Observation 6: That Branches Which Have Brought Forth True Fruit, God Does Not Take Away

The 6th doctrine is, that those who are true branches, and bring forth any true fruit pleasing to God, though they have many corruptions in them, yet God takes them not away, cuts them not off. The opposition implies this, he speaks of taking away the other, not so of these, but purges them. It is an elegant word-play which the Holy Ghost here uses.

For an instance to prove this, (in which I will also keep to the metaphor here used) I take that place Isaiah 27, where this his care of fruitful branches, with the very same difference put between his dealing with them, and the unfruitful that is here, is elegantly expressed to us. God professes himself the keeper of a vineyard his church (verses 2-3): 'I the Lord do keep it,' and verse 6: 'He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root, Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the earth with fruit.' But Israel having corruption in him which would hinder his growth, he must be lopped and cut. And so in the next verses, God is said to deal with him; but not so as to cut them off, as he does others that are both his and their enemies. Has he smitten them as he smote those that smote him? No. For 'in measure when it shoots forth, you will debate with it.' When Israel is but a tender plant, and first shoots forth, he does but in measure debate with it, that is, in such a proportion as not to destroy it, or cause it to wither, but that it may blossom more, he measures out, as it were, afflictions to them, but stays his rough wind, as it follows; that is, such afflictions as would shake that his plant too much, or quite blow it down; but such a wind as shall make it fruitful, and blow away its untimely blossoms and leaves: so much and no more will he let out of his treasury, even he who holds the winds in his fists, and can moderate them as he pleases. For his scope and purpose is nothing less than to cut off Jacob, both root and branch, because of corruptions and sins that do cleave to him. But 'this is all the fruit to take away the sin,' says he, verse 9, that is, this is the fruit of that wind, and of all these his dealings with them: and it is [All] the fruit, that is, all that he intends thereby, even to purge them.

But does he deal so with others? No, for the boughs of the most fortified city wither, and are broken off and burned (verses 10-11).

First, because in Christ God accepts a little good, and it pleases him more, than sin in his does displease him. And therefore as in nations he will not destroy the righteous with the wicked, so nor in men will he cast away their righteousness that is in them for a little wickedness' sake, but will rather purge out the one, and so preserve the other. This we have expressed under the same metaphor, Isaiah 65:8, 'Thus says the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says destroy it not; for a blessing is in it.' That is, look as when a man is about to cut down a vine, and his axe is even at the root of it, and one standing by, spies a cluster upon it, that has new wine in it; which also argues there is sap still in the root, which may yet bring forth more; 'Oh,' says he, 'destroy it not.' Even so says God of nations and men that fear him: of nations, where he has many holy ones. So there it follows, 'So will I do (with Israel) for my servants' sake I will not destroy them all.' And thus he likewise says of particular men, 'There is a blessed work in such a man's heart, though mingled with much corruption, Oh destroy it not.' Take away the sin if possible, but cut not off the man: why should his grace perish with his wickedness? Every drop of grace is precious, it cost the blood of Christ, and he will not suffer it to be destroyed.

Because he has ordained, that all the fruits of his children should remain (John 15:16). Now if they should be cut off, their fruit would wither, their work must perish with them; now no man's work shall prove in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15). But though the world, and all works, and lusts of the world will with their makers come to nothing, 'yet he that does the will of God endures forever' (1 John 2:17). As the works of Christ in himself are eternal, so his works in us are eternal also, because they are the fruits of what he did. 'He that sows liberally, and gives to the poor, his righteousness remains forever.'

Thirdly, because he loves the person, and hates only the sin, therefore he preserves the one, destroys only the other. This is all the fruit — to take away the sin. Thus Psalm 99:8: 'He forgave the persons, and took vengeance only on their inventions.' The covenant that is made with us in Christ, is not a covenant made with works, but with persons: and therefore though the works be often hateful, yet he goes on to love the persons. And that he may continue to love them, destroys out of them what he hates, but cuts not them off. A member that is leprous or ulcerous, a man loves it as it is his own flesh (Ephesians 5:29), though he loathes the corruption and putrefaction that is in it: and therefore he does not presently cut it off, but purges it daily, lays plasters to it to eat the corruption out. Whereas a wart or a growth that grows to a man's body, a man gets it cut off, for he does not reckon it as his flesh.

