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How Can We Recognize

the True Fruit of the Spirit?
Frank Santora July 28, 2021
Pastor

In our modern "don't judge me" culture, it can be

difficult to keep ourselves free from compromise and
the influence of the world. Everyone has an opinion
on what's acceptable, what's trendy, what's relevant.
If we aren't careful, we will find ourselves trying to run
our spiritual race on the shifting sands of the world's
standards and ever changing ideas of morality. 

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While we should never judge others for the purpose

of condemning them, God does instruct us to judge
the fruit in other’s lives to ensure that we don’t get
sucked into following the morality of the world. 

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you

in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are
ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize
them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes,
or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree
bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A
good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree
cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not
bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the
fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them"
(Matthew 7:15-20).

“By their fruit you will recognize them.” Surely, it

makes sense then that we should learn to recognize
what is fruit and what is not fruit. Paul breaks it down
for us in Galatians, chapter 5:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,

forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. Against such things
there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

How Do We See These Fruit?

In short, the fruit of the Spirit is the outward, visible
and godly virtues displayed in a believer’s life, that
evidences the inward, invisible presence of the Holy
Spirit. These virtues or characteristics stand in stark
contrast to the fruits, or acts, of the flesh.

“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual

immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry
and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of
rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and
envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn
you, as I did before, that those who live like this
will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians
5:19-21).

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the believers in

Galatia around 50-70 AD, primarily to combat the
Judaizers who had infiltrated the church community.
These men had begun trying to bring a number of Old
Testament ceremonial practices, like the requirement
of circumcision, into the New Testament church. They
also were trying to discredit and undermine Paul, by
saying he was not a genuine apostle and thereby cast
doubt on his teaching of grace. These “false
prophets” had slipped into the church and were
leading the Galatians astray, so much so that the
Apostle Paul writes in one case:

“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?

Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly
portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just
one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by
the works of the law, or by believing what you
heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by
means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish
by means of the flesh?” (Galatians 3:1-3).

If I were to show you a picture of a tall tree with

hanging bunches of long, yellow fruit, or a shorter,
leafy tree filled with round, orange colored fruit, do
you think you could recognize what kind of trees they
are? Of course you could! You can see the bananas
and the oranges, so you know they are banana and
orange trees! The fruit declares the identity of the
trees. In the same way, the presence or absence of
the fruit of the Spirit is an indication of who is in
Christ and has the Holy Spirit living in them.

A Personal Lesson
Years ago when I was an assistant pastor in our
church, I was the point person when anyone walked in
and asked to speak to a pastor. One day, a couple
showed up out of the blue asking for help. They
pulled up in an old, beat up car that had lots of stuff
in the back seat.

When I greeted them, they spoke the entire Christian

lingo: Praise the Lord, Pastor! Hallelujah! We love
Jesus! Amen, Brother!

They said, We just moved into the area and we are

down on our luck. We are looking for a church to
attend and need some work. Is there anything we can
do around the church just so we can earn a little
money to stay in a hotel for the night until we get
settled?

And as they asked, they quoted a bunch of scriptures

about helping those in need and giving to the poor,
recited the story of the Good Samaritan, etc. Even
though they indeed were quoting Scripture, there
was an air of entitlement in their attitude that seemed
to say you had better do this for us.

The whole time, my spirit was doing flips saying,

something is just not right with these people. They
are talking a good game, but their attitude is off. They
are running a guilt trip on me to manipulate me into
helping them. So I told them to hold on, and I went
and talked to the lead Pastor about the situation and
asked if the church would be willing to help. He
thought a second and then said no, it’s just a ploy for
some drug or alcohol money. 

But their guilt trip had gotten to me. I asked if it would

be okay if I gave them my own money and to take
them up on their offer to come in and work the next
day, because it was already evening. He said that
would be okay, but cautioned me against it.

So I went down, gave them some money to check into

a hotel and told them to meet me back in the morning
to pull some weeds around the church. They of
course thanked me in Jesus' name, told me how
blessed I would be, quoted a few more scriptures,
extolled my Christianity as true, and left with a
promise to return in the morning bright and early to
work.

You probably don't need me to tell you how the story

ends.

The next morning they didn’t show up. I went to the

hotel to check on them and discovered they had
never checked in. I never saw them again.

