GOSPEL - Doers (true disciples) are known by their fruit

SCRIPTURE

Matthew 3:8 | Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.

James 2:17 | So you see, faith by itself is not enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

Matthew 7:15-29 | 15 Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. 21 Not everyone who calls out to me, Lord! Lord! will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name. 23 But I will reply, I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break Gods laws. 24 Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it will not collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and does not obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash. 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority, quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

DISCUSSION

1. What warning exists in Matthew 7:21? How is it possible for people to think they are saved when they are not?
2. How sure are you of your own salvation? What makes you certain or why do you have doubts?
3. What does Matthew 7:16 say shows a true disciple verses a false one?
4. What fruit do you see in the people in Matthew 7:24 vs. Matthew 7:26.
5. Are you a hearer and a doer of Gods Word? In what ways?
6. What fruit or evidence of your salvation exists in your life?