Fourthly, therein God shows his skill, that he is able to deal with a branch which has much corruption in it, so skillfully, as to sever the corruption, and let the branch stand still. To utterly cut down, and make spoil of all, there is no great skill required; but to lop the branches in the right place, and due time and season, so as they may become fruitful, this is from the skill of the husbandman. Come to unskillful surgeons with a sore leg or arm, and they seeing it past their skill, they talk of nothing but cutting it off, and tell you it is so far gone, that there is no way else; but come to one that is skillful indeed, that discerns it is not so perished, but it may be cured, and he will try his art upon it. And so does God with branches and members that have much corruption in them, he tries his skill upon them, makes a great cure of a leg or an arm, where he discerns some sound flesh, though much corrupted; he can cut out the dead flesh, and let the sound remain, and so makes it whole in the end.

Of comfort to those who are true branches, and continue to bring forth fruit in the midst of all the trials that befall them, that God will not suffer them to be cut off by their corruption. If anything in them should provoke God to do it, it must be sin: now for that, you see how Christ promises that God will take order with it, and will purge it out of them. In Psalm 89:28-30, this is the covenant made with David, (as he was a type of Christ, with whom the same covenant is made sure and firm) that 'if his seed forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments,' what, presently turn them out of doors, and cut them off, as those he meant no more to have to do with? What, nothing but utter rejection? Is there no means of reclaiming them? Never a rod in the house? Yes, 'Then will I visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes,' whip out their stubbornness and sinfulness, 'but my loving kindness will I not take from him as I did from Saul' (1 Chronicles 17:13).

Let the saints consider this, that they may return when they are fallen, and submit to him and his nature, and suffer him to do what he will with them, and endure cutting, and lancing, and burning, so long as he cuts them not off; endure chastening, and all his dealings else, knowing that all the fruit is but to take away the sin to make them partakers of his holiness. And if by any means, as Paul speaks of himself (Philippians 3), be the means what it will, it is no matter. And God, if at any time he seems to cut you off, yet it is but as the incestuous Corinthian was cut off, that the flesh might be destroyed, and the spirit saved.

Of encouragement to go on still to bring forth more fruit to God: for if you do, God will not cut you off, he will spare you as a man spares his son that serves him; he will not take advantage at every fault to cast one off. It was his own law (Deuteronomy 20:19) that such trees as brought forth fruit fit for food, they should not destroy when they came into an enemy's country. Does God take care of trees? No, it was to teach us, that if we bring forth fruit, he will not destroy us, if it be fruit indeed, fit for food. Oaks bring forth apples, such as they are, and acorns, but they are not fit for food; such trees they might cut down. So if you bring not forth such fruit as is for God's taste and relish, in which you sanctify not God and Christ in your heart, you may and will be cut down, but else not. If you are betrothed to Christ, and he has begotten children on you, fear not a bill of divorce, he will not lightly cast you off. And it is a good argument to use to him, desire him to spare you by all the children he has begotten on you. Children increase love between man and wife, so between Christ and us.

Doctrine 6: that unfruitful branches, God in the end cuts off, and the several degrees whereby he cuts off professors that are unfruitful.

That unfruitful branches God in the end takes away: as he did Judas, who was here especially aimed at. For proof, take Psalm 125. It is a psalm made of purpose to show the different estate of the professors of religion. Those that are upright, verse 4, he says, God will continue to do them good, and they shall be at Mount Zion, and all the gates of hell shall not be able to remove one of those mountains. But because there are many, that like planets go the same course with the other orbs, and yet have some secret by-way besides of their own, of these he says, 'Those that turn aside into crooked ways, God will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity.' That is, in the end he will discover them to be what they are. And though they go among the drove of professors, like sheep, yet God will detect them, either in this life, or in the life to come, to be goats. Though they did not seem to be workers of iniquity, yet God will lead them forth with them.

