If A Fruit Inspector Viewed The Fruit and Root That Is Your Life; Would They Agree! Christ Is Our "Fruit Inspector"! A Point To Ponder . . . .

A good root produces a good root. If the root is bad the fruit will be bad! A Point to Ponder . . .

A Devotional Reading for Friday August 15, 2025

From the Pen of John Bunyan Author of Pilgrim's Progress

"Root and Fruit Both Agree"

Scriptural Portion

“You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?” Matthew 7: 16.

[Justified before God] . . . comes to us before we do any act [that is] spiritually good. How can a man act righteousness but from a principle of righteousness? And seeing this principle is not of or by nature but of and by grace through Christ. It follows that as no man is just before God that is not covered with the righteousness of Christ. So, no man can do righteousness but by the power of the Spirit of God which must dwell in him. Hence, we are said through the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the body, which works are preparatory to fruitful actions. The husbandman. . . must first be partaker of the fruit; he that worketh righteousness, must first be blessed with a principle of righteousness (2 Timothy 2: 1-6). Men must have eyes before they see, tongues before they speak, and legs before they go; so, must a man be made habitually good and righteous before he can work righteousness. . .. God makes a man righteous by possessing him with a principle of righteousness; which principle is not of nature but of grace; not of man but of God.

The man in the text is practically righteous or one that declares himself by works that are good; a virtuous, a righteous man, even as the tree declares by the apple or plum it bears what manner of tree it is: “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7: 16). Fruits show outwardly what the heart is principled with: show me then thy faith, which abides in the heart by thy works in a well spent life. Mark how the apostle words it, we being, said he, “made free from sin, and become servants to God, have our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Romans 6: 23).