Producing Fruit

For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned... For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself... This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:7–8, 13, 19–20)

The believer's hope is not built on perseverance—we persevere because our hope is anchored to Jesus and His unchanging promise.

The Parable of the Sower

A farmer went out to plant seed, said Jesus. Some fell by the wayside, and birds came and snatched it away. Some fell on shallow, stony ground and sprang up quickly, but because it had no depth of root, the sun scorched it and it withered. Some fell among thorns and weeds that choked it out so it never became fruitful. Finally, some fell on prepared, ready ground and brought forth fruit—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was planted.

This is perhaps the most famous of Jesus's parables. As He taught around the Sea of Galilee, He spoke mostly in stories and illustrations, and in Matthew, Mark, and Luke this parable always appears first among them. It is also one of the only ones He explained. Something about the way Jesus told it clued His disciples in that this was not merely an anecdote about farming, so they asked Him what it meant.

Jesus answered in Luke 8:11–15. The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside hear, but the devil takes the word out of their hearts. Those on the rock receive it with joy but have no root, and fall away when trials come. Those among thorns are choked by the cares of this world, the desire for riches and the pleasures of life, so no fruit comes. But those on good ground hear the word with a good and noble heart, keep it, and bear fruit—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold.

The Metaphor of Farming and Fruitfulness

As we continue through these hard passages in Hebrews, we have just dealt in verses 4 through 6 with the difficult subject of apostasy—rejecting your faith, turning away from God. Now in verses 7 and following, the author moves immediately into a metaphor used constantly throughout Scripture: farming and fruitfulness as a picture of faith in God and faithfulness to Him. Jesus used it; the apostles used it; even the prophets used it.

For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God. (Hebrews 6:7)

On a rainy San Diego day, we couldn't have a better illustration. We all acknowledge that rain is a blessing from God, and we need it—even after a rainy season, our yards quickly turn brown without it. But among the good things that grow when the rain comes, there are also things we'd rather not see watered.

But if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:8)

I'm sure many of you, like me, have cursed some growth in your yard. The back third of my backyard is a bank I had prepped down to bare dirt with plans I never got to. By January there were little weeds; by early March they were waist-high. I finally went to Home Depot, bought some chemicals, and burned it all out. The same water that blesses the cultivated ground also brings up thorns and briers—useless growth that is rejected and burned.

God the Vinedresser Seeks Fruit

In many places where this picture is used, God is seen as the keeper of the garden, the One who graciously pours out water. In John 15, Jesus speaks of God as the keeper of the vineyard.

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:1–2)

God is interested in fruitfulness in our lives. We are the branches, the planting of the Lord. Jesus is the vine, and we cannot bear fruit on our own—we must abide in Him. "Without Me you can do nothing," He says. Not a few things—nothing.

If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. (John 15:6)

There again are those striking words. Where there is no fruit, the keeper of the garden surveys His planting. Lovingly and carefully He prunes, waters, and fertilizes to promote growth—but where there is finally no fruitfulness, what is unfruitful is cut off and cast into the fire.

This connects with the apostasy passage in verses 4 through 6: apostasy leads to unfruitfulness, and unfruitfulness leads to judgment. Point one: don't be burned by unfruitfulness. It's a heavy truth, and even though I, like you, prefer encouraging passages, it's a rainy day, so let's get right into the cautions.

Isaiah's Song of the Vineyard

This same idea appears in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 5, God speaks through a prophet who lived 2,700 years ago, picturing the same thing we find in Luke 8, John 15, and Hebrews 6.

Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. (Isaiah 5:1–2)

God purchased the land, removed the stones and weeds, planted the choicest vines, built a hedge of protection, and gave it every possible blessing. He expected good grapes, but it produced pitiful, sour, useless grapes. So God asks His people to judge between Him and His vineyard: "What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it?"

I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste... and I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. (Isaiah 5:5–6)

Is this only about an actual vineyard? Verse 7 explains: "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant." God selected them, redeemed them, planted them in a good land, and poured out blessing—and they turned to idols and walked away from Him. So He says He will step back, remove His protection, and allow judgment to come.

These are sobering words, and they challenge us: don't be burned by unfruitfulness. God has redeemed us and planted us under His blessing, and He desires fruit. Where there is none, He lovingly tends us—Jesus even tells of a master willing to give an unfruitful fig tree one more season of plowing and fertilizing. God doesn't quickly throw us in the chipper; He wants fruit. But where fruit never comes, these challenging passages caution us.

Make Your Call and Election Sure

In light of such warnings, point two: make your call and election sure—sure to yourself and sure to others that God has called and set you apart.

But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. (Hebrews 6:9–10)

Even after giving such heavy warnings throughout chapters 3, 4, and 6, the author—whom I believe to be Timothy—encourages his readers: we see fruitfulness in your lives, the things that accompany salvation. And not only do we see it, but God sees it. What an encouragement that God takes careful note of our service and love.

And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end. (Hebrews 6:11)

We see the fruit now, but he wants them to continue with that same diligence and full assurance of hope until the very end. As Paul says in Galatians 6, "Do not grow weary in doing good, for in due season you shall reap a harvest if you do not faint."

