In the sermon based on Luke 6:43-49, Jason Dohm explores Jesus' teaching on two fundamentally different kinds of people. Jesus uses the analogy of trees and their fruit to illustrate that a person's heart determines their character and actions. Good trees bear good fruit, while bad trees bear bad fruit, highlighting the essential nature of the heart in determining a person's life. Dohm emphasizes the importance of a new heart, which can only be given by God, and how it leads to genuine good fruit characterized by spiritual life and adherence to God's commands. He explains that Jesus' analogy of building a house on a foundation reflects the ultimate outcome of a person's life, based on their foundation—whether they genuinely follow Jesus or merely profess faith without obedience. Dohm stresses that genuine faith is always accompanied by obedience to Jesus, and that salvation is evidenced by the fruit of one's life. He concludes with a call to self-examination, urging listeners to consider whether their actions stem from a transformed heart and true faith in Jesus.

The title of the message this morning is a sermon on two fundamentally different kinds of people. This is our fifth sermon spent unpacking Jesus's one sermon. So he preached one sermon that we find in Luke chapter 6, and we took a month plus to try to unpack it. And we could spend a lot more time here actually, there's so much here. From start to finish in this one sermon that Jesus is preaching, Jesus has been drawing a line between two fundamentally different kinds of people.

So he started the sermon that way, it's continued through the sermon, and now his sermon is ending that same way. First Jesus said that if you lose everything but you have Him, you're actually very rich. But there's a completely different kind of people, a fundamentally different kind of people, who have everything else but they don't have Jesus and so they're terribly, terribly poor. Then Jesus spoke of those who are like their heavenly father, in that they love their enemies and they're kind to the unthankful and evil, simply because their father is merciful, and so they're learning to be merciful like he is. In last week's text, Jesus called his followers to throw off this critical censoring, condemning spirit which comes so naturally to us.

He warned us about those who offer themselves as our teachers. They want to be our teachers, but they're blind. And actually if you follow them, you'll follow them right into a pit. You'll share their blindness and you'll follow them into a pit. In today's text, Jesus teaches us about people who bear good fruit and people who bear bad fruit.

And then people who obey Jesus and also about people who hear Jesus and also call him Lord, but they don't obey him. These are two fundamentally different kinds of people. So the whole sermon has been about this or that, this kind of people, but also a kind of people that are fundamentally different, that kind of people. God, as we come to this concluding section of this wonderful, brilliant sermon full of truth from Jesus, I pray that we would have eyes to see the truths that are here and ears to hear them, and that we wouldn't come and go unmoved by these things. But you'll use them in our lives to help us to be more like this son of yours like Jesus.

We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, the division in the text is so obvious. We're going to start by looking at verses 43 through 45. This is the first theme in today's text.

So hopefully your Bibles are still open to Luke chapter 6. Follow along as I read. I haven't read yet have I, So we're not rereading. As I read verses 43 through 45. Jesus says, For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.

For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. Good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good. And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." It's very simple what Jesus is teaching in these verses.

It's that every tree is known by its own fruit. It's all very simply and naturally understood. Jesus meant for it that way. So please don't come away from these verses saying, oh what could it mean? It means exactly what is very natural and simple to understand in this text.

The meaning is simple and it is twofold. One, the tree determines the type of fruit. And two, in terms of people, it is the heart that determines the things which characterize a person. So there it is, the two-fold meaning of these verses. The tree determines the type of fruit.

And in terms of people, it's the heart that determines the things which characterize a person. So if you thought the fruit determined what type of tree it is, you have it all backwards. Oh, Look, the apples are making that an apple tree. No, no, no, that's completely backwards. It's an apple tree, and that's what an apple tree bears, is the apple.

So don't get it turned around. The fruit is just the evidence of the type of tree it is. If you want to know what type of tree it is, you just look at the fruit and then you know. There's the evidence right there hanging on the end of the branches. A thorn bush Isn't just a plant that's not trying hard enough?

Are you with me? A thorn bush is not just an underachieving plant. If it only tried harder and did better, it would give us figs. No, a thorn bush gives us thorns. Always thorns, only thorns.

A bramble bush isn't just a plant that isn't trying hard enough. If it only tried harder and did better, it would give us grapes. No, a bramble bush will never give us grapes. It will only give us brambles. If you want grapes, don't look for a bramble bush that's trying harder.

If you want grapes, look for a grapevine. Well, then how do I find a grapevine? Easy, look for grapes. See how simple all this is? If you want a grapevine, Look for grapes.

When you find the grapes, you found a grapevine. That was plants. Now people. The heart of a person determines the fruit. The heart of a person determines what will characterize that person.

