In this sermon, Pastor Babij examines Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree outside Jerusalem. Pastor Babij explains how the fig tree represented Israel’s spiritual barrenness and the curse represented Israel’s coming judgment. Pastor Babij then discusses the need for true Christians to bear spiritual fruit and the type of fruit a Christian should manifest in his life in order to have assurance of salvation.
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this morning we are going to look at verses 12 through i was going to do verse 20 to verse 25 i don’t know if i’ll get that far this morning but let’s have a word of prayer father this morning as we do come before you as your people as we break open the word of god i pray lord you would teach us from the word about not only what is in the context but also how it relates to our life and i pray lord each one of us would be able to have the word of god to be able to examine ourselves to see where we stand with you to see where we are spiritually to see if we’ve made any progress since we professed you as our lord and savior and i pray lord that you would give us direction and guidance guidance from this passage this morning in christ’s name i pray amen so mark chapter 11 verse number through 14 it says this on the next day when they had left bethany he became hungry seeing at a distance a fiction leaf he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it and when he came to it he found nothing but leaves where it was not the season for figs he said to it may no one ever eat fruit from you again and his disciples were listening now as you’re reading through the word of god you’ll find that you come to a passage of scripture like this and you may breeze by it and not understand what exactly is going on here and i said already that mark’s gospel in embodies the record of what what the apostle peter preached and taught about jesus the apostle peter was the eyewitness mark is writing from what he witnessed and he’s and so peter’s transferring to mark what happened when he was following jesus so that means that the gospel of mark is the nearest approach that will ever possess to an eyewitness account of the life of jesus christ now the last time in the gospel of mark we discovered that jesus had to be welcomed into jerusalem in his true character he rode into the city on a donkey on a cult as the king of israel everything said about jesus in the text was true however the crowd came to a wrong wrong conclusion the crowd that was following jesus not only meeting him coming out of jerusalem but going with him into jerusalem the crowd sought to give jesus a conqueror’s welcome so that meant that the crowd had a mistaken understanding of jesus the messiah and his mission the crowds cry of hosanna and of course hosanna meaning save now was mistaken and misplaced joy because they wanted god to break in and save his people now that the messiah had come so the crowd sought the protection of a king who would come to conquer israel’s enemies that’s what they were thinking so the crowd did not get they did not see that the sorrow of the cross must take place before true joy can come before any victory can come there must become there must be the cross first so jesus did not come first to purge israel a foreign denomination no he came to purge his people of their sin christ came and paid the ransom in order to secure the release of his people who are of course held captive to sin the ransom was offered to the father god the father against whom of course we had sinned and who alone had the power to inflict the penalty of eternal condemnation so then jesus saw us and caught us and delivered us from the slave market of sin he had pity on us in our hopeless situation by paying the ransom price and of course that ransom price was his own blood in order to redeem us out of slavery and to bring us into the family of god so the crowd did not see jesus sacrificial death on the cross they did not see that that would purchase a release from the bondage that people were in because of their sin the bondage of many sinners who would believe in him they didn’t see that they missed that and the crowd usually misses it the crowd usually gets it wrong because there’s too many influences on the crowd and too much information that distorts their view of things see jesus triumph would come from his death on the cross and his resurrection now if you look at verse number 11 of chapter 11 it says jesus entered jerusalem and came into the temple and after looking around at everything so that was with that’s what jesus did he rode into the jerusalem on a cult he showed himself as the king of israel of course a lowly king a king who’s not coming the first time to give triumph over enemies but a king who is coming to die on a cross now that’s an oxymoron because it doesn’t make any sense in the minds of the people but here jesus then goes to the temple now remember the temple was a place in which god dwelt among his people that’s where the people went to worship to be taught to offer their sacrifices to pray to him so jesus went there and he was looking around to see how things have been going so entry into the city took place late sunday afternoon now i want to remind you that this last third of the gospel of mark is the last seven days of jesus life of jesus passion all right so that means that when jesus got into the city he went to the temple to look around and while he’s in the temple looking around he’s noticing he’s noting the abuses that had crept into the temple then later that sunday afternoon jesus and his disciples headed back to bethany to get some rest and if you look at the last part of verse 1 11 it says he left for bethany with the 12 the 12 that would be his apostles and since it was already late so he didn’t do anything on that first day he waited for monday all right so now it’s monday and jesus and his disciples are making their way back to jerusalem we know that it’s early