Walking With Christ

Matthew 7:16
You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

It’s a fairly easy concept to grasp that a plant can be identified by it’s fruit. That fruit is not going to change from one generation to the next. Anything that grows from the seed of a plant will produce the same type of plant that came before.

Matthew 7:17-18
(17)So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. (18)A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

An apple orchard should produce a lot of good apples. If disease takes hold of one tree then the fruit of that one tree is no longer usable. That disease can spread to other trees if the disease is not treated. If left unmanaged, this disease could wipe out an entire orchard. There are a few solutions to this problem. Treat the disease. Combat the disease itself, cut out the effected portions of the tree and try to save part of the tree, or remove the tree entirely. This is the same list of solutions available for people when the disease of sin takes root. The problem has to be dealt with in much the same way for the same reasons above. The disease wants to spread even if it means the destruction of the host.

Matthew 7:19-20
(19)Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20)Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Eventually, the disease must be dealt with to protect the entire orchard. It is better to lose one tree or even a small cluster of trees than to lose the entire orchard. This is a concept that scales to all levels.