In this intrepid episode, Carl contrasts genuine spiritual growth with the hypocrisy of religious performance. Using biblical metaphors of seed, soil, trees, and seasons, he explains that God’s Word planted in a receptive heart, yields lasting fruit via the process of sanctification. Believers grow through cycles of growth, i.e., pruning, dormancy, and harvest, each serving God’s purpose in shaping their character. This message emphasizes trusting God’s timing and allowing inner change before outward success. The fruit of the Spirit is merely the evidence of an ongoing Spirit-led life. Join Carl now…
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Friend, welcome to Fruit of the Spirit part 2, live…And this is such an important part of God’s Word, friend. I don’t want you to miss it. Let’s join me now, live in session…So, here’s the way of not doing it. There are two trees mentioned, hypocrisy versus real change. Remember, Jesus said, by their fruits you will know them, okay? But the downfall of the Pharisees was their hypocrisy. Their focus was on the external, trying to look good in front of other people, putting a little bit of ashes on their face to make them look like they were fasting and standing on the street corners and saying, oh mighty God, I pray to thee now, you know, in front of everybody, right? Jesus said, go into your closet, pray in secret, you’ll be rewarded openly. Beware of people, friend, who tell you they read five chapters of the Bible every day and they go to church three times a week and they have 15 bumper stickers and this and that and they’re always telling you how godly they are and how religious they are. Be careful with that person because it’s like they’re trying to justify something. We let our works and our fruit shine before men, amen? We’re just ourselves and we say, Lord, you’re doing it through me, amen? We don’t have to prove anything, all right? So, external conformity produces a shallow character. Jesus rebuked that shallow character of trying to be the dude in front of everybody else. They were like, oh, I’m giving this much tithe and they’re looking down on how much other people are giving, but when there was someone who was poor who really needed the money, they wouldn’t give him anything.
That’s not the attitude, friends. So, as we allow the Lord to work within us, we will see fruit on display, amen? And that’s the attitude we want. The way I would judge it is this, be as transparent as you possibly can in your soul. Don’t have any veneer or something that’s covering the real you. People who try to be something else, they’re going to be found out in time, amen? Including pastor. Okay? So, we need to be as open as possible. You know what? I don’t know that. If I don’t know something, I’ll say it. We need to just be straight. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. There’s no veneers. There’s nothing to cover us, amen? So, every week, we pray and say, Lord, change our heart, change our soul, and you guys do it. And we’ve seen amazing fruit, okay? We’ve seen wonderful fruit here. And it’s because of your bravery. It’s true. So, the seed will cause you to bear fruit. Genesis 1:11 says, “let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so.” God’s word is the seed and your heart is the soil. Jesus went around scattering seed. Can you remember when you first got saved? How did you guys get saved? Someone probably ministered some passage and you heard it. And it went down into your spirit and you had a choice. Do I acknowledge this truth or do I just move on to the bar and carry on or whatever else you were doing? I don’t know.
But the point is, we all have a choice in this world, amen? And God is going to honor that choice. It’s not just a case of getting saved. It’s moving on after salvation and going through a process called sanctification. And sanctification is a molding of Christ’s character in us. That’s a never-ending thing. Bearing fruit is another analogy for that. Bearing fruit, sanctification, refining, going through refining fire. These are all analogies or metaphors for allowing the Lord to change us, amen? It’s powerful, friends. You’re not the person you were five years ago. Don’t say, yeah, I looked in the mirror today and I know that. No, it’s not outward, all right? It’s inward, amen? We got makeup and stuff for that. Don’t worry about that. Don’t worry about all those wrinkles and stuff. We got creams and stuff. I’m not sure whether cream works or not, but okay. So, as you spend time with Jesus, you will reap a harvest in your soul. The word of God is the seed you plant daily. But if you don’t plant seed, what’s gonna happen? You’re not gonna get anything, right? So, if you don’t plant, if you don’t sow, you’re not gonna reap. And that is key. Spending time with the Lord will produce a 30, 60, and 100-fold return. If you sow a seed, you don’t get a seed back. You get crops. So, that’s a wonderful aspect of the way God set it up. It only takes a little bit of seed to make an impact. Hallelujah.