in the morning because jesus left bethany without having breakfast if you notice in verse 12 it says on the next day that’s monday when they they when they had left bethany he became hungry right now here again mark is not missing any opportunity of giving a human picture of jesus jesus got hungry like all of us get hungry and so the bible though stresses that he became hungry now his hunger lays the groundwork for the story for the narrative that’s coming now in our narrative there are two warnings that we need to seriously consider in order to evaluate our present spiritual condition now this morning i’m going to look at the first warning but now i want you to notice how we get there so we’re going to examine our text and we’re going to notice first the lord’s cursing of the fig tree all right now notice what it says in verse number 13 it says this seeing at a distance a fig tree and leaf he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it all right so he is looking at the fig tree from a distance and it appears it appears to jesus that it has signs of fruit in other words what he sees looking at the fig tree could satisfy his hunger now jesus saw the fig tree in full foliage which means possible fruit now let me give you a little information about figs in that part of the world or you’ll miss the point see fig trees sprouted buds that remained undeveloped throughout the winter these buds swelled into small knobs called in the hebrew pagum now they usually came out in march and april now we know this is march or april uh march or april in in this context this is springtime so the fig tree thus produces these knobs before leaves once the fig tree has leaves on it then of course you would expect to find it loaded with these pagos right at various stages of uh maturity so in the spring these pangums are not yet ripened into mature summer figs which you can pluck off the branches but they can be eaten and of course often the navy natives do eat them in fact in the old testament book of hosea chapter 9 it gives reference to the figs and it says this like the it says like the first fruit of the fig in the first season so it’s talking about this season in springtime where you can pick these uh nodes off and you can eat them and they are edible to the taste so the fig tree by close examination though only has leaves and no fruit and if you notice in verse 13 it says this in the middle of the verse and when he came to it he found nothing but leaves for it was not the season for figs in other words there was no mature figs on the tree yet but there should have been these nodules that were able to be picked off and eaten so jesus did not even find a little immature fruit on it the full f foliage was there but there was only leaves and no fruit this leafy fig tree with all its promise of fruit in order to satisfy hunger turns out to be deceptive unfruitful and unable to gratify the appetite so what does jesus do well he curses it right he curses look at verse 14.
his curse is meant for the ears of his disciples it says in verse 14 he said to it may no one ever eat fruit from you again and his disciples were listening that was for their ears specifically so jesus is taking his event of being hungry and teaching a very very very important lesson and of course we are told the next day the fig tree was found dried up from its roots look at verse number 19 go skip ahead to verse number 19 of mark 11. it says when evening came they would go out of the city verse 20 it says and they were passing by in the morning and they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up verse 21 being reminded peter said to him rabbi look the fig tree which you cursed has withered now you cannot doubt for a moment that there is a prophetic and a spiritual lesson to be gleaned from this whole transaction it is not just about a withered fig tree that had no fruit see these verses bring to our attention this first warning that i mentioned this morning and it is the warning of the danger of unfruitfulness the danger of not having any evidence that you are actually alive spiritually i titled this message and the next one too spiritual barrenness now this becomes very important to us because the prophetic lesson is that israel is under god’s condemnation all right so all their history all israel’s history was a preparation for the coming of god’s chosen one the messiah jesus christ israel israel’s teachers should have borne much fruit in preparation of the nation to receive jesus as the messiah and as the king see the whole promise of their national record was that when the chosen one came when jesus came they would eagerly receive him but when he did come that promise was tragically unfulfilled when jesus did come what did the nation of israel do they rejected him they wanted a king that was going to take over and establish a government that would rule over all other governments and topple the roman government but jesus didn’t come the first time to do that he came again as a humble servant to die on a cross so you see israel with their great boast of being god’s favored people failed to produce spiritual fruit that it it professed as a nation to have so you see israel from a distance had the promise of fruit which would have been evident when messiah came onto the human seeing providing spiritual nutrition for the rest of the nation and for the rest of the world but at close examination there is only a lot of leaves there was nothing to satisfy spiritual hunger there is nothing of nutritious value there is nothing to lead one into a meaning relationship with god in the nation of israel so see the curse is on those who claim to be something else than what they say or what what is actually seen in their life who give an appearance of some level of maturity but have no fruit at all in their life those who are barren of all fruits of the spirit having a profession of faith yes but full of leafy branches without fruit so see there is a warning against empty