earth, would be a tree of life… they would NEVER DIE. But that isn’t how it works is it? Because fleshly works are NOT true good works, and because works are NOT FRUIT.
This is how we know men… by their FRUITS… By their WORDS. By their wisdom. By their doctrine.
By whether they preach the true gospel, or they preach a perverted gospel, a gospel perverted with works; which cannot give eternal life, because it is not ONLY pure, ONLY spiritual, but it is partial. It is part spiritual, and part FLESHLY. It is part grace, and part works.
Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
I hear it all the time… “how dare you judge me, you don’t know if I’m saved! You don’t know me, and my heart, and my life.”
Well yeah, I do… I do I know you… I know you by your FRUIT… I know you by your WORDS. That IS how I know what is in your heart.
False gospels… That is what defiles men. That is why they get cut off from grace.
When they receive them, and believe them, and preach them… that is a recipe for getting cut off, with the impossibility of salvation.
Now, I’m not saying that everyone who has believed and preached a gospel of works IS cut off. But if someone is preaching a false gospel and they aren’t cut off yet, they are dangerously close to it! They need to receive chastening and GET AWAY from the accursed thing.
We’ll get into being “cut off” a bit more later.
Fail of grace
So let’s move down within Hebrews 12…
Hebrews 12:15-17 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
I believe to “fail” of something means either you don’t have any of it, or it means you have it, but you can’t use it; you possess it in vain, because it does not profit you.
Just a couple verses to demonstrate that:
Isaiah 31:3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
Psalms 12:1 Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
Isaiah 15:6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.
So for someone to fail can mean that they perish or they die, as above…
Or, to fail can mean something becomes unprofitable. That it produces no FRUIT! as below…
Job 19:13-14 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. 14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
Someone who fails is unprofitable… they cannot bring forth FRUIT, they can’t produce LIFE.
Job 21:10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
To fail is to not bring forth fruit.
Habakkuk 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; …
1 Kings 17:14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.
If someone fails… they cannot bring forth fruit, life, food, sustenance. They may not be totally dead… but they are EFFECTIVELY dead… they do whatever they do, they have whatever they have, IN VAIN.
If you spiritually FAIL… then you can’t bring forth eternal LIFE!
Now that is the word “fail” in general. But more specifically, to interpret our passage…
Hebrews 12:15-17 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God
“Fail* of” is only in the Bible 4 other times. But this is the only other time that the phrase “fail* of” is used to apply to a SUBSTANCE like grace. This is our most direct cross reference.
Psalms 109:24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.
Your body is going to fail of fatness if it does not eat (carnal) food, right?
Likewise, your spirit is going to fail of grace, if it does not eat spiritual food.
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.”
John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
If you don’t eat Christ, you have no life in you. If you do not drink Jesus, you have no grace in you.
If you eat no food, you will fail of fatness. Likewise, if you eat no Jesus, you will fail of grace.
If you fail of grace… then you never drank Jesus Christ. Because if you drank Him one time before, you would never fail of spiritual water.
John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Isaiah 58:11 … and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Living water, once received, does not fail. You cannot fail of grace if you ever once received it.
John 7:38-39 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: …
The Spirit is living water. So you only have to receive the Spirit one time, because Spirit does not fail. You know what does fail? FLESH fails!
Did you notice that in our most direct cross reference for the phrase “fail* of” In Hebrews 12…
Psalms 109:24 … my flesh faileth of fatness.
If you fail of grace, then you received NO GRACE, because you mixed FLESH into grace. FLESH is what failed. Flesh is the reason that you failed of grace.
If you fail… then you are FLESH. You are not SPIRIT!
Isaiah 31:3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
Flesh fails. Spirit, born of the Spirit, does not fail.
If you fail of grace, then you never received grace. You were never a living spirit. You were flesh. You were never born again. You never ate and drank Jesus. You never believed on Him.
You were not saved.
Hebrews does NOT teach a different gospel and it does not teach that Christians can lose their salvation.
If you fail of grace… you could have “received grace IN VAIN”.