Reasons why God deals thus with them.

First, because they dishonor the root which they profess themselves to be grafted into; they profess themselves to be in Christ. Now he is a fruitful root, full of sap, and for any to be unfruitful in him, is a dishonor to him. When you see unfruitful branches upon a tree, you blame the root for it; so does the world blame the grace of Christ, the profession of Christ, indeed even the root itself, for the unfruitfulness of the branches. Therefore that they may dishonor the root no more, he takes them away, cuts them off from that root they seemed to stand in, and then they run out into all manner of wickedness.

Secondly, because the husbandman has no profit by them: Hebrews 6 — 'The ground that brings forth thorns, and not fruit meet for him that dresses it, is near to cursing.' In Song of Solomon 8, it is said, Solomon had a vineyard, and he let it out to keepers, etc. He speaks this of Christ, of whom Solomon was a type, and of his church; and his comparison stands thus: Solomon being a king, and having many vineyards for his royalty, (for the riches of ancient kings lay much in husbandry) he let them out to vine-dressers, and they had some gain by them; but Solomon must have a thousand, and they but two hundred; the chief gain was to come to Solomon. So the vineyard that God had planted here below, he lets it out to men, and they shall have some profit by it; you shall all have wages for the work you do; yet so as the chief gain must return to God, he must have a thousand for your two hundred. But when men will have all the gains that is in what they do, set up their own ends only, and the husbandman shall have none, such branches he takes away, because they are not for his profit, for it is made a rule of equity (1 Corinthians 9:7): 'That he that plants a vineyard, should eat of the fruit of it.'

Because of all trees a vine is good for nothing else but to bring forth fruit; as we see it expressed to us in Ezekiel 15: it is good for nothing but the fire when it becomes unfruitful. Other trees are good for building, to make pins of, but not the vine. And this similitude God chose out, to show that of all trees else, professors, if unfruitful, are good for nothing, their end is to be burned.

Now if you ask, how God takes them away? The degrees he does it by are set down here, verse 6: 'If a man abide not in me,' etc., that is, fall away, then: 1. they are cast out, and 2. they wither, 3. they are gathered, 4. they are burned.

First, they are cast forth, that is, out of the hearts of God's people, out of their company, out of their prayers, indeed and out of their society by excommunication often, and many times they cast out themselves, being given up to such errors, as discover them to be unsound. As Hymenaeus and Philetus, they were forward professors, so that their fall was like to have shaken many of the fruitful branches, in so much that the Apostle was forced to make an apology about their fall: 'Nevertheless the foundation of God remains sure' (2 Timothy 2:18). God gave them up to such opinions and heresies, as discovered their hearts to be rotten and unsound. So also he gives these carnal professors up to such sins as will discover them. This was the case of Cain, he brought forth some fruit, for he sacrificed; yet because not in sincerity, he envied his brother, and was given up to murder his brother, upon which it is said, that 'He was cast out of the sight of the Lord' (Genesis 4:16), that is, cast out of his Father's family, and from the ordinances of God there enjoyed, and made a vagabond upon the face of the whole earth, which of all curses is the greatest. Or else, as was said, they of their own accord forsake the assembly of the saints. The Apostle makes this a step to the sin against the Holy Ghost (Hebrews 10:25): he says, that when men forsake the assemblies and company of the people of God, public and private, and love not to quicken and stir up one another, or begin to be shy of those they once accompanied, they are in a near degree to that which follows in the next verse: to sin willfully after they have received the knowledge of the truth.

Secondly, being thus cast forth, they wither; that is, the sap of abilities which they once had, begins to decay; that life in holy duties, and in holy speeches, begins to be withdrawn, and their leaves begin to fall off, they cannot pray nor speak of holy things, as they were accustomed. Thus it is said of such professors (Jude 12): that their fruit withers, even here in the eyes of men; for when God casts them out, then he withdraws his Spirit from them; and then, although they come to the ordinances, yet they have no breathings; they come to prayer, and the Spirit of God is departed, and so by degrees God withdraws sap from them, until they be quite dead. Thus he dealt with Saul, when he had discovered himself by sparing the Amalekites, and by persecuting David, it is said, the Spirit of God departed from him, and he withered ever after, all his gifts vanished, and the spirit or frame of heart he once had, departed from him. So likewise they that had not gained by their talents (Matthew 25:26), their talents were taken from them, even in this life, and the Spirit of God, which rested upon them, rested upon some other that were more faithful.

