ou see, that which is in will come out, and you
cannot bring out that which is not in.

In these words Jesus tries to enforce a great truth in human life, by
showing how the principle works out in the action of a tree. Nature
cannot teach us everything about God, nor everything about religion;
but Nature does supply us with a great many beautiful illustrations.
Jesus makes use of one when He says, 'Of thorns men do not gather figs,
nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. Every tree is known by his
own fruit.' You see, not only is the fruit according to the tree, but
the quality of the tree is to be judged according to its fruits.

That is the way by which ordinary people identify a tree. There are
some who are highly skilled in forestry, who can tell you all about a
tree by looking at the bark or the leaves or the blossoms, or even by
its general appearance. But we cannot all do that. I have sometimes
stood in a company, and listened to an argument as to what kind a
particular tree really was. But no arguments are required when the
fruit hangs on the branches. Everybody can tell the apple tree then,
and knows what a pear or a plum tree is when they see the fruit hanging
upon it. You can see the bearing of this upon personal religion and
character. By our fruit, then, we shall be known and judged.

In the fifth chapter of Galatians you will find a commentary upon this
natural law. Shall we read it? 'Now the works of the flesh'--the fruit
of the flesh, if you like to put it that way--'are manifest, which are
these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions,
heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of
the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that
they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance', or self-control. The two sets
of verses taken together not only show in detail a cluster of virtues
which are like luscious fruit in a beautiful garden, but also a cluster
of evils, which are like poisoned berries upon the roadside bushes.

The contrast between the two clusters indicates how great is the
difference when one is changed from being a proud, fleshly, corrupt man
into a clean, holy, spiritual person; but the contrast also marks the
grace of God as