My heart is like a treasure house that the fruit in my life proceeds forth from. And I can say it from the opposite direction. The fruit in my life is a window of visibility into the treasure house of my heart. That's sort of a terrifying thought, isn't it? The fruit of my life is a window of visibility into the treasure house of my heart, yours too.

And a key category of fruit in my life, not the only category of fruit, but a key category, is the words that customarily come out of my mouth. So you've been around me a lot, you've heard me talk a lot. The things that have customarily come out of my mouth is a window of visibility into the treasure house of my heart. Listen to what Matthew Henry says. Matthew Henry says, what the mouth ordinarily speaks, speaks with relish and delight, generally agrees with what is innermost and uppermost in the heart." That's brilliant.

He that speaks of the earth is earthly. John 3.31. So if you can look up John 3.31 later, it's John the Baptist saying that. He who speaks of the earth is earthly. Matthew Henry continues, "'Not that a good man never drops a bad word or a wicked man never makes use of a good word to serve a bad turn, but for the most part the heart is as the words are, vain or serious.

So we read our text and think, bad people say those cuss words. That's how I've thought of it till I read Matthew Henry. Bad people say those cuss words. See, they're a bad person. They're talking bad again.

Matthew Henry reads our text and says, earthly people mostly talk of earthly things. That's so different. So is it true that bad people use bad language, vain language, blasphemous language? That is true, okay, but that's there's so much more in view here. What is even more consequential, especially for us to consider, is the things that I love to talk about are a window of visibility into the storehouse of my heart, because it is an indication of my affections.

It's my affections bubbling up and pouring out in the things that I love to talk about. Matthew 15 19 Jesus says this, so The Gospel of Matthew chapter 15 verse 19. Jesus says, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts. Murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. So let's say you find a person who's characterized by lies and lusts.

Not a bad day, not a bad minute, but they're characterized by lies and lusts. Where did that come from? Bad parents. False. Corrupt friends.

They just fell in with the wrong crowd, false. A bad neighborhood, false. Societal pressures and unfair expectations, false. And insufficient education, false. The patriarchy, false.

A bad church or no church at all. See, church folks can misdiagnose the problem too. That's false. Now, are all of those things real? Are bad parents a reality in some people's lives and are they influenced by that?

Of course. Corrupt friends, real. A bad neighborhood, real. Societal pressures and unfair expectations, real. An insufficient education, real.

The patriarchy, real. A bad church or no church at all, real. And influential. But these things only aggravate what the real problem is and that is your own heart. You didn't need any of those things to be sinful.

Those things influence you and aggravate things that are already there in the heart. They're not putting those things there in the heart. So Jesus says, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts. Ken, corrupt friends, inflame the things that are already in your heart. You bet they can.

But don't get it mixed up. They are not the cause of those things. Jesus says that when a person is characterized by lies and lust or whatever the bad fruit is, you fill in the blank. The problem is the heart. And until the heart is addressed, you can change any of the other variables and you'll find that you haven't fundamentally changed things at all because the heart is the real problem.

The shapes may shift and the fruit may take on different forms over time, but it will still be bad fruit. Now a key point to make. This section begins with the word four. Look at that verse 43. Four.

A good tree does not bear bad fruit. So this is a connecting word. So in Jesus's sermon the flow is this, Love your enemies and be kind to the unthankful and evil because your Father in heaven is merciful and you must learn to be like him and throw off that critical censoring condemning spirit that is evident in these false teachers that will lead you into the pit. Don't follow them and become like them. Follow Jesus and become like Jesus.

Then our text, for every tree is known by its own fruit. In other words, If you can't love your enemies, you're unable to love your enemies. You can't be merciful to the unthankful and evil. You're just unable. You can't get free of this critical, censoring, condemning spirit.

You won't stop following the false teachers, then the problem is a very fundamental one. The problem is a bad heart. Jesus isn't saying that these are two of the same kind of people, only one is trying harder and doing better. Are you with me? Are you tracking?

Jesus is saying that these are two fundamentally different kinds of people. One has a good heart and the other has a bad heart. So that is Jesus on trees and people. Every one is known by its own fruit. But of course there's a lot more to explore on this topic.

So let's proceed to what Jesus says next because it helps us to explore a lot of things about this. Follow along as I read verses 46 through 49. Then Jesus says this, But why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like. He's like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.

When the flood arose the stream beat vehemently against that house and could not shake it for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing, it's like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great. Here in these verses Jesus teaches us that the end of every house is determined by its foundation. If you want to fast forward to the end when you're looking at a life that has been built, you fast forward to the end and you can know what the end will be based on the foundation, because the foundation determines its end. Here again, Jesus sets before us two fundamentally different kinds of people.