Thirdly, lying long unfruitful, in the end it is said they are gathered. Our translation has it, 'Men gather them,' which either respects a punishment in this life, that when they are cast out from the society of God's people, wicked men gather them, they fall to those that are naught: popish persons, or profane atheists take them, as the Pharisees did Judas, when he cast himself out of the society of the Apostles. Or else it may in a metaphor refer to the life to come; the angels, they are the reapers, they gather them in the last day, and bind them in bundles for the fire.

So lastly, it is said, they are cast into the fire, and they burn. A man would think he needed not to have added that, for being cast into the fire, they must needs burn; but his meaning is, that of all others they make the fiercest, hottest fire, because they are trees most seared, and fuel fully dry, as the Prophet speaks.

You then that profess the name of Christ, take heed that you be fruitful branches indeed. I say to you as the Apostle says (Romans 11:19-20): 'Because of unbelief, they were broken off: you stand by faith, be not high-minded, but fear.' Take heed that it be fruit that you bring forth, do all for God, make him your end in all, bring forth more fruit every day, let your fruit be riper, and more spiritual daily, labor to spread, and root yourselves as much downward in inward holiness, as you do upward in outward profession, and purge yourselves continually, lest that which is threatened here, befall you, which are fearful things to be spoken, and yet concern many a soul. The Apostle compares such to trees twice dead, and plucked up by the roots. You were born dead in Adam; since that you have had perhaps some union with Christ by common graces; if you wither again, then you are twice dead, and therefore fit for nothing but to be stubbed up, and cast into the fire. And if any soul begin to forsake the assemblies of the saints, or be cast out from them, let him look to himself lest he wither in the end, and be twice dead, and so he never comes to have life put into him again, that is, repent, and return again. And know this, that if you being cast out by the church and people of God, break your hearts, so that you mourn for your sin, as the incestuous Corinthian did, it is a sign you are such branches as God will yet make fruitful; but if being cast out you begin to wither, as here, the end will be burning.

The sixth doctrine is that those who are true branches and bear any true fruit pleasing to God — though they have many corruptions in them — God does not take away or cut off. The contrast implies this: He speaks of taking away the unfruitful ones, but not these. Instead He purges them. The Holy Spirit employs an elegant wordplay here.

As an example to prove this — while staying with the metaphor used here — I turn to Isaiah 27, where God's care for fruitful branches, with the very same distinction between His treatment of them and of the unfruitful ones, is beautifully set forth. God declares Himself the keeper of His vineyard, His church (verses 2-3): 'I the Lord do keep it,' and verse 6: 'He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root, Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the earth with fruit.' But Israel, having corruption that would hinder his growth, must be pruned and cut. So in the following verses God is said to deal with him — but not by cutting him off, as He does with those who are both God's enemies and Israel's enemies. Has He struck them as He struck those who struck Him? No. 'In measure, when it shoots forth, You will debate with it.' When Israel is only a tender plant just beginning to grow, God deals with it only in measured proportion — enough not to destroy it or cause it to wither, but enough to make it blossom more. He measures out afflictions to them, but holds back His rough wind, as the text goes on to say — that is, the kind of affliction that would shake and uproot that tender plant. He allows only what will make it fruitful and blow away its premature blossoms and excess leaves. So much and no more will He release from His treasury — He who holds the winds in His fists and can moderate them as He pleases. His purpose and intention is never to cut off Jacob, root and branch, despite the corruptions and sins that cling to him. 'But this is all the fruit — to take away the sin,' says He in verse 9. That is, this is the only fruit of that wind and of all His dealings with them: all He intends is to purge them.

But does He deal this way with others? No — for the boughs of the most fortified city wither and are broken off and burned (verses 10-11).