2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
How does someone do that?
Hebrews 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
If you don’t understand it then you can’t believe it. And if you don’t believe it, then it does not PROFIT you. You receive it IN VAIN.
If someone fails of grace… is it because they did not understand and believe grace.
When you take grace, but mix it with fleshly works, you get NO GRACE. You FAIL of grace.
Someone who has failed, has not produced FRUIT.
Habakkuk 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; …
No FRUIT… no salvation. No fruit… you fail!
Jude 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Peter talks about the same people…
2 Peter 2:17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
Who are these people that are without fruit and without water? Who are these that have not eaten spiritual food, and have not drunk spiritual drink, and thus they FAIL of spiritual fatness and their spiritual waters FAIL?
2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
They come in privily… they are subtle. Their doctrine is subtle. But they teach heresy. Lies. They teach fleshly works. Fleshly things that DRY UP. Fleshly works that FAIL. FLESH is what fails.
Isaiah 58:11 … and thou shalt be like … a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Jeremiah 15:18 … wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?
The only way to know them… is by their waters… by their FRUIT… Their WORDS.
We know false prophets not by their works… but by their doctrine. By their LIES!
They teach… you just have to give your life to Jesus. You have to turn from your sins.
They teach, you’re saved by grace… but you are only really saved if you are getting better, getting transformed, getting sanctified, in the flesh, in this life. You are only really saved if you are TRYING to be better, if you TRY to live cleaner.
This puts men in bondage, and in fear. They have to keep working, in the flesh, or else they aren’t really going to be saved. They have no assurance of salvation, because at any time their flesh could mess it up, or turn away, and they’d find out that they were never REALLY saved.
They teach fleshly works matter. Their salvation depends on FLESH. And flesh FAILS!
Their waters are not assured… their waters CAN FAIL!
If you fail of grace… you are effectively dead. There is nothing else to do, but to cut you off (from eternal life).
Joshua 3:16 That the waters which … came down toward the sea … failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.
This is why the message of Hebrews is “BEWARE”!
Hebrews 12:15-17 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God;
If you refuse to rest in grace alone, if you add in fleshly works… you are going to fail of grace. You are going to be cut off, with have the impossibility of salvation!
God sent grace to Israel. As a nation they were given grace.
As individuals, they failed of grace if they refused to receive that grace.
And in short order, the whole nation was counted in unbelief, and cut off from grace. Not as individuals, but as a people.
The works of the law
Why did Israel fail of grace? Paul explains exactly why they were cut off from grace. Because of their WORKS!
Romans 9:31-32 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
I’ll tell you… I’ve never met a single person that believes in works, that admits any condemnation by these types of passages. They just refuse to believe that this is applicable to them, or condemns them.
“Oh that is just about the law of Moses! That law is obsolete but there is a new law now. We don’t follow those Old laws. There are new commandments now in the New Testament. There are New Testament laws to follow!”
So many today teach this – that the OT law of Moses is no longer applicable, BUT that Jesus gave us a new set of laws in the New Testament. They might even try to call it “the law of Christ” or “the law of righteousness”.
But when you ask them what those new laws are… you find out… that they are teaching the same OLD law! The works of their “new law” are the same works as the works of the old law – Moses’ law!!!
The works of their “new law”, just like the works of the law of Moses, are just FLESHLY good works!
So yes, if you are working to keep a new testament set of laws, then you ARE, just like Israel, seeking righteousness “by the works of the law”… because
fleshly good works ARE the works of the law!
And I really hate this nonsense that Jesus only took away the “sacrificial laws” and “the ceremonial laws”, but not the “moral laws”. Nonsense! Why do I say this is nonsense?
Because the works that they call the works of the New Testament law… those “new commandments” are the SAME WORKS as the works of the Old Testament. They are the SAME THINGS contained in the OT law of Moses! They are carnal laws, which are applicable in carnal things. They are laws that are applicable in the FLESH, through FLESHLY works.
