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REWARDED
(Continued from page 14)
with great joy, but s imply had no
spi r itual depth of character , and
endured on ly fo r a while, but
yielded to temptations UNTI L they
fe ll away- t hat is, CONTJNUALLY,
ti ll t hey QU IT TRYING. A t h ird was
converted, received God's Spirit,
but Jet the cares of this material
life- earni ng a living-or former
unconverted associates-keeping
one foot in the world-seeking the
PLEASURES of this world's material–
ism- and they brought forth "No
FRUIT to perfection." So THEY Iost
Out! You MUST BRING FORTH
FRUIT- make spi r ituaJ PROGRESS–
develop spiritual CHARACTER! Too
many, today, are preaching a FALSE
salvation of "NO WORKS."
Your WORKS won' t get you con–
verted- won't earn you God's Spir–
it- as
1
have made PLAIN in this
ar ticle. 8 UT THE LACK OF GOOD
WORKS CAN GET YOU
LOST.
if
persisted in!
Thc fourth class of the parable
are they " which in an HONEST and
GOOD HEART, having heard t he
word, KEEP it, and
bringforthfruit
wit h patience" (Luke 8: 15) . In
Matthew' s account of this same
parable, those finall y SAVED, endur–
ing to the END of life's race,
brought forth fruit- some 30- fold ,
sorne 60, sorne a hund red. ALL of
t hese were SAVED! ALL of these go
into God's kingdom.
BuT those who bri ng for t h a
hundredfold , dur ing t heir Chris–
t ian lives, wi ll receive a highe r
REWARD, or position in the ki ng–
dom, than those who produce only
30 -fold!
SALVATION comes as God's free
GIFT, by GRACE.
But the DEGREE of office, once
in
the kingdom-once made IMmor–
t al- the rank, the position, the
degree of glory-this is NOT by
grace- this is NOT God's g ift- t his
is what you must QUALIFY FOR, by
the fruits you bear in THIS LIFE.
T HAT is the teaching of Goo!
We Must Pro duce " Fruit"
SALVATION, 1 repeat again and
agai n, is GoD's FREE GIFT- not
something you can earn. BuT, once
you have received God's Holy Spir-
36
it- BY GRACE- that Spirit, in you ,
must produce
FRUI T!
T he Bible explains t his
this
way:
J esus says he is t he Vine-we are
the branches (J ohn 15:1, 5). Here
we are likened to a g rapevine and
its branches. The BRANCHES did not
get themselves joined on to the
main Vine by t heir own efforts. We
d id not become joined to Chr ist–
receiving his Holy Spirit by our
"wor ks." It was HIS doing- his
GIFT- it carne by GRACE.
BUT
-once joined on, with t he
SAP ftowing from the Vine into t he
branch (a pict ure of God's Holy
Spirit ftowi ng from him into us) ,
we
must produce fruit.
l f
we
don' t- then what?
Notice this whole picture, in John
15. God the Father is the Husband–
man- the Vine-dresser- t he chief
Ga r dener , who PRUNES the
branches . Now no tice verse
2:
"Every branch in me that beareth
NOT fruit
he taketh away."
lf,
once
having received the Holy Spir it , we
do not produce spi r it uaJ fruit, we
shall be cut off from Christ- and,
(verse 6) shall be cast into the fi re
and BURNED UP- refer ri ng to t he
fi nal Gehenna or hell fi re!
T he Holy Spirit is GIVEN to us–
we didn't deserve it or earn it- but
given to PRODUCE FRUIT.
HOW?
J esus pictured the Holy Spir it
(John 7:37-39) as
rivers
of "living
water"-FLOWING from hi m into
us, and on out of us. How wi ll it
ftow on out of us? A " r iver" flows
down a riverbed. The spiritual riv–
erbed down wh ich God 's S pirit
FLOWS is GOD'S LAw. Tbis " living
water" of God's Spir it is the LOVE
that fu lfills the law. The FRUITS,
then, are simply
the
WAY
of righ–
teousness- keeping
God's law.
Oh, one will vehement ly obj ect,
THAT's "wORKS." No-it's
righ–
teousness.
Bu t IT IS NOT
OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS! God 's S p irit
GIVES
US
the FAITH that makes obe–
dience possible. T his is t he FAITH
t hat SAVES!
lt
is God's GIFT. And
the LOVE t hat fu lfi lls God's law is
HIS !ove, ftowing into and out of
US- NOT OUR LOVE!
1t
is not SELF–
rigbteousness- it is GoD'S r igh–
teousness, GIVEN to us.
What K IND of Works?
One further passage of scriptu re
should COMPLETE the picture .
lt is in the thi rd chapter of 1 Co–
rinthians, RSV. Notice carefully:
Sorne of these genti le conver ts at
Corinth wanted to be followers of
Pau l, others of Peter , others of
Apollos. Pau l was pointing t hem to
CHRIST, and showing what human
"nothingness" was he and Apol–
los.
" W hat t he n is A pollos?" he
asked (verse
5).
"What is Pau l?"
A nd h e answe r ed , ..Serva nt s
through whom you believed , as the
Lord assigned to each.
1
planted,
Apollos watered ,
but
GOD
gave the
GROWTH" (RSV). Paul was show–
ing them t hat he and Apollos, mere
humans, were as NOTHI NG com–
pared to GoD. The sp i ritu a l
GROWTH- th e FRUIT BORNE–
Carne through God 's Holy Spirit.
T he apost le continued:
"So neither he who plants nor he
who waters is anything, but only
God who gives t he g r owth."
Not ice-God GIVES the spi ri tual
growth- t he fruits borne.
lt
is
GoD's r ig h teousness. " He who
plants and he who waters are equal,
and each shall
receive his wages
accord ing to his labor" (verse
8).
Once again, our WORKS do EARN
wages- either good or bad. Evi l
works earn eterna! DEATH. Good
works earn a better position or
reward in God 's kingdom- IF you
get t here by GRACE. Now contin–
ue:
Pau l says further , " According to
the [commission] of God given to
me, like a skilled master builder 1
laid a foundation, and another man
is build ing upon it" (verse 1
O).
He
now pictu res THE CHURCH as a
BUILDING being built. Continue:
" Let each man take care how he
builds upon it. " Now refer ring to
each individual member as well as
the Body of Christ- the Church , as
a whole.
"For no other foundat ion can
any one lay than that which is laid ,
wh ich is J esus CHRIST" (verse
11).
Cont inu e: "Now if a ny one
builds on the foundation with gold ,
s ilver, precious stones, wood , hay,
s traw- each man 's WORK will
become manifest; for t he Day wi ll
d isclose it , because it wi ll be
revealed with fire , and t he fi re will
test what sort of work each one has
done. l f the WORK which any man
The
PLAIN TRUTH