First, because in Christ God accepts a little good, and it pleases Him more than sin in His own displease Him. Therefore, just as He would not destroy the righteous along with the wicked in a nation, so He will not throw away the righteousness He finds in a person merely because of some wickedness. Rather, He will purge out the one and preserve the other. This is expressed under the same metaphor in Isaiah 65:8: 'Thus says the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, destroy it not, for a blessing is in it.' Picture a man about to cut down a vine, his axe already at the root, when someone standing nearby spots a cluster that still has new wine in it — evidence that there is sap still in the root, which may yet bring forth more fruit. 'Oh,' says the bystander, 'destroy it not.' So God says this of nations and individuals who fear Him. Of nations where He has many holy people, He follows with, 'So will I do for My servants' sake — I will not destroy them all.' And He likewise says of particular individuals, 'There is a blessed work in this person's heart, though mingled with much corruption — destroy it not.' Take away the sin if possible, but do not cut off the person. Why should his grace perish along with his wickedness? Every drop of grace is precious — it cost the blood of Christ, and He will not allow it to be destroyed.

Because He has ordained that all the fruit of His children shall remain (John 15:16). If they were cut off, their fruit would wither and their work perish with them. Yet no one's work done in the Lord will prove to be in vain (1 Corinthians 15). Though the world, and all worldly works and desires, will come to nothing along with those who made them, 'yet he who does the will of God endures forever' (1 John 2:17). Just as Christ's works in Himself are eternal, so His works in us are eternal too, for they are the fruit of what He did. 'He who sows generously and gives to the poor — his righteousness remains forever.'

Third, because He loves the person and hates only the sin. Therefore He preserves the one and destroys only the other. As He says, 'This is all the fruit — to take away the sin.' Psalm 99:8 expresses this: 'He forgave the persons and took vengeance only on their inventions.' The covenant made with us in Christ is not a covenant with works but with persons. Therefore, though our works are often hateful, He goes on loving the persons. In order to keep loving them, He destroys what He hates but does not cut them off. A man loves a diseased or ulcerated limb as his own flesh (Ephesians 5:29), even though he is disgusted by the corruption and decay in it. He does not immediately cut it off but tends to it daily, applying treatments to eat away the corruption. But a wart or growth that has attached itself to a man's body he cuts off, because he does not regard it as his own flesh.

Fourth, in this God shows His skill — that He is able to deal with a branch deeply infected with corruption so skillfully that He can cut out the corruption and let the branch remain. To cut everything down and destroy it all requires no great skill. But to prune the branches in the right place and at the right time and season, so that they become more fruitful — that comes from the skill of the husbandman. Go to an unskilled surgeon with a diseased leg or arm, and he, seeing it beyond his ability, will talk of nothing but cutting it off. He will tell you it has gone too far and there is no other way. But go to one who is truly skilled — who sees that it has not perished beyond recovery — and he will try his art on it. So God does with branches and members that have much corruption in them. He tries His skill on them, performing a great cure on a leg or arm where He discerns some sound flesh beneath the corruption. He can cut out the dead flesh and leave the sound, and in the end makes the whole limb whole.

This brings comfort to those who are true branches, continuing to bear fruit in the midst of all their trials: God will not allow them to be cut off by their corruption. If anything in them could provoke God to do it, it would be sin. Yet for that, you see how Christ promises that God will deal with it — He will purge it out of them. In Psalm 89:28-30, this is the covenant made with David — and, as he was a type of Christ, this same covenant is made firm with Christ — that 'if his seed forsake My law and walk not in My judgments,' what then? Would God immediately throw them out and cut them off, as those He intended to have nothing more to do with? Nothing but complete rejection? Is there no means of reclaiming them? No rod in the house? No — 'Then I will visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes' — I will discipline and correct their stubbornness and sinfulness — 'but My loving kindness I will not take from him, as I took it from Saul' (1 Chronicles 17:13).

