When two people are married, it is expected that children should result from that union. If no children issue forth then there is a problem somewhere. One or both members of the couple may be sick. They are not productive.
Each believer is united – married to Christ. If that union is normal, there should be fruit of character and there should be fruit of service. In this message we shall address ourselves to that aspect of the fruit of Christian service which involves the bringing of the lost to the Lord.
The Lord expects that each believer will bear the fruit of souls brought to Him. He
is so concerned about this that he told his disciples, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” John 15:8
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give you.” John 15:16
The Lord was so concerned about fruit-bearing that He warned, “Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” John 15:2
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He also cursed the barren fig tree. Barrenness is a dangerous condition. John the Baptist cried out,
“Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the lake of fire.” Matthew 3:10
Every barren woman knows the horror of the barren state. Sarah so knew the agony of the barren condition that she was ready to come out of it at any cost. She was even prepared to get out of it through her maid sharing her husband with her.
Rachel knew the agony of it and cried out to her husband,
“Give me children or I shall die!” Genesis 30:1
The burden to have all of Scotland won for the Lord was so much on John Knox that he prayed,. “Lord, give me Scotland or take my life.”
The question may arise, “How can I know that I am barren?” The answer is easy. You are barren if after many months of believing in the Lord, you have not brought anyone to know Him. The situation is even more serious if you believed
- one year,
- two years,
- three years,
- four years,
- five years…
and there is no one who is going on with the Lord as the fruit of your personal and private evangelism. If all the people you bring to the Lord are the result of pulpit ministry, you are barren. A man can bring thousands to decision from the pulpit but never bring anyone to the Lord from his private witnessing. Such a man is barren. He may not be an evangelist. He may not be walking close to the Lord. He may have no burden for souls. He may not even pray for the lost although he may pray that many respond at the meetings. He may only be an orator; a man able and anxious to exhibit himself. He is barren.
A person is barren if he was bringing people to the Lord in the past but now he is no longer bringing people to Him. He might have brought people to the Lord during the first
- days,
- weeks,
- months,
- years
of his life in the Lord, but for a long time now, for
- days,
- weeks,
- months,
- years,
he no longer brings people to the Lord.
A person is barren if before he brought many people to the Lord and now he is bringing very few. If in the past he brought one person to the Lord each week, and now he only brings one person to the Lord each month, he is no longer as productive as before. He is sick. A man is barren if instead of bringing multitudes to the Lord, he brings a few people. A ministry is barren if instead of bringing thousands to the Lord, it brings hundreds to Him. A ministry is barren if instead of planting one hundred churches in ten years, it plants fifty. Anything that falls short of that which the Lord has given a person ability for, is bad.
A person is barren if all or most of the people he leads to the Lord backslide or if they never grow to spiritual maturity.
Are you barren?
Are you barren??
Are you barren???
