[Forrest]

Originally Posted by buzzoff1031

But isn't also saying that "believe and you're saved" and then nothing more wrong. There should be fruit no?

Hello "Buzz". Brother George is exactly right. Believing that Jesus Christ died for my sins, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day according to the scriptures is sufficient and final (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). You should also know that being saved by believing in Jesus Christ will always result in bearing genuine fruit. You cannot be connected to the True Vine without yielding genuine fruit and you cannot abide in the Vine without experiencing pruning and purging by the Divine shears of the Husbandman (the Heavenly Father).

John 15:1-5 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Dangerous and harmful doctrine occurs when we fail to understand there are varying amounts of fruit in the life of a believer. When we begin to place emphasis on "works" or "deeds" to substantiate our security in Christ, we will more than likely doubt our salvation and feel defeated in the Christian life because we do not measure up to the "fruitful" and "productive" Christian. We are all at various levels of fruit production and this is supported with scripture.

Matthew 13:23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

If I hold up a cluster of grapes with 30 grapes and another with only two, which branch is bearing fruit? Both of them are. Oh sure, we all admire and respect the "branch" covered in fruit, but the branch with two grapes on it is still alive in the Vine.

What is the solution for bearing fruit, more fruit, and much fruit? The branch (you) should simply abide in the True Vine (Christ) and yield the fruit He produces. Notice that in the life of a branch there is no toiling or striving to bring forth fruit. The branch is not ambitious, regimented, or even talented. It is helpless, yet it flourishes in the vine. The branch is alive and productive; yet resting.

Rest in, and know, Christ. Trust Him to produce the fruit He desires to bring forth in your life. Trust the care of our Heavenly Father, as the husbandman, to prune and purge your life so you can bear fruit, more fruit, and much fruit. Remember that without Christ, you can do nothing, but through Christ you can do all that He directs you to do.