So, like I said, part of the planting process is digging up thorns, thistles, weeds, and stones. You know, stones, they draw away the moisture from the plant. So, the plant is competing with moisture. So, the stone is here, and so it doesn’t know what to do. Do I draw from the stone or do I draw from the soil? It’s in competition. And friends, within your own soul, there’s some things that you’re in competition with. You have some desires that you really want, but are these desires competing with Christ in your soul, is my question to you. Are there some things that are competing with his attention? Lord, I really want this. And he’s saying, son or daughter, I will give this to you, but you’re gonna have to put it on hold right now. And there will be a time when it’s fulfilled. But if this thing is always in front of you, it’s almost like an idol. It’s like, I really want this so bad. I’m always focusing on it. I’m always praying about it. There comes a point where you just put it on the altar and say, holy fire, burn it up. Amen? Let that sucker burn up. Let that desire just burn up. Every time I’ve done that in life, down the road, there’s been a wonderful blessing where God fulfilled it in his timing. Amen? It’s so true. If we have it, God doesn’t have it. But if God has it, we don’t have it. Do you see the analogy? When we cast our care, we’re actually empowering the Holy Spirit to work through us. But if we’re carrying these cares around with us, we’re burdened. And we don’t want to be in that mindset of being burdened all the time because it’s oppressive.
It’s just, it gets us down all the time. And so we just have to let it go. Amen? I mean, this is something the Lord is dealing with me all the time. Okay? This is an area where maybe I’ve struggled of late. In the past, I hadn’t. But sometimes as we go through life, we struggle with different things. It didn’t bother me 10 years ago, but it’s bothering me now. Can anybody relate? And so the enemy sometimes can work different things into our lives that try to get our attention. And the Lord says, look, put it aside, focus on me, and seek the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. Amen? Matthew 6:33. So there’s the analogy that we’re fruit, individually, and then the scripture also says that we’re trees. Psalm 1, right? The famous one. Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. In his law he does meditate day and night. Here it is. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in his season. Notice that statement. His leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he does shall prosper. We go through cycles, seasons of fruit. We have times of dormancy. We have times of pruning, right? If you’re a tree, you go through a cycle, right? Four cycles. And so John is right when he says we’re always bearing fruit. It is a true statement, brother. Just chill out. We’re continually bearing fruit. That is a true statement. But what I’m making in this point in the tree is that we are going through seasons where we have a season of fruit, and then we step into dormancy, and then we step into pruning, and then down the road, what’s going to happen? We’re going to get more fruit, right? So the question is, which season are you in? The answer is be patient because another season’s coming.
If you hang around for the winter, we know in Colorado there’s a 11-month winter, and we were blessed. And then that one month, no, there’s about a six or seven, maybe eight-month winter, and then we have a real fast spring, and it’s like now we’re in the summer. And so sometimes we have quick transitions between seasons, and that can happen in our lives as well. But what I’m saying is if you’re in a time right now that’s dormant and nothing is happening on the outside of your life, maybe the Lord is changing you on the inside the most. That’s the time of dormancy in the winter when the tree is doing nothing, there’s no leaves, there’s no growth on the inside, it’s storing up sap for the next season. And so internally there’s a massive work going on. How many can relate? Oh yeah. What’s happening with you brother? Well, nothing much. I mean, I’m still in the same place I was, you know? Yeah, but internally the Lord could be doing a great work inside of you. He’s always doing something, amen? He’s always doing something. And so these are the four seasons. Dormancy, pruning, fruit, and growth. In the time of growth it’s testing. It can be sometimes difficult. How many know what growing pains are like? It’s not always pleasant. Then we go into complete dormancy where nothing is happening on the outside, like I said, but internally God could be preparing you for the next step in your life. Many times when you’re promoted you go through a season of testing before the promotion occurs. So he’s shaping and molding you so that you’re equipped so when the promotion comes you’re not gonna fall.
It would be foolish for God not to prepare you first because when you get to the promoted level you have more demands on you, you have more things happening, you have a lot more to balance, and you may not be ready for that, right? Consider the the Empire State Building, right, in New York. It is as deep a third as it is high. A deep as third as it is high. Think of that foundation they had to build for that building. So what you would say is, hey, what’s going on with that building over there? Nothing much, they’re just building the foundation. And for several months nothing is happening outwardly, nothing on the surface is happening, but oh, friend, a firm foundation is being built. And that’s when people despise it. They’re like, man, all I’m doing is building foundation. This sucks. I want to start building. But friend, if you don’t build deep enough you’re not gonna go high enough. The deeper you build the higher you’re gonna go. Okay, pruning. Choice branches are snipped to bear more fruit. Now I’m not a gardener, my wife is, so I got some of this from her, but the more you prune the more you can get more fruit down the road. Instead of allowing that fruit to develop, you snip it. So it looks like you get a little bit of a breakthrough, a little says no, we’re snipping that breakthrough. But down the road, oh, it’s gonna be 30, 60, 100 fold. So at the time pruning is never pleasant, but it’s for our benefit. Say benefit. Amen.