When you ask what these “new laws” in the New Testament are… like, when you get down to, “what do I have to do?”… “what are the works?”… what you get is… “love your neighbor”, “serve the Lord, love God”.
Are you kidding me? That IS the law of Moses. That IS the OLD law!!!
How do they not realize that these works, in the flesh, are (the same thing as) the works of the law?
Jesus explained that right in the very passage that they take these two “new laws” from. I mean… can they not READ it???
Matthew 22:36-40 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Jesus wasn’t giving anyone a new law here. This wasn’t anything new… this was the same old law of Moses. Jesus was just summarizing the whole law in these two commandments.
- Love God
- Love your neighbor
You can take the whole law of Moses and summarize it with just these two commandments.
These two commandments did not replace the law. They are IN the law. They always were IN the law. They are not new, or from another place. They are not heavenly laws. Jesus didn’t bring these two laws down from Heaven as a new law. They were already here on Earth, IN the law of Moses. All the law hangs on these two commandments. These two commandments ARE the law.
These two good works… ARE the WORKS of the law. They are IN the law, and all the law is IN THEM.
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Loving your neighbor, after the flesh, isn’t a new law at all. It’s the old law.
All the law is fulfilled in one word: LOVE. If you are trying to LOVE your neighbor, you are trying to fulfill the law!
Romans 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
All the law hangs on those two commandments. All of the “moral law” or whatever they want to call it… its all the same two commandments. The OLD law of fleshly commandments.
I AM HERE – 6
James calls it “the royal law”.
James 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
Jan 9 2025
Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 5
Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 5
Words are Fruit
We will just try to hit this quickly… Men are trees. Their mouths are trees, planted in their hearts, and their WORDS, which come out of their hearts, are their fruits.
Here is how Jesus said it:
Matthew 7:18-20 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
This is how we are supposed to judge men and know men: by their FRUITS.
Why did Jesus tell us to judge this way? Because this is how HE is going to judge men, to know whether each man is a tree of life or tree of death.
By whether they have FRUIT.. the FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS!
Judging by fruit is the right way to judge men!
You say “Oh no, God isn’t going to judge men by fruits.” Oh, yes. He absolutely is!
Matthew 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Matthew 21:19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
When Jesus comes back, when you stand before Him, if you have NO FRUIT, you are going to be “hewn down, and cast into the first”. You MUST have fruit.
And this is why the teachings of “works are fruit” and “works are proof of salvation” are so damnable!
Because good fruit is REQUIRED to be saved on Judgment Day.
So if you think works are fruit, then you believe that every Real Christian MUST have good works! You believe fleshly good works are a required part of salvation. You have defiled grace with FLESH and BLOOD… your own fleshly works!
Jesus is going to judge men BY THEIR FRUITS, which means, He will judge them BY THEIR WORDS. Here is where He explains just that:
Matthew 12:33-37 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
God is going to know men BY THIER FRUITS. He is going to judge men, justifying or condemning them, by their FRUITS… by their WORDS!
Luke 6:43-45 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
What comes out of your heart? Your fruit. How do you bring your fruit out of your heart? Your mouth SPEAKS WORDS. It doesn’t say “his flesh worketh”, it says, “his MOUTH SPEAKETH!
I’m going to show you more, but to me, these two passages prove that your words are your fruits, more clearly than any others.
If you don’t have good FRUIT, not good works, but good FRUIT – you will be cast into the fire.
Matthew 3:8-10 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: [the common interpretation here is what? – a changed life full of good works, right??? A repentant lifestyle!! “We just do good works now BECAUSE we are really saved. If we really believed, then that belief will produce a repentance life, full of good works!” But that isn’t what John was saying good FRUIT was at all. He was not teaching that works are fruit.. but rather that WORDS are fruit] 9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Your THOUGHTS within your heart, are your fruit. Thinking, “We’re good! We obey. We keep the law.” This is evil fruit. And that is all the proof that Jesus will need to judge mankind. Their thoughts that they think within themselves… are their fruit.
So if your words are your fruit. And your words come out of your mouth, then that makes your mouth, your tongue…
Proverbs 15:4 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.
