Introduction
Are you a devoted disciple of Christ, or have you learned how to look like one while your heart stays unchanged? The central teaching of Jesus’ closing words in Luke 6 is this: kingdom disciples are not identified by religious appearance but by the fruit of a new heart that truly submits to Jesus as Lord.
As we conclude Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain” (Luke 6), remember what this whole sermon has been: not instructions for how to enter the kingdom, but a portrait of what a person already in the kingdom looks like, how they love, forgive, respond to enemies, refuse judgmentalism, and grow into Christlikeness. Now Jesus ends by examining us. He tests whether we are genuine disciples or spiritual counterfeits, people who can pass the “eye test” but fail the test of time.
Main Points
Are you a devoted disciple of Christ, or have you learned how to look like one while your heart stays unchanged? The central teaching of Jesus’ closing words in Luke 6 is this: kingdom disciples are not identified by religious appearance but by the fruit of a new heart that truly submits to Jesus as Lord.
As we conclude Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain” (Luke 6), remember what this whole sermon has been: not instructions for how to enter the kingdom, but a portrait of what a person already in the kingdom looks like, how they love, forgive, respond to enemies, refuse judgmentalism, and grow into Christlikeness. Now Jesus ends by examining us. He tests whether we are genuine disciples or spiritual counterfeits, people who can pass the “eye test” but fail the test of time.
Counterfeit Faith Can Look Convincing
Let me start where we live. Counterfeits are alluring because you can get the look at a discount price. A replica watch can resemble something priceless. Social media can present a filtered “life” that isn’t real. A student can chase grades while learning nothing. A relationship can look stable from the outside while breaking apart within.
Jesus is warning us that we can do the same with spirituality. We can attend church, sing songs, tolerate people, sit through sermons, even say we “liked” the message, and still be unchanged. The question Jesus presses is not, “Do you have religious activity?” but: Are you a kingdom person? Are you truly my disciple?
Fruit Reveals Nature Over Time
Jesus’ first test is simple and searching:
“For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit… For every tree is known by its own fruit.” (Luke 6:43–44)
Trees can look similar at a glance. Time tells the truth. Fruit reveals what a thing really is. And Jesus makes it painfully practical: you don’t harvest figs from thornbushes or grapes from brambles. The nature of the tree determines the fruit.
This is also a tool for discernment in everyday life: test things by their fruit over time. Some things seem beneficial at first and later prove thorny and poisonous. Other practices steadily nourish your soul. I want you to learn to ask: What is this producing in me? Peace? Humility? Prayer? Love? Or anxiety, comparison, lust, pride, anger, despair?
But Jesus is going deeper than lifestyle evaluation. He’s diagnosing the human heart.
Your Mouth Exposes Your Heart’s Treasure
Jesus continues:
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good… for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)
Here is the spiritual logic: fruit is the overflow of treasure. What comes out of my mouth, regularly, not occasionally, reveals what is stored up in my heart. My patterns of speech expose my true worship, my true fears, my true loves.
So when you examine your fruit, don’t stop at behavior modification. Go after the root. Ask: What am I treasuring? What am I protecting? What am I trusting? What do my words reveal I actually believe?
External Religion Cannot Cleanse The Inside
We are tempted to evaluate discipleship the way the Pharisees did: by externals. Jesus confronted that in Mark 7. The Pharisees obsessed over ceremonial washing, visible, repeatable, impressive. But Jesus exposed the real problem:
- Isaiah’s prophecy:
“This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” (Mark 7:6; cf. Isaiah 29:13)
- And Jesus’ diagnosis: what defiles you isn’t what goes into you, but what comes out of you, because it comes from within (Mark 7:20–23).
That list is sobering: evil thoughts, sexual immorality, thefts, murders, covetousness, deceit, pride, foolishness. Jesus is not interested in your religious performance if your heart remains un-surrendered.
So I want you to hear this gently but clearly: you can honor Jesus with your lips and still be far from Him. You can look clean while remaining unclean.
“Lord, Lord” Requires Obedience, Not Influence
Then Jesus asks the question that closes in on every churchgoer:
“Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46)
“Lord” is not a casual title. It is authority. To call Jesus “Lord” means I am no longer treating Him as one voice among many. Our culture trains us to live by influence: we collect voices, take what we like, ignore what we don’t, and keep control.
But Jesus is not an influencer. He is the crucified and risen King. To call Him Lord is to submit, heart, mind, body, schedule, relationships, money, sexuality, speech, and future, to His commands.