Surprisingly, Jesus grants them both the status of professing followers. So, no atheists here. What is implied by the text is One of these people professes Jesus is their Lord. That's what they say. Jesus is my Lord.

And they actually live like Jesus is their Lord. They actually follow Him. And the other also says, Lord, Lord, they too profess Jesus is their Lord, but they don't actually live like He is their Lord. They don't actually follow Him. So those are the two people before us.

Jesus says, I'll show you what they're like. The one comes to him and hears his sayings and then does them. It's like a man who's building a house. And the act of coming to Jesus and hearing him and obeying him is like a homebuilder digging down deep until they hit rock and then laying the foundation on that rock and then building on the foundation. So get this straight.

It isn't that Jesus teaches great principles, And if you just put the great principles in practice, then you're building on something solid. There is an element of truth to that. But that isn't the point of what Jesus is teaching. In other words, he's not teaching, build on a magical stable thing and all will be well. I'm a teacher of great principles, so come, learn the great principles, do the great principles, and you'll be building on something that's solid.

That is true in many ways, but that's not what Jesus is teaching here. This person has come to Jesus because he's Jesus and listened to Jesus because the things being said are being said by Jesus. And then obeying those things because He's Jesus and Jesus is their Lord so they build on what He says. So it's not just great principles that allow you to build a stable life. It's coming to Jesus as Jesus and listening to Him because He's Jesus and then doing those things because He's Lord and so You build on the things that He's saying.

Then there is one who hears Jesus. He hears the same sermons from Jesus. But he does nothing. Again, don't lose sight. This is a person that says, Lord, Lord, but doesn't actually live like he's Lord.

That person is like a home builder who simply builds right on the surface of the ground without a foundation. That's exactly what the text says, builds on the earth without a foundation. If you look at a very similar passage in Matthew chapter 7, it says that he builds on sand. That might be the one you're more familiar with, the foolish man built his house upon the sand. That's the song.

What happens next? Well, possibly nothing of the greatest significance for a long, long time. I didn't say nothing significant. I said nothing of the greatest significance for a long, long time. Maybe decades.

It's possible. Possibly these two houses stand and function for a long, long time, looking from the outside very much the same, identical to most people's eyes. Because the fundamental difference is out of sight, underground. You can stand at the street and look at the house and not know whether they dug deep until they hit rock and then laid a foundation on the rock and built on that or whether they just built on the surface. You could stand at the street and not know.

Most people won't know. Sometimes you can stand at the street and if the foundation is bad you can actually look at a house and know it's bad, but that's not normal. More possibly The very next day the rain starts and the storm comes and the floods rise and the floodwaters violently beat against these houses. It could be the next day. We can't know the timing from what Jesus says here.

It could be the next day. We can't know the timing from what Jesus says here. It could be the next day. It could be decades away. We do know this.

The floods will come. The floods do come. The floods must come. The floods always come either sooner or later. They always come.

Few could tell the difference. The key difference was out of sight. But that hidden difference was the difference between salvation and utter total ruin. It was out of sight. People couldn't tell, but in the day of the flood, it was the difference between salvation and a structure that couldn't be moved and total utter destruction.

Have I come to Jesus because He's Jesus and listened to Jesus because it's Jesus speaking. And then obeyed Jesus because he's Jesus and Jesus is my Lord. So I look to him daily and I walk with him daily and I follow him daily and I build my life on what pleases him. This is what is in view in our text. And I'm not doing those things to save myself, But those things are evidence that He has saved me.

So key to understanding the text rightly. It's evidence that He has saved you. This is fruit, not root. Fruit, not root. What is the salvation or destruction?

Well, of course, the ultimate truth of this is that it's the final judgment, that final unchangeable outcome of the testing of what you've built, or more accurately the reality of what you've built upon. So the ultimate truth is it's that, the final judgment. What did you build upon? It's going to be revealed there. So that's true, and that is most obviously, most fully in view.

But I will also say this. It is a fearful thing how often terrible ruin doesn't wait for the final judgment. Young people, the longer you live, the more you'll encounter people who would not come to Jesus and hear him and obey him who encounter terrible ruin long long long before the final judgment. Here's what J.C. Ryle says.

The day of trial and affliction is the test which the religion of the mere outward professor cannot stand. When storm and tempest beat on the house which has no foundation, The walls which looked well in sunshine and fair weather are sure to come to the ground. The Christianity which consists of merely hearing religion taught without doing anything is a building which must finally fall. Great indeed will be the ruin. There is no loss like the loss of a soul.