And your tree produces your fruit.
Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Proverbs 18:20-21 A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
A man’s fruit are NOT his works. A man’s fruits are his WORDS.
Proverbs 3:13,18 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. … 18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
Wisdom… get pure salvation doctrine… is a tree of life. You need to get wisdom, believe it in your heart, and confess it out of your mouth.
You need to SPEAK the words of eternal life, that pure salvation doctrine, in a salvation prayer.
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
If your words are your fruit, and the words of the gospel are the fruits of a tree of life… then a salvation prayer is a man’s FIRST FRUITS. The first fruits which PROVE to God, spiritually, that he is a good tree.
I hear a lot of people today saying that the sinner’s prayer is not Biblical. Some of them say you have to keep working… but others say we are saved ONLY by believing, and that we don’t have to confess.
But unfortunately, if you believe only… but don’t confess. If you refuse to call upon God… then you will not be saved. You will not have your sins forgiven.
Your sins are not forgiven without FRUIT.
Isaiah 27:9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; …
Good fruit is required to obtain salvation. FRUIT is not just a result of salvation. FRUIT is a part of getting saved. You must produce good fruit. You MUST confess the words of eternal life. You MUST call on the Lord for salvation.
WORDS are FRUIT. This is SOOO important to understand. This is how we produce spiritual GOOD FRUIT!
This is how we ABIDE in Christ.
John 15:1-8 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. [if you produce good fruit – the words of the gospel – ONE TIME – then you are PURGED CLEAN forever… now ABLE to produce more good fruit] 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. … 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you [and how is that known? By whether he has produced them as FRUIT], ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
No fruit, no salvation. Fruits are words… so no WORDS, no salvation.
You just have to hear His words… understand them, believe them, and produce them out of your mouth as FRUIT. Believe and confess the gospel one time. And if you do, then He KNOWS you have received them and they dwell in you. Then you are purged clean, and you remain in Him and He remains in you forever. That is the promise of eternal life.
We are saved by FRUIT, we are saved by WORDS.
Acts 11:14 Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
When you receive the gospel from the mouth of a preacher… that is receiving good fruit from a good tree. And when you partake of that fruit, you become a tree of life as well as that preacher is, also capable of producing good fruit, and capable of producing other trees of life with your fruit.
Your fruit, is now other people, other trees of life. Your “peaceable fruit of righteousness”, your words, your wisdom, that PURE salvation doctrine, when sown in other people: produces trees of life. It wins souls!
Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
If fleshly works were fruit, then every person who did a good work on the earth, and every person who received a good work on the earth, would be a tree of life… they would NEVER DIE. But that isn’t how it works is it? Because fleshly works are NOT true good works, and because works are NOT FRUIT.
This is how we know men… by their FRUITS… By their WORDS. By their wisdom. By their doctrine.
By whether they preach the true gospel, or they preach a perverted gospel, a gospel perverted with works; which cannot give eternal life, because it is not ONLY pure, ONLY spiritual, but it is partial. It is part spiritual, and part FLESHLY. It is part grace, and part works.
Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
I hear it all the time… “how dare you judge me, you don’t know if I’m saved! You don’t know me, and my heart, and my life.”
Well yeah, I do… I do I know you… I know you by your FRUIT… I know you by your WORDS. That IS how I know what is in your heart.
False gospels… That is what defiles men. That is why they get cut off from grace.
When they receive them, and believe them, and preach them… that is a recipe for getting cut off, with the impossibility of salvation.
Now, I’m not saying that everyone who has believed and preached a gospel of works IS cut off. But if someone is preaching a false gospel and they aren’t cut off yet, they are dangerously close to it! They need to receive chastening and GET AWAY from the accursed thing.
We’ll get into being “cut off” a bit more later.
Fail of grace
So let’s move down within Hebrews 12…
Hebrews 12:15-17 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
I believe to “fail” of something means either you don’t have any of it, or it means you have it, but you can’t use it; you possess it in vain, because it does not profit you.