We have to submit to a God who knows what he’s doing, amen? Oh yeah, he knows what he’s doing. Sometimes you may think he doesn’t, and then we, of course, we have the exciting time, breakthroughs, harvests, high fives, promotions, life’s great. But how many can see in this cycle that only one quarter of the time you’re in fruit season, right? That means three quarters of the time something else is going on. I mean, people are like, I want fruit season every week, man, come on, let’s bring it. But the truth is, there are internal workings going on, and development issues, and character growth opportunities, and all these other things, because God is building eternal fruit. It’s not just for now, it’s your character is gonna be taken to heaven, amen? That’s true. We’re eternal beings now, not when we get to heaven. We’re already eternal. You either spend time in hell or heaven, it’s our choice. So this is Peter versus Paul, and I found them fighting here on the internet. But what’s interesting about the fruit is that it’s mentioned by both people. Peter and Paul both mentioned it, but in different ways.
So here it is, guys, what you’ve been waiting for. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, virtue, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. Now, why does it say against such there is no law? Because if you bear these fruits, you’re going to obey all of the law. It comes back to loving God and loving people. If you do those things, you’ll obey the law. And those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Here it is. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Now, chapter 1, verse 5 says, and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, which is another word for goodness, and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and self-control, patience, and patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. Now, notice that love, goodness, and self-control are in both. Love, goodness, and self-control are in both passages, friend, and this is particularly pertinent. And we will pick this study up again tomorrow. Good night, God bless, and remember to spread the good news.
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/the-fruit-of-the-spirit-part-1-live/
https://www.bibleanalysis.org/what-are-the-fruits-of-the-spirit-and-why-are-they-important-in-christian-teachings/
Title: The Fruit of the Spirit: Part 2
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Hypocrisy vs Real Change in Faith
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Six Frequently Asked Questions:
1. What does Jesus mean when He says, “By their fruits you will know them”?
When Jesus says, “By their fruits you will know them,” He is teaching us to look beyond outward appearances and superficial acts of piety. True character is revealed by the fruit a person bears—meaning their actions, attitudes, and behaviors. It’s not about how much someone can outwardly appear religious or perform rituals; instead, it’s about the inner transformation that results in genuine godliness. Hypocrisy, as seen in the Pharisees, is when someone focuses only on external conformity while neglecting true inner change.
2. What is the difference between hypocrisy and real change in a Christian’s life?
Hypocrisy is when someone pretends to be something they’re not, focusing on outward displays of holiness without true inner transformation. For example, the Pharisees in Jesus’ time were focused on outward religious actions, like fasting and giving, but lacked genuine love and compassion. In contrast, real change happens when the Holy Spirit transforms a person’s heart and character, leading to lasting fruit in their lives. Real change is an ongoing process of sanctification, where our desires and actions begin to reflect Christ more fully.
3. What role does the seed (God’s Word) play in bearing fruit?
The seed represents God’s Word, which is planted in the soil of our hearts. Just as a seed grows into a fruit-bearing tree when nurtured, God’s Word, when received into our hearts, causes us to grow spiritually and bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). If we do not actively plant and nurture this seed—by reading and meditating on Scripture—there will be no spiritual fruit. The fruit we bear depends on the Word being planted, watered, and cultivated in our lives.
4. What does it mean that we go through seasons of fruit-bearing, dormancy, and pruning?
Spiritual growth is cyclical. We go through seasons where we bear fruit, but also times of dormancy (when it feels like nothing is happening externally), and seasons of pruning (when God cuts away areas of our life that aren’t bearing good fruit). Each season has a purpose: dormancy allows us to store up spiritual strength, pruning prepares us for greater fruitfulness, and seasons of growth bring breakthroughs and spiritual harvests. Understanding these seasons helps us stay patient and trust God’s timing, knowing that each one contributes to our overall spiritual maturity.
5. Why does the Bible say, “Against such there is no law”?
The phrase “Against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:23) means that when we live according to the fruit of the Spirit, we are living in perfect alignment with God’s will and the law. The law was given to guide us and reveal sin, but when we live in the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc.—we naturally fulfill the law’s intent. There’s no need for a law to restrain someone who is living by the Spirit, because their life will already be marked by righteousness and godliness.
6. What is the relationship between love, goodness, and self-control in spiritual growth?
Love, goodness, and self-control are foundational aspects of spiritual maturity, and they appear in both the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5) and in the virtues Peter lists (2 Peter 1:5-7). Love is the root of all the other fruits—if we love God and love others, all the other fruits will naturally follow. Goodness (virtue) is moral excellence that flows from that love, and self-control is the ability to exercise discipline over our desires, actions, and emotions. These three virtues are crucial in shaping the character of a believer and are often present together.
