15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. (Matthew 7:15-23 NASB) Read verses 19-23 on the site.
Christian authenticity is a set of marks of genuineness. Christ said that we can tell false Christians from real Christians by their fruit. There is fruit that real Christians produce that false Christians cannot….
Even those who are in the fires of tribulation, fighting deadly battles against their sin nature will be growing in these areas. Their visible fruit may be small or even embryonic, but it will be there. However, the false believer, since he or she has not the Holy Spirit nor are they regenerate, cannot bear this fruit. It grows only in the hearts of those God has touched with His grace unto the New Birth.
I know that the title of this post and the passage in at the top seems to indicate a study of the markers of false teachers and false believers, however, we are going to look at the fruit all genuine believers produce and bear. When US Treasury agents and other Law enforcement officers are trained to spot counterfeit money they do not study forgeries. Instead, they study the genuine. The genuine becomes so well known to them that a counterfeit is easily spotted. The false becomes accepted as real when the characteristics between the two are blurred to the point that no one can tell what is real and what is fake. Sadly, that is what has happened in our time with Christianity. Standards that are man made are used to test for authenticity instead of relying on God’s standards. As a result, countless multitudes of people are deceived into thinking that religiosity or good works are indicators of Christian Authenticity.