The Holy Spirit Produces Fruit in the Believer

Christ calls our attention to the growth of the vegetable world as an illustration of how His Spirit sustains spiritual life. The sap of the grapevine, going up from the root, goes out to the branches and produces fruit. So the Holy Spirit, sent from the Savior, fills the heart, renews the motives, and brings even the thoughts into obedience to God’s will, enabling the person to bear precious fruit.ULe 105.2

The exact method God uses to give spiritual life is beyond human minds to explain. Yet the workings of the Spirit are always in harmony with the written Word. As the natural life is not sustained by a direct miracle, but through the use of blessings God places within our reach, so the spiritual life is sustained by using resources that Providence has supplied. The follower of Christ must eat the bread of life and drink the water of salvation, following the instructions of God in His Word in all things.ULe 105.3

There is another lesson in the experience of those Jewish converts. When they received baptism from John, they did not fully understand Jesus’ mission as the Sin Bearer. But with clearer light, they gladly accepted Christ as their Redeemer, and as they received a purer faith, their lives changed in harmony with their new beliefs. To represent this change and to acknowledge their faith in Christ, they were rebaptized in the name of Jesus.ULe 105.4

Paul continued his work at Ephesus for three months. In the synagogue he “spoke boldly ..., reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God.” As in other places, he was soon violently opposed. “Some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation” (NRSV). As they persisted in rejecting the gospel, the apostle stopped preaching in the synagogue.ULe 105.5

Paul presented enough evidence to win over all who honestly wanted the truth. But many refused to accept the most convincing evidence. Fearing that the believers would be in danger if they continued to associate with these opposers of the truth, Paul gathered the disciples into a group of their own, continuing his public instructions in the school of Tyrannus.ULe 105.6