So if my life has no movement toward obedience, I need to stop excusing it as “personality” or “background” or “season.” Jesus doesn’t let me hide behind spiritual talk. He asks: Why do you call Me Lord and refuse what I say?
You Cannot Live This Sermon Without A New Heart
At this point, we need honesty that leads to hope. Why do people hear Jesus’ teaching and remain unchanged? One foundational reason is this: apart from God’s grace, we cannot obey Jesus from the heart.
The gospel begins with the bad news about our nature. Apart from Christ, we are not “basically good trees that need trimming.” We are bad trees in need of new life. Scripture says the human heart is wicked and deceitful (cf. Jeremiah 17:9), and all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).
That’s why the Sermon on the Plain isn’t a list of tips. It is meant to humble us until we cry out for God to do what we cannot do: give us a new heart.
God promised this through Ezekiel:
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you… I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)
Do you see it? The sermon describes the life of someone who has been born again, someone who has died to the old self and lives as a new creation. If you try to “do Christianity” without regeneration, you will eventually collapse into either hypocrisy or despair.
Abiding In Jesus Is The Only Way
So how does real fruit come? Jesus tells us:
“I am the vine, you are the branches… he who abides in Me… bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
This is the discipleship foundation you must not forget: without Jesus, you can do nothing. Not “less.” Not “a little.” Nothing of true kingdom fruit.
Abiding means remaining, living in ongoing dependence, communion, and love. His Word becomes your daily direction. His presence becomes your nourishment. Prayer becomes real conversation, not religious noise. And obedience becomes the expression of love:
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)
So when you realize you’re not doing what He says, the goal is not to fake it better. The goal is to return to the root: Do I love Him? Am I abiding? Have I received His Spirit?
Conclusion
Jesus ends this sermon by confronting the gap between profession and reality. In a world of spiritual replicas, He examines the fruit. He goes after the heart. He warns us that lip-honor without heart-surrender is hypocrisy. And He reminds us that calling Him “Lord” is not religious branding, it is obedient submission.
So I’m asking you to take the test Jesus gives:
- What fruit is my life producing over time?
- What do my words reveal about my heart’s treasure?
- Am I treating Jesus as Lord, or as one influence among many?
- Have I been born again, given a new heart by God?
- Am I abiding in Christ daily, depending on the Spirit, or trying in the flesh?
If you see counterfeit in you, don’t hide it. Bring it into the light. Jesus does not expose us to shame us, He exposes us to save us. He does not only command fruit; He offers new life.
Lord Jesus, You are truly Lord, King over heaven and earth, and we confess that we have often honored You with our lips while our hearts drift far from You. Search us and show us the real fruit of our lives. Expose what is thorny, poisonous, and counterfeit in us, and lead us to repentance without despair.
Father, we ask for what You promised: give us a new heart and put a new spirit within us. Forgive our sin, our hypocrisy, and our self-reliance. Teach us to abide in Christ, for apart from Him we can do nothing. Fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we can love what we could not love, obey where we have resisted, and bear fruit that matches Your kingdom.
Make our lives a true portrait of discipleship, humble, obedient, and growing more like Jesus. In His mighty name, amen.
Conclusion
Jesus ends this sermon by confronting the gap between profession and reality. In a world of spiritual replicas, He examines the fruit. He goes after the heart. He warns us that lip-honor without heart-surrender is hypocrisy. And He reminds us that calling Him “Lord” is not religious branding, it is obedient submission.
So I’m asking you to take the test Jesus gives:
- What fruit is my life producing over time?
- What do my words reveal about my heart’s treasure?
- Am I treating Jesus as Lord, or as one influence among many?
- Have I been born again, given a new heart by God?
- Am I abiding in Christ daily, depending on the Spirit, or trying in the flesh?
If you see counterfeit in you, don’t hide it. Bring it into the light. Jesus does not expose us to shame us, He exposes us to save us. He does not only command fruit; He offers new life.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, You are truly Lord, King over heaven and earth, and we confess that we have often honored You with our lips while our hearts drift far from You. Search us and show us the real fruit of our lives. Expose what is thorny, poisonous, and counterfeit in us, and lead us to repentance without despair.
Father, we ask for what You promised: give us a new heart and put a new spirit within us. Forgive our sin, our hypocrisy, and our self-reliance. Teach us to abide in Christ, for apart from Him we can do nothing. Fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we can love what we could not love, obey where we have resisted, and bear fruit that matches Your kingdom.
Make our lives a true portrait of discipleship, humble, obedient, and growing more like Jesus. In His mighty name, amen.