They talked a good game. They had a Christian

confession. They quoted Scripture. They declared
their love for Jesus. They expressed an interest in
coming to church.

But their fruit was dishonesty, lying, manipulation and

guilt. Just because somebody says they are a
Christian, doesn’t necessarily mean they are a
Christian.

Never discount or ignore what the Spirit is showing

you about the fruit in someone's life. God will protect
His sheep from wolves, but we must be willing to pay
attention and follow His direction. At the same time,
we must be aware of any area in our own lives which
we have not submitted to Christ for cleansing and
sanctification (and that stinks of the works of the
flesh!) Recognizing fruit and cultivating fruit in our
own lives is one of the most important things we can
do as a believer.

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Photo credit: ©Getty Images/pcess609

Spiritual Fruit Separates the

Fakers from the Faithful 
What’s that mean? It means those who practice
(habitually and without repentance) the things of the
flesh are not the real deal. The operative word here is
practice, as opposed to someone who occasionally
falls into sin, hates it, and wars against it in their lives.
In other words, if you look at a person’s life and what
you see most is the works of the flesh instead of the
fruit of the Spirit, and yet they say they are Christian,
something is off.

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You've probably heard it before, but it's true; just

because you stand in a garage, it doesn’t make you a
car; just because you sit in a church pew, it doesn’t
make you a Christian!

This is especially important to understand when

making personal or life decisions: should I work for
this person or hire them, marry them, take advice
from them, and trust them with what’s going on in my
life? The enemy will often send his people into our
lives for the sole purpose of destroying our faith and
ultimately, our destiny.

Spiritual Fruit Empowers Us to
Faithfully Represent Christ 
Real spiritual fruit can’t be faked; it is so different
from our human virtues it can only be of Christ.

I am reminded of the story of Paul and Silas in Acts

16. After they had been unjustly imprisoned, beaten
and left to die in a filthy jail cell, they were filled with
the Spirit and sang praises in the midnight hour. In
response, God loosed their shackles and threw open
the cell doors with a thundering earthquake. But
instead of fleeing into the night, Paul and Silas
represented Christ’s compassion and love toward the
trembling prison guard who suddenly had a come to
Jesus moment! That kind of selfless love is unnatural,
and is a true representation of Jesus Christ.
.

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Spiritual Fruit is the By-product

of our Love for Christ 
One of the great things about grace is you don’t have
to do anything.

You don’t have to be loving.

You don’t have to carry joy.

You don’t have to exude peace.

You don’t have to be patient.

You don’t have to be kind.

You don’t have to model goodness.

You don’t have to be faithful.

You don’t have to display gentleness.

And you don’t need to achieve self-control.

God will love you just the same. However, if we are

truly in relationship with Jesus Christ, we will want to
because we love Him that much. As John 14:15 says
“If you love Me, keep My commands.” Salvation is
God’s gift to us and shows how much He loves us; the
fruit we cultivate to maturity by our obedience is our
gift to God, and shows how much we love Him.
Consequently, developing our own mature fruit in our
spiritual lives should be a daily goal! 

Thankfully, we are not left alone in our struggle to do

this. Jesus told His disciples in John 14:16, “And I will
pray to the Father, and He will give you another
Helper, that He may abide with you forever.” In other
words, we have been given the Holy Spirit as our
helper, teacher and guide in all things. His presence
in our daily lives helps us to follow Christ authentically
and to recognize other true believers. He helps us to
display godly virtues toward others that are well
beyond our natural human characteristics. And He
helps us to demonstrate our love for God by obeying
Him and following His commandments – all of which
cultivates a healthy and robust harvest of precious
spiritual fruit!

Related articles
9 Biblical Signs of a Christian Bearing Fruit
How Can We Grow Spiritual Fruit?
Keep an Eye Out for These Signs of a False
Prophet

What Does the Fruit of the Spiri…

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/BrianAJackson

Frank Santora is Lead Pastor of

Faith Church, a multi-site church
with locations in Connecticut and
New York. Pastor Frank hosts a
weekly television show, “Destined
to Win,” which airs weekly on the
Hillsong Channel and TBN. He has authored thirteen
books, including the most recent, Modern Day
Psalms and Good Good Father. To learn more about
Pastor Frank and this ministry, please visit
www.franksantora.cc. Photo by Michele Roman.

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