Discern the Fruit

Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity

July 26th, 2026

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will recognize them by their fruits.

¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

We are called test the spirits to see whether they are from God or not. Test everything, hold fast to what is good. Discern what is pleasing to the Lord. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. You will know them by their fruit. The fruit is the teaching. Are they teaching God’s Word or their own thoughts and ideas born of the flesh? Is it the wisdom of the world or God’s wisdom?

A good teacher of God’s Word preaches nothing more than what God has already spoken. Not his own opinions or ideas. A false teacher teaches the person. Your security, your desires and choices. He tells you what you want to hear. He affirms your feelings and emotions. He manipulates God’s Word to satisfy what you want. He feeds you bad fruit. When it’s a matter of God’s truth and your salvation you must know how to distinguish between the good fruit and the bad fruit. Which means you must know what God has said in His Word.

Read the Bible. Study it, meditate on it. Talk about it. Ask the questions. Listen closely during the sermon. Come to Bible class. Put in the work to grow in your knowledge of what we believe, teach and confess. Dig out your Small Catechism, get a Book of Concord and make it part of your daily devotion along with reading the Bible. Connect your personal study with what you are hearing at church. Learn how to discern the fruit.

Be wary of anyone claiming to speak God’s truth until you judge the fruit. If someone claims something as God’s truth, don’t believe it until you know for certain that God has said it in Scripture.

Only God’s Word is infallible and trustworthy. I can make mistakes. The smooth talking podcaster may sound great and say some good things, but is all of it God’s truth or is there a little leaven thrown in the lump? Beware of devotional books and podcasts that are not from our Lutheran confession. That’s why Bible class is so valuable in addition to the sermon. In Bible class we ask the questions and have the conversations and dig deeper into God’s Word. Bible class is where you can find clarification and greater understanding. You can also call me, text me, email me, set up a time to talk if you are uncertain about something. We will go to the Bible together and learn what God has said. We will find the good fruit which is God’s Truth.

God’s Word is the pure fountain and source of God’s objective truth where faith is born and salvation is given. God’s Word alone is the source of teaching in the Church. At the heart is Jesus Christ crucified and risen for your sins. Jesus Christ crucified is the good fruit.

Opposed to God’s objective truth is subjective truth. It is born from the god of self, its source is satan. Subjective truth in the things of God seeks to destroy faith. It is the bad fruit.

Subjective truth loves a personal or private spirituality apart from God’s Word. But there is no access or communication with God apart from His Word and Spirit. Some people claim a personal relationship with God or Jesus, but they find no use for the church or organized religion. Subjective truth finds little or no use for the Divine Service. God’s Word is manipulated to satisfy personal choices and opinions.

They claim to find God or Jesus in their heart or in nature or in their life experiences. They may tell you they know what’s in their heart and so does God and that’s all that really matters. Who are you to judge what they believe? They seek God where He has not promised to be found.

God’s Word is rejected as the fountain and source of all truth. This is the work of satan. It is the same deception that led to the Fall and brought sin into the world. Subjective opinions, thoughts, ideas, and experiences along with feelings and emotions are the barometer of right and wrong, good and evil. Subjective truth is quick to justify sin and affirm personal choices. Subjective truth refuses to be judged by God’s Word. Subjective truth in the things of God is bad fruit that leads to eternal death. Judge the fruit.

We are daily tempted to follow the path of satan’s original lie by trusting our own thoughts, opinions, and experiences and walk in the ways of the flesh instead of the ways of the Spirit guided by God’s Word. If it happened so easily in the beginning when all things were perfect, how easily and often does it happen now when everything is broken?

Discernment of God’s truth in His Word starts by paying close attention and listening carefully when God’s Word is taught and preached. But this is not an easy task because you are a sinner. You have short attention spans. You get bored and tired easily. You’d rather be doing something else than sitting here and listening to this sermon. You think about other things during the preaching. You make satan’s job easier by just going through the motions and not thinking critically about what you are hearing.

That’s the nature of the sinful flesh and satan is the master of manipulation and deception. He’s been deceiving and manipulating humans from the beginning. He’s hard at work distracting you right now with your thoughts and preoccupations about many things. What’s for lunch? What are you going to do after lunch? Thoughts of work and family, or any number of things.

But even if you are able to listen and focus for 8 or 18 minutes, the issue of discernment is not easily solved by simply listening. Because the old lie and deception of satan is constantly tempting you to act like Adam and Eve when you hear the preaching and teaching. Did God actually say that? And you should ask the question, but often in the attempt to answer the question, the flesh leads you to trust your own thoughts, opinions, ideas, and experiences about God’s Word instead of doing the hard work to examine the Scriptures to see what God actually said.

The god of self has no time for God’s truth. The god of self twists God’s truth into something we prefer. What we prefer is the satisfaction of the flesh centered in our passions and desires that drive our emotions and feelings. We seek pleasure and personal gain above the truth of God’s Word.

God’s Word is unchanging, eternal Truth. God’s Word is not progressive. It isn’t subject to change based on the culture or society or government policy. God’s Word can’t be manipulated or twisted. God’s Word isn’t dependent on what you think or feel, and it doesn’t ask for your opinion. God’s Word is objective, it stands outside of you and yet it defines you and everything in this world that you can see, feel, and touch. What God has spoken in His Word is true at all times, even if you don’t believe it you have no power to change it.

God’s Word is the voice of Jesus. It is the good fruit. It exposes and brings to light the bad fruit.

As Christians we have been called to judge the fruit. Bad fruit is of satan and the god of self. It is deadly to faith. Satan is hard at work disguising himself as an angel of light. He takes a lie and wraps up in what appears to be the truth. He works to convince you to listen to your heart, to follow that voice in your head. Doubt God’s Word. You don’t really need to be in church on Sunday. You have Jesus in your heart and that’s good enough. Trust your feelings and emotions. What do you believe? What makes you feel good? You can define your own truth about the things of God. Satan is liar. What does God say?

God says repent and turn from your sin. Jesus is not the Savior who justifies sin. Jesus didn’t come to affirm your thoughts, opinions, or desires. Jesus didn’t come to justify your choices based on feelings and emotions. Jesus came preaching repentance for the forgiveness of your sins. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. Then hear the Gospel and cling to Jesus and His holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death that saves you.

The good fruit is the Word of God that brings you to repentance. It brings into the light your sin and need for a Savior. And then it points you to Jesus Christ crucified and risen for your sin. You need to hear this good fruit often to endure in faith. Repentance for the forgiveness of sins through the bloody Cross of Jesus is the main thing. It is the good fruit.

God’s objective truth which is the good fruit is not always easy or pleasant to eat. It is often quite bitter and painful because that good fruit must first kill you. Crush you like a hammer, breaking your flesh into pieces exposing your sin. We don’t like to have our sin exposed. Especially by a man speaking God’s Word just as sinful as you.

But praise be to God the Gospel is the fix. It overcomes the subjective deception of satan and the flesh. It is God’s eternal love in Jesus that is the power of salvation. Jesus is the good fruit that brings repentance and faith and forgiveness and love that will never disappoint. The good fruit is found in the Divine Service every Sunday morning.

Test the spirits. Discern the fruit. Hear God’s Word and find Jesus, the good fruit, and be saved. Thanks be to Jesus. In Jesus name. Amen.