“Are you a true believer or a fake?”
Jesus did not judge people by their appearance.
Even if they confessed their faith with their mouths,
or prayed and worshipped,
He judged whether they were real or not by looking at their “fruits.”
So… Are I and you living as real believers now?
Today, at this time,
Let’s find out together the decisive difference between a true believer and a fake believer,
as the Bible says.
🟡 [Part 1: Why Jesus judged people by trees and fruit]
Jesus says this in Matthew 7:
📖 “Every good tree bears good fruit,
but a bad tree bears bad fruit…
By their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:17-20)
You may think that God judges people by their ‘actions,’
but there is a deeper standard.
It is “born again by the word”,
and what is the person “sowing”.
The Bible compares a person to a tree,
and says that the fruit the tree bears shows what the person was born as.
🟡 [Part 2: Two Kinds of Seeds, Two Kinds of Believers]
📖 Luke 8:11
“The seed is the word of God.”
The word of God is a spiritual seed.
When that seed is sown in the field of a person’s heart,
the person is born again by the word.
However, the Bible says,
There is not only the seed of God, but also the seed of the devil.
📖 1 John 3:10
“By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest…”
In other words, even among those who are called believers,
there are true believers born by the word of God,
and false believers born by lies.
In the “field” of Jesus’ parable,
both good seeds were sown,
and tares (false seeds) were sown.
And they grow together until the harvest.
🟡 [Part 3: Real and Fake Distinguishing at the Harvest]
In Matthew 13,
Jesus said that when the harvest comes,
the tares will be pulled out and burned,
and the grain will be put into the barn.
Until the harvest,
it is difficult to distinguish who is real and who is fake.
However, in the last days,
God’s angels will come and
harvest those born of God’s seed and take them to the heavenly barn,
while the false believers, those born of the devil’s seed,
will be left in the field and judged.
This is
the moment when the “distinction at the harvest”,
that is, the true believers vs. the false believers, are completely divided.
🟡 [Part 4: What Makes Me a Real Believer?]
So what do we need to become
real believers?
The Bible says this:
📖 1 Peter 1:23
“For you have been born again, not of perishable seed,
but of imperishable,
through the living and enduring word of God.”
A true believer is not simply a “church-goer.”
He is a “born again by the word of God.”
And that person
dwells in the word of Jesus,
lives by the word,
and the words that come out of his mouth are the fruit of truth that gives life.
🟡 [Part 5: Which Tree Do You Belong to Now?]
In John 15, Jesus said,
“I am the true vine, and you are the branches.”
The branches that are connected to Jesus
receive the word of truth, bear fruit,
and are harvested as the first fruits of heaven on the last day.
On the other hand, if one is attached to the wild vine of false words,
they will eventually bear the fruit of death and be thrown away.
📖 Matthew 7:19
“Every bad tree is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
It is a scary word.
But it is a very clear standard.
A true believer is someone who
hears and understands the word of God,
roots the word in his life,
and bears the fruit of truth.
Now I will ask again.
Are you a true believer?
Or are you a fake who is accustomed to religious life?
Jesus is still looking for fruit.
Now is the opportunity to
receive the word, be born again,
and live as a true believer.
A life where we sow the seed of the word of God in our hearts,
be born again in the truth,
and become the fruit of heaven,
that is the path we must walk.