Just a couple verses to demonstrate that:
Isaiah 31:3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
Psalms 12:1 Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
Isaiah 15:6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.
So for someone to fail can mean that they perish or they die, as above…
Or, to fail can mean something becomes unprofitable. That it produces no FRUIT! as below…
Job 19:13-14 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. 14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
Someone who fails is unprofitable… they cannot bring forth FRUIT, they can’t produce LIFE.
Job 21:10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
To fail is to not bring forth fruit.
Habakkuk 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; …
1 Kings 17:14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.
If someone fails… they cannot bring forth fruit, life, food, sustenance. They may not be totally dead… but they are EFFECTIVELY dead… they do whatever they do, they have whatever they have, IN VAIN.
If you spiritually FAIL… then you can’t bring forth eternal LIFE!
Now that is the word “fail” in general. But more specifically, to interpret our passage…
Hebrews 12:15-17 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God
“Fail* of” is only in the Bible 4 other times. But this is the only other time that the phrase “fail* of” is used to apply to a SUBSTANCE like grace. This is our most direct cross reference.
Psalms 109:24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.
Your body is going to fail of fatness if it does not eat (carnal) food, right?
Likewise, your spirit is going to fail of grace, if it does not eat spiritual food.
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.”
John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
If you don’t eat Christ, you have no life in you. If you do not drink Jesus, you have no grace in you.
If you eat no food, you will fail of fatness. Likewise, if you eat no Jesus, you will fail of grace.
If you fail of grace… then you never drank Jesus Christ. Because if you drank Him one time before, you would never fail of spiritual water.
John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Isaiah 58:11 … and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Living water, once received, does not fail. You cannot fail of grace if you ever once received it.
John 7:38-39 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: …
The Spirit is living water. So you only have to receive the Spirit one time, because Spirit does not fail. You know what does fail? FLESH fails!
Did you notice that in our most direct cross reference for the phrase “fail* of” In Hebrews 12…
Psalms 109:24 … my flesh faileth of fatness.
If you fail of grace, then you received NO GRACE, because you mixed FLESH into grace. FLESH is what failed. Flesh is the reason that you failed of grace.
If you fail… then you are FLESH. You are not SPIRIT!
Isaiah 31:3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
Flesh fails. Spirit, born of the Spirit, does not fail.
If you fail of grace, then you never received grace. You were never a living spirit. You were flesh. You were never born again. You never ate and drank Jesus. You never believed on Him.
You were not saved.
Hebrews does NOT teach a different gospel and it does not teach that Christians can lose their salvation.
If you fail of grace… you could have “received grace IN VAIN”.
2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
How does someone do that?
Hebrews 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
If you don’t understand it then you can’t believe it. And if you don’t believe it, then it does not PROFIT you. You receive it IN VAIN.
If someone fails of grace… is it because they did not understand and believe grace.
When you take grace, but mix it with fleshly works, you get NO GRACE. You FAIL of grace.
Someone who has failed, has not produced FRUIT.
Habakkuk 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; …
No FRUIT… no salvation. No fruit… you fail!
Jude 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Peter talks about the same people…
2 Peter 2:17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
Who are these people that are without fruit and without water? Who are these that have not eaten spiritual food, and have not drunk spiritual drink, and thus they FAIL of spiritual fatness and their spiritual waters FAIL?
2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
They come in privily… they are subtle. Their doctrine is subtle. But they teach heresy. Lies. They teach fleshly works. Fleshly things that DRY UP. Fleshly works that FAIL. FLESH is what fails.
Isaiah 58:11 … and thou shalt be like … a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Jeremiah 15:18 … wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?
The only way to know them… is by their waters… by their FRUIT… Their WORDS.
We know false prophets not by their works… but by their doctrine. By their LIES!
They teach… you just have to give your life to Jesus. You have to turn from your sins.
They teach, you’re saved by grace… but you are only really saved if you are getting better, getting transformed, getting sanctified, in the flesh, in this life. You are only really saved if you are TRYING to be better, if you TRY to live cleaner.