profession in christianity there’s a warning against an empty profession of christianity unaccompanied by sound doctrine and holy living it is called hypocrisy it is called play acting being something an actor usually plays someone they’re really not but they convince you by their act that they are that person see he is saying there must be spiritual fruit in your hearts and in the practice of your life everyone needs to have spiritual fruit so this is not just a message for god cursing a fig tree pointing to the nation of israel it’s pointing to all of us see no one no person can claim to be a follower of jesus christ and remain in entirely unlike the master whom he or she professes to love see we must after we profess christ as our lord and savior we must bear fruit or like the cursed fig tree be lost forever see that is the message for us this morning because you may be saying to yourself what kind of fruit should i have in my christian experience what should i look for in my own life what are the practices that i need to notice see what are the criteria for entrance into the kingdom of god and continuing in the faith what are the criteria well there are of course two criteria the first criteria is regeneration or being born again it’s turning from god and of course turning from sin to god turning from your unbelief to the lord jesus christ turning from your idolatry to god that’s the first thing that we need to consider so that means like in acts chapter 20 it says solemnly testifying both jew to the jews and greeks of repentance towards god and faith in our lord jesus christ and of course the second thing would be very obvious once you profess christ as your lord and savior your life has to have something different in it something changes from the inside out not from the outside in you’re not trying to change the outside you’re trying you’re not actually changing the inside god’s changed the inside now that inside is going to bear fruit that means all christians are going to have fruit on their branches they’re not just going to have a bunch of leaves with no fruit they’re going to have fruit so that means that a genuine genuine believer is someone who is going to grow in godly character they’re going to grow in not only their character but their actions how they live their life now of course it was our lord jesus christ himself who told us in scripture now if you’d like to turn over to mark excuse me matthew chapter 7 the first gospel real quick and turn to chapter 7 verse number 15 through 20 because the lord again talks about fruit there and this was the fruit of the leadership of israel but this applies to all of us uh in some way in matthew 7 verse number 15 it says beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves you will know them by their fruits grapes are not gathered from thorn bishop bushes or figs from thistles are they so every good tree bears good fruit but the bad tree bears bad fruit a good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor can a bad tree produce produce good fruit every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire so then you will know them by their fruit so if we apply this to believers how do i know that you’re a believer how does anybody know that you’re a believer in the lord jesus christ well you will know them by their fruits not by just their leaves not just by the out external uh view of somebody to say looks like they’re a believer sounds like they’re a believer their language is like a believer it looks like they’re they’re they’re kind of like a believer but then when you get closer and examine their fruit if there is none that person is not a believer but if there is even some even if there’s some nodes nodules on there then there’s some level of growth there’s some level of maturity so see in other words we need to examine ourselves to make sure that we are not just leafy trees which give the appearance of fruit but are at close examination none can be found so we need to look at several things and one of the things that we can look at is the fruit of our being connected to christ all right being connected to christ all right again the lord jesus christ talks about this in the word of god in other words you if you are a believer you’re connected to him you you have union with him you are going to bear fruit because you are just the branch on the vine if a branch is cut off a vine there’s no no way that that branch could get any kind of nutritious value from the main part of the tree unless it’s connected right well that’s who we are in christ we are connected to christ in fact again in the gospels of john chapter 15 jesus again gives us an understanding verse number 1 john 15 1-6 this whole thing about fruitfulness i want you to see it you should be reading these passages because it’s important for you to see it in the bible of what is being said by jesus about fruit notice what it says in verse number 1 of john the gospel of john chapter 15.
it says in verse 1 i am the vine the true vine and my father is the vine dresser every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit you are already clean because of the word which i have spoken to you verse 4 abide in me and i in you as bran of the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine so neither can you unless you abide in me verse 5 i am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and i in him he bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing but notice verse number six if anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away as a branch and dries up and they gather them and casts them into the fire and they are burned so in other words something that doesn’t bear fruit comes under god’s examination and ultimately under god’s judgment because god knows if we the lord jesus christ knows the spirit of god knows whether we’re bearing fruit or if we’re just faking it if we’re just sliding in he knows that so see we need to be abiding in the true vine which is