Those walls, they looked well when the sun was shining, but the fatal flaw was out of sight. On the other side of it, it is wonderful how often people who are following Jesus find that they can stand in the midst of the most difficult challenges in life, decades before the final judgment. Judgment. And storms come into their life and the floodwaters are violently beating against their house in a figurative sense and they can stand Because they have come to Jesus because He's Jesus and listened to Him because it's Jesus speaking and they obeyed it because Jesus said it and He's Lord and they live like He's Lord and they can withstand all sorts of things that make the natural man crumble. Now, before I get to the applications, I'd like to say a handful of things, four things, that are not directly said in the text, but are important to properly understanding the text and are very clearly taught in Scripture.

So I'm not saying you can find these things directly in these texts, but I'm saying you can find these things clearly taught in the Bible, and if you don't bring those understandings to this text, you're really likely to miss the truth of the text. Let me give you these four things. Number one, you have no way in yourself to have a good heart. The Bible teaches that so clearly. If you don't bring that understanding to this text, you go off the rails really fast.

You have no way in yourself to have a good heart. You were born with a heart full of corruption. If God leaves you just like you are, you're going to be a bad tree that bears bad fruit. Period. Amen.

You'll actually be the thorn bush and the bramble bush. You have to be given a new heart. There will be no good fruit unless you are given a new heart. I want you to listen to Ezekiel 36. Listen to Ezekiel 36 starting in verse 25.

God says, then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Let me just stop there and say this. This is your starting point. Filthiness and idols.

This is your starting point. This is you by nature born into a sinful race of people since Genesis 3 in the fall. Now Ezekiel 36 continuing in verse 26, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.

Do you see the sequence there? God sprinkles you clean. He takes the heart of stone out. He gives you a new heart. He causes His Spirit.

He puts His Spirit within you. And causes you to walk in His statues. It actually has to be in that order. Skipping to verse 31, then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. You'll look back on what you were and be so thankful to God for newness, so ashamed of the things that you once were.

Jesus says, you must be born again. He says that to a teacher in Israel, a very moral man according to the standards of his friends and neighbors. Nicodemus, John 3 verse 7. You must be born again. Paul says, therefore if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation.

Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new. You have to become new to be a good tree that bears good fruit. You have to be in Christ, a new creation. Don't give Jesus your heart. Go to Jesus for a new heart.

I know there is a sense in which we yield ourselves to God, and that you can make an analogy that that is like giving your heart to Jesus. But the terms are all wrong. If the natural man comes to bring his heart to God, the scriptures would say, What would God want with that stone? That black stone. Go to Jesus and beg Him that He would give you a new heart.

That's number one. You have no way in yourself to have a good heart. Number two, how you define good fruit is vitally important. If you go no further than giving to a good cause, give a million dollars to a good cause, we call that good fruit, or being nice to people, or even resisting evil, then you completely destroy the distinction that Jesus is making because you can find unbelievers and even unashamed God haters who are doing all of these things some of the time. So if you make good fruit equal giving to a good cause or being nice to people or even resisting evil you've washed away the distinction that Jesus is actually making here.

He's talking about spiritual life and what comes out of spiritual life. And only Jesus can give you spiritual life. Let's start here with defining good fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is love. And I would add, as the Bible defines it, if you were living in a world that misdefines love, okay, so the fruit of the Spirit is love as the Bible defines it.

Joy as the Bible defines it. Peace as the Bible defines it. Long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. There was not a single thing about giving a million dollars to a good cause in there.

You can give a million dollars to a good cause, a cause that alleviates a lot of suffering. We should be thankful for it. Just don't call it a good fruit in God's sight. If the greatest commandment is to love God, and it is because Jesus says it is in Matthew 22, if the greatest commandment is to love God, then genuine good fruit cannot be fruit that is totally divorced from that. You buy my argument here.

You can't say, I've got good fruit here, but there's no love for God in my heart. I'm producing good fruit, but I have no love for God in my heart. The Bible defines that out. It doesn't let us get away with that definition. No, that is what God calls filthy rags.

A lot of filthy rags can alleviate a lot of human suffering, so it can be confusing. I'm acknowledging that, but I'm just saying if you look through God's eyes as someone who has no love for Him in their heart, though they alleviate a lot of human suffering, God is not calling that good fruit. He's calling that filthy rags. All of our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. That is what The author of Hebrews calls them dead works and says, you should repent of them.

Repentance from dead works. That was number two. How you define good fruit is vitally important. We should define it like God defines it. Good fruit comes out of a heart that is right before God.