This puts men in bondage, and in fear. They have to keep working, in the flesh, or else they aren’t really going to be saved. They have no assurance of salvation, because at any time their flesh could mess it up, or turn away, and they’d find out that they were never REALLY saved.
They teach fleshly works matter. Their salvation depends on FLESH. And flesh FAILS!
Their waters are not assured… their waters CAN FAIL!
If you fail of grace… you are effectively dead. There is nothing else to do, but to cut you off (from eternal life).
Joshua 3:16 That the waters which … came down toward the sea … failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.
This is why the message of Hebrews is “BEWARE”!
Hebrews 12:15-17 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God;
If you refuse to rest in grace alone, if you add in fleshly works… you are going to fail of grace. You are going to be cut off, with have the impossibility of salvation!
God sent grace to Israel. As a nation they were given grace.
As individuals, they failed of grace if they refused to receive that grace.
And in short order, the whole nation was counted in unbelief, and cut off from grace. Not as individuals, but as a people.
The works of the law
Why did Israel fail of grace? Paul explains exactly why they were cut off from grace. Because of their WORKS!
Romans 9:31-32 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
I’ll tell you… I’ve never met a single person that believes in works, that admits any condemnation by these types of passages. They just refuse to believe that this is applicable to them, or condemns them.
“Oh that is just about the law of Moses! That law is obsolete but there is a new law now. We don’t follow those Old laws. There are new commandments now in the New Testament. There are New Testament laws to follow!”
So many today teach this – that the OT law of Moses is no longer applicable, BUT that Jesus gave us a new set of laws in the New Testament. They might even try to call it “the law of Christ” or “the law of righteousness”.
But when you ask them what those new laws are… you find out… that they are teaching the same OLD law! The works of their “new law” are the same works as the works of the old law – Moses’ law!!!
The works of their “new law”, just like the works of the law of Moses, are just FLESHLY good works!
So yes, if you are working to keep a new testament set of laws, then you ARE, just like Israel, seeking righteousness “by the works of the law”… because
fleshly good works ARE the works of the law!
And I really hate this nonsense that Jesus only took away the “sacrificial laws” and “the ceremonial laws”, but not the “moral laws”. Nonsense! Why do I say this is nonsense?
Because the works that they call the works of the New Testament law… those “new commandments” are the SAME WORKS as the works of the Old Testament. They are the SAME THINGS contained in the OT law of Moses! They are carnal laws, which are applicable in carnal things. They are laws that are applicable in the FLESH, through FLESHLY works.
When you ask what these “new laws” in the New Testament are… like, when you get down to, “what do I have to do?”… “what are the works?”… what you get is… “love your neighbor”, “serve the Lord, love God”.
Are you kidding me? That IS the law of Moses. That IS the OLD law!!!
How do they not realize that these works, in the flesh, are (the same thing as) the works of the law?
Jesus explained that right in the very passage that they take these two “new laws” from. I mean… can they not READ it???
Matthew 22:36-40 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Jesus wasn’t giving anyone a new law here. This wasn’t anything new… this was the same old law of Moses. Jesus was just summarizing the whole law in these two commandments.
You can take the whole law of Moses and summarize it with just these two commandments.
These two commandments did not replace the law. They are IN the law. They always were IN the law. They are not new, or from another place. They are not heavenly laws. Jesus didn’t bring these two laws down from Heaven as a new law. They were already here on Earth, IN the law of Moses. All the law hangs on these two commandments. These two commandments ARE the law.
These two good works… ARE the WORKS of the law. They are IN the law, and all the law is IN THEM.
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Loving your neighbor, after the flesh, isn’t a new law at all. It’s the old law.
All the law is fulfilled in one word: LOVE. If you are trying to LOVE your neighbor, you are trying to fulfill the law!
Romans 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
All the law hangs on those two commandments. All of the “moral law” or whatever they want to call it… its all the same two commandments. The OLD law of fleshly commandments.
I AM HERE – 6
James calls it “the royal law”.
James 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
By Pastor • Christian Doctrine, Problem Texts • 0