jesus christ and when we do we will bear spiritual fruit that also means that we should look for the fruit of the holy spirit that once a believer becomes con professes christ and has the spirit of god living in him and her the spirit of god is going to produce certain particular fruit it is fruit that can be identified very clearly in scripture if you care to turn there but just listen you may listen galatians 5 22 to 25 tells us that the manifestation of this fruit is walking in the spirit but walking in the spirit can be identified in its particulars in galatians 5 verse it says but the fruit of the spirit there it again is that fruit is and it’s singular that means all these are one these aren’t happening separately they’re happening all at the same time it says but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such things there is no law verse 24 now those who belong to christ jesus there’s that belonging to jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires so you see that someone who is a believer and has the spirit of god living in them there are certain things they can see when it comes to the fruit have i been growing in these things all at one time not in full maturity but can i see them at all and then also my responsibility is is that when i see my sin i put my sin to death but i put to death my sin because my passions for those sins and my desires for those sins have been crucified already and so if the cross of christ is going to be a reality in my life then i must bear the fruit of the spirit and then verse number 25 of galatians 5 it says if we walk by the spirit we will if he says if we live by the spirit we will also walk by the spirit so we see in scripture that these things are going to be evident in a believer’s life even in in a very small form but they are going to be growing in these things and as they grow in christ as they’re connected to the vine then they’re going to be growing more and more and more in these fruits you have to ask yourself do i have these fruits in my life specifically before i trusted christ how different is my life do i have these fruits because there’s going to underneath that there’s going to be fruits of words right i speak and talk differently i love the passage of scripture proverbs has a lot to say about words but proverbs 18 and verse number 20 and 21 listen what it says it says with the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach will be satisfied he will be satisfied with the product of his lips and then it said this death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit see in other words our fruit our fruit can be seen in our words all right how are we speaking to other people how are we talking to those people who are antagonistic against us how is how are we as husbands and wives speaking to each other see is there fruit there in your life that can show in your words that you’re connected to christ and that you’re walking in the spirit what about your actions again isaiah chapter 3 verse number 10 listen what it says say to the righteous that it will go well with them for they will eat the fruit of their actions don’t we often eat the fruit of our actions it’s usually by sticking our foot in our mouth all right we shouldn’t have said and did that we shouldn’t act it like that all right now that could be evidence of a believer being more sensitive to the way you act to what you say and how you say it to the tone in which you say it in all those things are examined by us why because we want to see the fruit of being connected to christ we want to be see the fruit of being filled with the holy spirit of god what about the fruit of righteousness or right living it says in proverbs 11 30 the fruit of the righteous it says is a tree of life and he who wins souls is wise see there’s a righteous behavior that comes in to our life because of the spirit of god because we’re connected to the vine that wasn’t there before we trusted christ we want to do what’s right that’s the passion of our heart those lusts and desires have been replaced with different kinds of passions one of them is to live right in all areas of your life to examine everything now there’s one passage i do want you to turn to and it’s psalm chapter 128 in verse number one through four because this is kind of a picture of someone bearing fruit by fearing god that the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge right by fearing god fruit will be evident not only in their life but in the life of their family and i want you to know how psalm 128 puts it here’s the fruit i’m calling it the fruit of the fear of the lord it says in verse 1 how blessed is everyone who fears the lord who walks in his ways when you shall eat the fruit of your hands you will be happy and it will be well with you and then notice in verse number three your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house and then in it says your children like olive plants around your table don’t you want your children to look like olive plants around your table of course of course it doesn’t mean that literally does it it means that olive of plants and has a very significant value on and use in not only cooking but in all kinds of other ways that it’s it’s a it’s a view of them being blessed and nourished and being healthy and being someone who is obedient to their parents and our why because the fear of the lord look at verse 4 behold for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the lord so god is near that family because somebody bears the fruit of fearing god having reverence for him thinking very seriously about living for the lord and then there is the fruit of the love of scripture the love of continuing in the word of god it was jesus who said this to his to his disciples but he he was saying to those jews who had believed in him in john chapter 8 if you continue in my word then you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and what will the truth do it will make you free