That comes through the person of Jesus Christ and the works of Jesus Christ and having a new heart. Number three, If you take this in an absolute sense and insist that a good tree is a tree that only ever bears good fruit, you've got the doctrine of ongoing repentance in the life of a believer. So you can take this to the absolute extreme, absolute end and say, okay, so if a good tree only ever bears good fruit, so therefore if I ever see anything that's not good, that tree is not good. Well then what do we do with all the places the Bible tells the people of God to keep repenting. Keep repenting of what?

Of things that aren't right. Okay, so the Bible has a place for both of these things. But don't take this in the absolute in a sense that takes you to a place where if there's ever a sin you say that person is a bad tree. Because that's not actually what the Bible teaches. He is teaching that fig trees bear figs and grape vines bear grapes and thorn bushes bear thorns and bramble bushes bear brambles.

Don't overthink it and put meanings on it that the text won't bear, let alone other texts won't bear. And also don't take the other side of it to an absolute sense and insist that a bad tree is a tree that only ever does all the evil that it can all the time. Or you deny that mankind bears the image of God and every remnant of that has been destroyed by sin. That's not what the Bible teaches. You can find even unbelievers loving, at least in a sense, being kind, at least in a sense, being generous, at least in a sense.

We are still image bearers of God. The doctrine of total depravity. Have you heard that? It's one of the letters in Tulip. Total depravity.

We believe in total depravity. It does not mean that unbelievers do all the bad they can all the time. Just means that the corruption touches us in every part of our being. Mind, body, and spirit. Thoughts, words, deeds.

Number four. This picture of the wise man building on the rock is not the text to use to declare that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone. Okay, so track with me here. I'm not preaching against the doctrine of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. I'm saying this isn't the text for that.

This is the text that teaches genuine faith in Jesus is always joined with actually following Jesus. This is the text to say genuine faith, real faith, saving faith is always accompanied by walking with Jesus, following Jesus. That is what James chapter 1 and James chapter 2 are all about. James chapter 1, be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer only. James chapter 1 says, if you're a doer, if You're not a doer of the word, but you're just a hearer you're deceiving yourself James chapter two says that faith without works is dead It's It's the faith of demons that says, I believe in God.

Luther famously said this, salvation is by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone. Amen! Salvation is by faith alone. It's nothing that we do. But when we have faith in Christ and have a new heart, the Spirit comes and indwells us and begins a transforming work that is irresistible.

How would a believer resist the work of the Spirit of God over time? Does it happen fast? Not as fast as we'd like. Not as fast as it should happen. Does it happen irresistibly?

Because the Holy Spirit is almighty and when He takes up residence with you, He begins a transforming work and he will do that transforming work. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. Philippians chapter 1 verse 6. Why does it matter if you use this text to teach salvation by faith alone in Christ alone because it matters how we handle scripture. So J.C.

Ryle is very disturbed by how often this text gets used to preach that it's salvation by faith in Christ alone. That is what it means to build on the rock. That's actually not what the text says. It's true, but It's not what the text says. It's coupled with obedience, and that genuine faith is always accompanied by following Jesus.

And it matters how we handle Scripture, because if you use that for a quote-unquote good purpose to preach the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, you're actually teaching people that it's fine to use a text in a way that's not obvious in the text and that the words of the text actually don't point you to. So it does matter. Applications I'll give you two. Number one, ask yourself this question, are the best things in my life proceeding from that? Because I know what you think about the worst things in your life, and where they're proceeding from.

I want to know about the progress in your life, things that appear to be good things. I'm getting you to look to see if they're actually good things. If they are proceeding from trust in Jesus and love for God, that's good fruit. Another way to ask it. It's the same question, Just another way to ask it.

Am I actually following Jesus? Am I actually following Jesus? Number two. Have you come to Jesus because he's Jesus? Because of who he's revealed himself to be?

Are you listening to Jesus? Because it's Jesus who's speaking and are you obeying Jesus? Because Jesus is Lord and Jesus is your Lord and these things are evidence that he's come and done a saving work in your life. Let's pray. God we are living in a nation with so much professing Christianity.

I thank you that these things are included in the gospel so that we can examine ourselves and probe If we really have a saving faith that isn't alone, because your spirit dwells within us and is producing fruit. Pray that you would give us a great sense of these things. Help us to use these texts in our own lives to examine ourselves, to see whether we're little by little being conformed into the likeness of Jesus or if our works are just dead works and all of our righteousness is our filthy rags in your sight. Thank you for giving us ways to diagnose these things, and I pray that these would be useful in our hearts. In Jesus' name, Amen.