Let the saints consider this, so that when they fall they may return to Him, submit to Him and His purpose, and allow Him to do with them what He will. Endure the cutting and lancing and burning, so long as He does not cut them off. Endure His discipline and all His dealings, knowing that all the fruit of it is simply to take away the sin and make them partakers of His holiness. And let the means be whatever they must be, as Paul speaks of himself in Philippians 3 — it does not matter. And if God at any time seems to cut you off, it is only as the immoral man at Corinth was cut off — so that the flesh might be destroyed and the spirit saved.

This also encourages us to keep bearing more fruit for God. If you do, God will not cut you off. He will spare you as a man spares a son who serves him — He will not seize on every fault to discard someone. It was His own law (Deuteronomy 20:19) that when they entered an enemy's land, they were not to destroy trees that produced food. Does God care for trees? No — it was to teach us that if we bear fruit, He will not destroy us, provided it is truly fruit, fit for food. Oak trees produce fruit of a kind — acorns — but they are not fit for food. Such trees might be cut down. So if you do not produce fruit that is satisfying to God, in which you do not honor God and Christ in your heart, you may and will be cut down. But if you do produce such fruit, you will not be. If you are betrothed to Christ and He has brought forth children through you, do not fear a bill of divorce — He will not lightly cast you off. It is a good argument to bring to Him — ask Him to spare you for the sake of all the children He has begotten through you. Children increase love between husband and wife, and so it is between Christ and us.

Doctrine 6: that unfruitful branches God in the end cuts off, and the several stages by which He cuts off professors who are unfruitful.

That God ultimately takes away unfruitful branches — as He did with Judas, who was especially in view here. For proof, consider Psalm 125. It is a psalm composed specifically to show the different condition of those who profess religion. Of those who are upright (verse 4), God will continue to bless them, and they will stand firm at Mount Zion — all the gates of hell cannot remove one of those mountains. But there are many who, like planets, follow the same general path as the other orbs yet have their own secret deviation running alongside. Of these, He says: 'Those that turn aside into crooked ways, God will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity.' That is, He will eventually expose them for what they are. Though they move among the company of professors like sheep, God will reveal them — either in this life or in the life to come — to be goats. Though they did not appear to be workers of iniquity, God will lead them out with those who are.

Reasons why God deals this way with them.

First, because they dishonor the root they profess to be grafted into. They profess themselves to be in Christ. He is a fruitful root, full of sap, and for any branch to be unfruitful in Him is a dishonor to Him. When you see unfruitful branches on a tree, you blame the root. So the world blames the grace of Christ, the profession of Christ — indeed, the root itself — for the unfruitfulness of the branches. Therefore, so that they may dishonor the root no more, He takes them away, cuts them off from the root they seemed to stand in. And then they run out into all manner of wickedness.

Second, because the husbandman gets no benefit from them. Hebrews 6: 'The ground that brings forth thorns and not fruit fit for him that tends it is near to cursing.' In Song of Solomon 8, Solomon is said to have had a vineyard and let it out to keepers. He speaks this of Christ, of whom Solomon was a type, and of His church. The comparison stands like this: Solomon, being a king with many vineyards that formed part of his royal wealth — for the riches of ancient kings lay largely in farming — let them out to vine-dressers. They had some profit from them, but Solomon must receive a thousand and they only two hundred — the chief gain was to return to Solomon. So the vineyard God has planted here below He lets out to people, and they will have some profit. You will all receive wages for the work you do. Yet the chief gain must return to God — He must have a thousand for your two hundred. But when people take all the profit for themselves, pursue only their own ends, and leave nothing for the husbandman, He takes such branches away. It is established as a rule of fairness (1 Corinthians 9:7): 'He that plants a vineyard should eat of the fruit of it.'

Because of all trees, a vine is good for nothing except to bear fruit. As we see expressed in Ezekiel 15: it is fit for nothing but the fire when it becomes unfruitful. Other trees are useful for building — you can make pegs and pins from them — but not the vine. God chose this illustration to show that of all people, professors who are unfruitful are good for nothing. Their end is to be burned.

Now if you ask how God takes them away, the stages are set down in verse 6: 'If a man abide not in me,' etc. — that is, if he falls away — then: 1. they are cast out, 2. they wither, 3. they are gathered, 4. they are burned.