all right that’s what the truth will do so see you’re looking for the truth of love of the word of god and not only love for it but continuing in it continuing to study it continuing to love it continuing to put it into practice and then what about the fruit of sanctified imagination you know when we examine our sin we ought to be examining our sin in our mind all right our mind is being transformed and sanctified so that means that what you think that’s where you ought to go what are you thinking about all the time what are you imagining in your mind all the time what kind of fantasies do you have in your mind if they’re not righteous if they don’t give you the picture of being connected to christ and having the holy spirit then you need to put that to death because that passion for those things have already been crucified remember what paul told the philippian church in philippians 4 8 he said this to them finally brethren whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is of good report or repute if there is any excellence or if anything worthy of praise let your mind dwell on these things see that’s where our mind ought to be and when our mind is there then we’re going to in our imagination and all of us have an imagination it just depends on what you’re doing there what are you thinking about in your imagination that’s what you ought to be thinking be honest with yourself if you got things going on in your mind that are filthy and dirty and worldly all the time and in fact you enjoy thinking about those things well then you really have to say what kind of fruit do i have what kind of things these don’t please the lord the lord knows what’s going on in your mind that’s why in a passage of scripture in matthew where it says if you even look at a woman to lust after her you committed adultery and that’s for a man or a woman right why is that because looking at someone and and then imagining is what the lord is he gets at the root of sin not when the fruit of the sin is already on the branches he’s going to the heart remember it’s it’s the the word of god cuts to the deepest recesses of our heart it’s a scalpel the word of god’s a scalpel and it’s cutting deep into our private thinking our private lives the lord wants to break open that door and he wants you to see and admit and confess that in your thought life you have not been honorable before the lord you have not feared god you have loved your sin you say well i’m not committing to sin but you’re loving your sin and your mind see god wants all of you he wants every single part of us so if we’re going to bear if we’re going to be a tree a fig tree that just has leafs you know and hopefully when we get up close to it there’s fruit on on the branches too that’s what you want you want to have a sanctified imagination and of course the fruit of increased faith and the fruit of prayer and the fruit of forgiveness and the fruit of service and good works like in colossians chapter 1 and verse number 10 listen what it says so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the lord to please him in all respects bearing fruit in every good work and then increasing in the knowledge of god the more you increase in the knowledge of god the greater your faith gets and the greater your faith gets the more fruitful you are in all areas of your life and then of course one of the last things is the fruit of souls the fruit of desiring to see people come to know jesus christ as their lord and savior and the willingness to be the mouthpiece for that to happen to be able to tell someone about it it’s even paul who said in several passages of scriptures but in romans he says this in romans chapter 1 verse 13 i do not want you to be unaware brethren that often i plan to come to you but i have been prevented so far so that i may obtain some fruit among you meaning souls and then he says this even as among the rest of the gentiles so for my my part i am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in rome for i am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes to the jew first and also to the greek so you have to honestly say to yourself do i bear any of these fruit is there any level of maturity that i see in my life and believe me if you don’t see you need to turn if you don’t see any at all you may need to come and believe in christ but if you do see some thank the lord for that but don’t be satisfied with a little bit all right don’t be satisfied with the immature you know unripened figs be satisfied when you get to the mature figs and god now then uses you to be an example to others a worthy example from the inside out someone who can like paul says if follow me but then he says as i follow christ right that you can be a worthy servant that follows christ and you can get people to follow you that’s what you want that’s where god’s taking us so wherever you go you’re going to be a testimony for the lord jesus christ and you know other things may not be reliable to evaluate where you’re at see a lot of activity in your life is not something that you can evaluate or the appearance of spirituality and devotion to god those all can be very very external things you know people are sometimes very emotional when they’re doing things for the lord but it could all be very outward you know people also have the ability to really uh take a even a biblical concept and explain it but that doesn’t mean that they are growing in godliness in fact the lord himself said listen many people are going to practice very spectacular things in my name and then what does he say about them he says for not everyone who says to me in matthew 7 lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter many will say to me on that day lord lord did not we prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles and then i will declare to them i never knew you i don’t know who you are depart from me you you who practice lawlessness i don’t see any fruit on your branches i don’t see anything that