Why
did He say that? Just ask ourselves, Who will bear fruits, the vine or
the branches? I don't know about other plants, but I know that the vine
or the main stem does not bear fruits; normally it's the branches that
bear fruits. The fruits are always seen hanging from the branches; and
the branches must grow from the vine. Of course, we cannot deny the most
important work which Jesus has done for us and we can never do His
work, ie. His sacrificial work for our sins.
However, there are many
things which He would not do for us, for example, obeying His command to
repent, sin no more, and bear fruits. He explained it very clearly with
the illustration when He said, I am the Vine; ye are the branches. It
means that we have to depend on Him, but ultimately we are the ones who
must repent, do His words, and bear fruits; not Him. Hence, we cannot
twist and lie that we could just repent and bear fruits without any of
our effort or that we could do it effortlessly because Jesus would also
do it for all of us too.
His branches must repent before they can bear fruits
Please
think again, Why would Jesus say that He is the vine? It is because He
said it purposely that He wants us (the branches), not Him, to bear
fruits. Hence, that picture shows that we are the ones who must repent
and bear fruit through Him. It makes sense to know why this ties with
another illustration or parable which Jesus gave in Luk 13:1-9 when He
asked the sinners to repent too:
Luk 13:1-9 KJV .. (5) I tell you,
Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. (6) He
spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his
vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. (7)
Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years
I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why
cumbereth it the ground? (8) And he answering said unto him, Lord, let
it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: (9)
And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut
it down.
Have we asked, "Why three years; not four years or five
years?" Normally, both the vine and the fig tree will produce a sizable
crop only after the third year. They are normally expected to bear much
fruit after their third year of full maturity. Hence, three years is
only a figurative term to show maturity. It shows God's mercy and
justice. He would not judge men before the end of their times or before
'human maturity'. However, God will still judge men in the end time. The
vinedresser is a type of Christ who will still want to give men grace
after we have become fallen (Even Mary had mistaken Him as the gardener
in Joh 20:15). Hence, we are now living on 'purchased time' or grace
period given by the 'vinedresser'. If we repent and believe in Him, we
can still grow and bear fruit. Otherwise, not even the 'vinedresser' can
save us.
Bearing fruit can only come after repentance in obedience to Jesus
However,
many people today confuse repentance with believing or bearing fruit.
Yes, from the parable, we can say that bearing fruits is closely related
to repentance, but believing (faith in God) or bearing fruits is not
repentance. It comes after repentance or after we have repented and
believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many prosperity preachers,
health and wealth preachers (including the hyper grace preachers) try to
teach bearing fruit with their doctrine of faith, confession of
righteousness, holy communion, divine rest, effortless favours, and
supernatural transfer of wealth, but they may never bear fruit. Why? If
they preach all those things radically and deliberately to omit, hide,
corrupt, or deviate from the fundamental doctrine of repentance in the
gospel of Jesus Christ, they have not repented.
To repent is not just to have good opinion or right opinion of God or Jesus Christ
We
know that many churches today are still afraid to point people to
repentance. Hence, they would come up with their own definition of
repentance to ask the people to believe and have good opinion of God or
Jesus Christ. However, this is not repentance, because the devils can
believe too (Jas 2:19), and the Pharisees can have good opinion of God
also (Luk 18:11), but the Bible tells us that they all cannot repent. It
proves that believing and having good opinion alone is not repentance.
To repent is not to have good opinion of ourselves too
Some
preachers may preach repentance from the direct definition of the Greek
word 'metanoia' and ask the people to have the right (righteous or
positive) opinion about themselves. But, the Bible shows us that the
right opinion about ourselves is not a 'good' opinion; it is always the
realisation that we are the 'bad' sinners before God. And this
realisation will differentiate us from the Pharisees and lead us to true
repentance. This is confirmed by the Lord:
Luk 18:9-14 KJV And he
spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous, and despised others: (10) Two men went up into the
temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. ... (13)
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his
eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner ..
Luk
11:2-4 KJV And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which
art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done,
as in heaven, so in earth. (3) Give us day by day our daily bread.
(4) And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
When we truly repent, there will always be fruits of repentance
This is confirmed by the Bible or the New Testament:
Mat 3:8 KJV Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Luk
19:8-9 KJV And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord,
the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing
from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. (9) And
Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch
as he also is a son of Abraham.
Act 26:20 KJV But shewed first unto
them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of
Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to
God, and do works meet for repentance.
It is a shame for the believers to preach repentance when they themselves do not know the spirit of repentance
Many
Christians in the past may not get the definition of repentance
perfectly correct, but they knew the spirit of repentance through the
teaching and doctrine of Christ. Today many so-called believers may get
the right definition of repentance ('metanoia') and believe in hyper
grace, but they do not have the spirit of repentance. If they have only
the definition without the spirit, they have not repented yet; they may
have only believed. They may argue with fantastic knowledge and
definition of repentance, but God will still see no fruit of repentance.
They will still need to go back to the basic teaching and parable of
the Lord to know and understand the foundation doctrine of Christ. They
must still build from the 'rock':
Heb 5:11 - 6:6 KJV Of whom we
have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of
hearing. (12) For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have
need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the
oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of
strong meat. (13) For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the
word of righteousness: for he is a babe. (14) But strong meat
belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (6:1-6)
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on
unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance
from dead works, and of faith toward God, (2) Of the doctrine of
baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead,
and of eternal judgment. (3) And this will we do, if God permit. (4)
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have
tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
(5) And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world
to come, (6) If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto
repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and
put him to an open shame.
The Bible passage above shows clearly that the doctrine of repentance is one of the foundation. The foundation
of repentance from dead works and of faith is not dead work. It is
indispensable for every believer to grow into real maturity and bear
fruit. Hence, Paul wished that all the believers could mature, and leave
from there if God permit. But Paul knew that most of them would still
need to go back to the first principles of the oracles of God because
they were still 'babes'.
Hence, it is impossible to bring them
back to repentance if they have received and understood the doctrine of
Christ, but they would still quench the spirit of repentance even though
they may preach and claim redemption through the crucifixion of Jesus
Christ. It is a clear insult to God when they preach His crucifixion
without any real repentance. It is also an open shame to the world when
all the believers would preach the cross, but they do not believe in the
spirit of the cross or the message of the cross too.
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