First, they are cast out — out of the hearts of God's people, out of their company, out of their prayers, and indeed out of their fellowship by excommunication. Often too they cast out themselves, being given over to such errors as reveal them to be unsound. Hymenaeus and Philetus were forward professors, and their fall was serious enough to have shaken many of the fruitful branches. The Apostle was compelled to offer reassurance about their fall: 'Nevertheless the foundation of God remains sure' (2 Timothy 2:18). God gave them over to such beliefs and heresies as exposed their hearts to be rotten and unsound. So He also gives worldly professors over to sins that will expose them. This was the case with Cain. He brought forth some fruit, for he made offerings. But because it was not sincere, he envied his brother and was given over to murder him. After this it is said, 'He was cast out from the sight of the Lord' (Genesis 4:16) — cast out from his father's household and from the ordinances of God there enjoyed, made a wanderer over the face of the whole earth. Of all curses, that is the greatest. Or else, as was said, they of their own will forsake the gatherings of the saints. The Apostle treats this as a step toward the sin against the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 10:25). When people forsake the assemblies and company of God's people — both public and private — and no longer desire to encourage and stir up one another, or begin to pull away from those they once kept company with, they have drawn close to what follows in the next verse: sinning willfully after having received the knowledge of the truth.

Second, being thus cast out, they wither. The sap of their former abilities begins to decay. That vitality in holy duties and holy speech begins to withdraw. Their leaves begin to fall — they can no longer pray or speak of holy things as they once did. Jude 12 says of such professors that their fruit withers, even in the sight of other people. When God casts them out, He withdraws His Spirit from them. Though they may still come to the ordinances, they have no breath, no life in them. They come to prayer and the Spirit of God has departed. By degrees God draws back the sap until they are completely dead. This is what happened with Saul. After he revealed himself by sparing the Amalekites and persecuting David, the Spirit of God departed from him and he withered ever after. All his gifts vanished, and the spiritual frame of heart he once had left him. Similarly, those who had not profited from their talents (Matthew 25:26) had their talents taken from them even in this life. The Spirit of God, which had rested upon them, rested instead upon others who were more faithful.

Third, lying long unfruitful, in the end they are gathered. Our translation reads 'Men gather them,' which may refer either to a punishment in this life — when they are cast out from the society of God's people, wicked men gather them in. They fall into the company of those who are corrupt: ungodly people, popish persons, or profane atheists take them in, as the Pharisees did with Judas when he cast himself out of the fellowship of the apostles. Or it may serve as a metaphor for the life to come. The angels are the reapers — they gather such people in the last day and bind them in bundles for the fire.

So finally, they are cast into the fire, and they burn. One might think there was no need to add that, since being thrown into the fire they must necessarily burn. But His meaning is that of all people, they make the fiercest and hottest fire, because they are the most thoroughly dried out and fully seasoned fuel — as the prophet describes it.

You who profess the name of Christ — take heed that you are truly fruitful branches. I say to you what the Apostle says in Romans 11:19-20: 'Because of unbelief they were broken off; you stand by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear.' Take care that what you produce is true fruit. Do all things for God, make Him your end in everything. Bring forth more fruit every day. Let your fruit be riper and more spiritual day by day. Work to spread and root yourself as deeply downward in inward holiness as you do upward in outward profession. Continually purge yourself, lest what is threatened here befall you — things that are fearful to speak of, and yet press upon many a soul. The Apostle compares such people to trees twice dead and pulled up by the roots. You were born dead in Adam. Since then you may have had some connection to Christ through common graces. But if you wither again, you are twice dead and therefore fit for nothing but to be pulled up and thrown into the fire. If any soul begins to forsake the gatherings of the saints, or is cast out from them, let him take heed lest he wither in the end, become twice dead, and never have life put into him again — that is, never repent and return. Know this: if being cast out by the church and people of God breaks your heart, so that you mourn for your sin as the immoral man at Corinth did, it is a sign that you are the kind of branch God will yet make fruitful. But if being cast out you begin to wither, as described here, the end will be burning.