Weeding, Watering, and Waiting

Anyone who has planted knows it takes work and time. When I was about fourteen, I got a job at a farm stand and was put in charge of about an acre and a half behind it. I knew nothing about farming, so they taught me—weeding, trenching, planting, setting up irrigation, for five or six months one spring and summer. It's hard work, and I gained a lot of respect for those who do it for a living.

You plant, and then you weed and water and wait, weed and water and wait. You get excited when sprouts come up, but there's still more weeding and watering and waiting. Then comes the joy of the harvest—the proof that all the work was not in vain. The Christian life has a lot of weeding, watering, and waiting, and in the midst of it comes the temptation to ask whether it's worth it. Paul says do not grow weary, for in due season you shall reap if you do not lose heart.

Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5–8)

He who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten he was cleansed from his old sins. The long game is eternity with God—that's the vision we need. It's easy to become shortsighted, grow weary in doing good, and give up. The people the author wrote to were in that very place, weary and ready to throw in the towel. So he says, don't become sluggish, but "imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

Abraham: Faith and Patient Endurance

Point three: faith toward God produces confident hope for eternity, leading to patient perseverance here and now. By this point in Hebrews, you might wonder whether your hope of eternity depends on your works—that you were saved by grace but are now sustained by works. This is the objection some following Calvinistic teaching would raise, and we need an answer.

Notice the end of verse 12: "imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Then the author gives an example.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself. (Hebrews 6:13)

When someone makes a promise, they swear by something greater than themselves. In Jesus's day people swore by the temple, then by the gold of the temple, looking for something big enough to confirm the oath. "For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute" (v. 16). But when God makes an oath, He has nothing greater to swear by—so He swears by Himself.

Saying, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you." And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. (Hebrews 6:14–15)

Here's an interesting tension. God promised by Himself, yet Abraham obtained the promise only after he patiently endured. Did he receive it because God promised, or because he persevered? Yes—both. God determined to show the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel by two unchangeable things, His oath and His promise, "in which it is impossible for God to lie, that we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us" (vv. 17–18).

Abraham was seventy-five, childless, with a barren wife ten years younger, when God said, "Follow Me and I will bless you, and make your descendants as the stars of the sky and the sand of the seashore." Abraham asked how he could know, and God swore by Himself. So Abraham followed by faith. Twenty-five years passed without the promise fulfilled, yet he patiently endured, because his hope was built on the promise of God—not on his own perseverance. He still fell into sin during those years, but he persisted in trusting God, and ultimately, at one hundred years old with Sarah at ninety, the child came. No wonder he is called the father of faith.

God's Unchanging Oath Is the Basis of Our Hope

Point four: God's unchanging oath and promise are the basis for our confidence in hope. My hope is not built on my perseverance; my perseverance is built upon my hope. Abraham persevered because God, who does not change, swore an oath and made a promise. "You said You'll do it, so I'll keep following, even though it seems impossible."

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:19–20)

Jesus died on the cross for you and me. God gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. To some that sounds too good to be true—but the unchanging Creator of all things swore an oath and gave a promise that if we trust in Jesus and His death on our behalf, He will give us salvation. Therefore, don't turn away; persist in following, holding this hope as an anchor for the soul, anchored to Jesus and His finished work. I don't have hope of salvation because of how well I persevere; I persevere because I hope in the salvation Jesus earned for me.

Hope That Produces Fruitfulness

Point five: our confident hope of salvation in Jesus will produce the fruit of faithfulness to Jesus. The extent to which you are faithful and persevere is the extent to which you have hope in His salvation. Do you have a sure and steadfast hope, an anchor for your soul fastened to Jesus alone? Or do you have the kind of hope I've heard from many over the years?

When I ask, "If you died tonight, do you think you'd go to heaven?" some answer with despair, "Well, I hope so." Ask me, and I have absolute certainty I will be with God in eternity—why? Because Jesus, who died for my sins, told me that if I trust in Him He will give me that salvation. When I ask the basis of someone's hope and they say, "Well, I'm a pretty good person," then they have every reason to question their hope. But if the basis of your hope is the sure rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ the righteous, you can stand with total confidence that you will be with Him in the end—because He promised it and swore an oath. That's good news.

Closing Prayer

Jesus, we come before You today, the author and finisher of our faith, the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, which we'll explore more in the coming weeks. I thank You that You offered Your sacrifice once for all, and that we don't need to daily muster up some new sacrifice to cover our failures. We all fail all the time, yet what You did is sufficient—enough to give us steadfast, enduring hope that is absolute certainty, not wishful thinking, that we will be with You.

Maybe you don't have that certainty. You hope you'll get to heaven the way you hope you'll win the lottery, knowing the odds are stacked against you. But if you want the certainty that Jesus alone gives, I want to give you the chance to put your trust in Him today and have that hope as an anchor for your soul. Pray with me where you are: "Dear Jesus, I know that I need You. I cannot save myself, but I trust that You died to save me. I pray that You would come into my life, that You would forgive me of my sin, and help me to follow You by faith. In Jesus' name, Amen."