could allow me to let you into my kingdom you are forever barred you are cursed forever see god has that power to do that so in other words that the only the only short thing that we really have is that are you being sanctified in a way by the spirit of god to really be have the character of god formed in your life are you that person can you say that i have that kind of fruit because you know what when it comes right down to it everybody sometime or another is going to doubt their salvation they are i did you will but there’s a time that you’ve got you can’t doubt your salvation anymore you have to be convinced that you are a believer because not you made a profession 10 years ago but you got fruit right now today in your life you have fruit yesterday and last month and last year and you have been growing in and increasing in the knowledge of god in in the character of god every single day of your life and so you get to the point where the spirit of god convinces you and assures you that you are a child of god buy your fruit buy your profession buy your fruit by your testimony that’s why every time somebody comes up to you says hey are you a christian oh yeah i’m a christian the next thing you got to ask them is what what’s your testimony right look tell me how did you how did that all happen how did it all go down and if if somebody turns to you which they have when i asked that a couple times then i said testimony they said testimony what’s that you know there’s something wrong you know that if they can’t give a answer to the hope that lies within them there’s something wrong a christian knows what happened to them right they know and desire to bear fruit every day of their life now just consider the text again now it we’re going to look at this next week but so it doesn’t really mean that just because people have leaves on the branches that there’s no movement in their life or there’s an appearance of life on the surface in many cases that is the case with people see leaves of religious formality can be often found in abundance in someone’s life there may be a lot of activity in someone’s life there may be an appearance of organization of spirituality of devotion to god however after close examination is it is found to be just the trappings of formal religion and therefore ends up being spiritually barren of any kind of lasting fruit just going through the motions without the heart engaged that’s a horrible place to be it really is in fact repeated religious routine could be deadly especially if it’s not accompanied by examination that’s why a text like this applied and put to our life can just honestly examine ourselves to where we stand with god and that’s so vitally important to him so outwardly things can be in order in a person’s life but inwardly things are not right and god knows that he knows that in fact when jesus views the religious establishment he doesn’t give a pretty picture of them at all and this is what he says about them in in matthew 23 he says woe to you scribes and pharisees hypocrites for you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful but on the inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness so you too outwardly appear righteous to men but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness see that is the first warning the first warning being this the warning of unfruitfulness in your life and unfruitfulness that is uh if there’s never any fruit in your life then there’s no salvation but if you are a believer and there’s fruit then keep growing in that fruit keep moving forward pressing forward abide in christ and believe me you will be happy about that and you’ll be blessed because of it as the scripture says in psalm and you’ll be actually emboldened by it to be a witness for god and to no matter what’s going on in the world no matter what’s going on around you you will live for christ no one can convince you otherwise so see next week we’ll pick up the second warning to seriously consider in order to evaluate our spiritual condition and you’ll have to come next week to find out what that is so let’s pray lord thank you this morning because lord as i i consider your word and i can as i consider the event that happened here i see lord how important it was for you to make sure that your disciples understood not only did the nation of israel not bear fruit when they should have but lord all those who profess you as lord and savior should examine themselves as to whether they bear fruit and i pray lord jesus that you would give us an honest examining heart to look at ourselves and to begin to evaluate properly from scripture where is our fruit and lord if we can’t see it ourselves well let us get with someone who knows us well enough to say yes you have it or you don’t have it or you have it in this area you don’t have it in that and i pray lord that you would allow us to examine ourselves so we gain more confidence and more boldness to be followers of jesus christ that are unashamed of the word of god under unashamed of you and really want to make a mark in this world not wanting to spin our wheels anymore but wanting lord to be faithful to you and faithful to the word of god wanting to bear the fruit of the spirit and not of the flesh wanting to abide in christ because we know that without abiding in him we have no hope of growth or fruit so lord this morning just allow us to take these truths and use them in a very practical way this week and i pray lord that we would come to a very honest conclusion and whatever that conclusion may be lord bring us to a place of repentance of trusting in christ alone for salvation and lord if we see some fruit that our prayer would be to grow in more fruit to never be satisfied where we’re at in our christian walk in life but to always desire more and more and more of christ so please do that amongst us lord and mature us and use us the way you have intended in scripture and i pray all this in the name of our lord jesus christ amen