I once bought a container of fresh fruit from the grocery store—perfectly arranged, vibrant, and glistening under the fluorescent lights. The grapes were firm, the strawberries deep red, the whole thing practically begging to be eaten. But when I got home and peeled back the lid, the illusion unraveled. Hidden beneath the top layer of beauty were a few soggy grapes and a strawberry speckled with mold. The scent had shifted too—from crisp to slightly fermented. It looked healthy in the store, but underneath, it was bad fruit diseased tree.
Jesus warned us of this very kind of deception—not in the produce aisle, but in people.
“Every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.” (Matthew 7:17)
Not everyone who looks fruitful actually is. Some lives appear spiritually vibrant—filled with activity, influence, and even godly language—but just beneath the surface, the fruit is fake, and the root is sick.
And if we’re not careful, we’ll settle for what looks good instead of examining what’s truly alive.
Jesus never said the diseased tree wouldn’t grow. He never said it wouldn’t have leaves, or even fruit. The danger is that it can grow. It can produce. It can look alive. That’s why His words are so jarring:
“You will recognize them by their fruits… every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 7:16,19)
This wasn’t a warning to obvious sinners. It was aimed at people who prophesied, cast out demons, and claimed His name—people who appeared fruitful to everyone watching. And yet, He said to them, “I never knew you.”
These individuals had spiritual activity without spiritual intimacy. Regularly producing fruit but only the type that impressed men, not God.
They had leaves like Eden and roots like death. And the sobering truth is, we might too—if we don’t inspect what’s feeding us.
The Tree That Looks Healthy… Until You Taste It
Jesus says you can recognize people by their fruit. Not their titles, their influence, or their gifts. Just their fruit.
But what if the fruit looks good?
That’s the danger.
Bad fruit isn’t always loud sin or open rebellion. Sometimes it looks like spiritual activity, well-articulated doctrine, or even miracles—just like the crowd in Matthew 7 who said:
“Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name…?”
And He responds: “I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.”
— Matthew 7:22–23
They bore fruit, right? Yes—but it wasn’t of the Spirit. It was powered by pride, platform, and performance. The tree was diseased—even though the branches looked alive.
That’s the twist.
Bad fruit isn’t just about what’s visible—it’s about where it comes from. And not all diseased trees look dead. Some are growing fast, preaching loud, and claiming power… but their tree is still rooted in the flesh.
It’s easy to spot some bad fruit. The kind that reeks of rebellion. It spoils loudly—sexual sin, drunkenness, rage, envy. Paul names them clearly in Galatians 5, and we nod our heads in agreement because that kind of fruit is easy to condemn. But the more dangerous fruit doesn’t rot in public—it decays in silence, underneath a layer of spiritual polish.
Sometimes, diseased fruit grows in the pew.
What’s Diseased Fruit?
It serves in the choir, leads the small group, runs the outreach ministry. This fruit doesn’t only stop there, unh unh. It also fasts, prays, and posts Scripture daily. But underneath all that motion is a motive that never got crucified.
It’s the root of bitterness, dressed up in spiritual language. It smiles in church, but replay offenses in its heart like highlight reels. It says it’s forgiven, but its soul hasn’t stopped bleeding.
Or the fruit of self-righteousness. This fruit measures its holiness against others’ weaknesses, not Christ’s righteousness. It’s confident it’s right with God—but it’s because it does more, know more, and serve more. The vine it’s attached to isn’t Jesus—it’s its own performance.
Then there’s spiritual pride—the kind that doesn’t boast loudly but silently looks down on those who don’t worship the way it does, pray the way it does, or even believe the way it does. It feels like zeal for the Lord, but it’s just ego in a choir robe.
Sometimes it shows up as restlessness—a chronic striving masked as “serving the Lord.” It says yes to everything because it’s needed, gifted, and available. But it’s soul hasn’t sat at Jesus’ feet in months. It mistakes busyness for fruitfulness, and activity for intimacy.
And then there’s spiritual performance—doing all the right things while hiding the rot in it’s roots. This fruit is tired, but won’t stop. Convicted, but won’t confess. It’s learned how to function in public while dying in private.
This is the diseased tree Jesus warned about: the one that looks alive but isn’t. The one bearing ministry without mercy, truth without tenderness, and influence without intimacy.
The bad fruit diseased tree doesn’t always look bad—until it starts poisoning everything it touches, including you.
The Twisted Root We Don’t Talk About
Here’s the part that makes us squirm: a bad fruit diseased tree isn’t just the person living in open rebellion. It might be the person leading the Bible study. The person hosting the podcast. The one who fasts, prays, and posts Scripture daily—but whose life is not actually rooted in Christ.
And sometimes… it’s us.
Sometimes, we’re the ones bearing bad fruit and calling it obedience. We forgive outwardly but hold grudges in private; post about peace but carry anxiety we refuse to surrender and serve God’s creation but neglect our families. We chase applause in the name of ministry. And we call it good fruit—because it feels good, looks good, and gets results.
But Jesus doesn’t test fruit by its visibility. He tests it by its source. And that’s where we have to wrestle.
Because the real dividing line isn’t between the religious and the irreligious—it’s between those who are rooted in the Spirit and those who are rooted in self, even if they’re speaking the right language.
How to Spot the Difference
Jesus gave the answer in a single phrase:
“I never knew you.”
The bad fruit diseased tree is not diseased because it didn’t work hard. It’s diseased because it wasn’t connected to the source of life. It wasn’t known by Jesus.
It bore fruit, yes—but not the fruit of the Spirit. This yucky fruit produced striving, self-promotion, performance, pressure. It bore the fruit of a world that loves the stage but ignores the secret place. A world that celebrates gifting over holiness. But fruit that lasts comes from intimacy—not activity.
Tying It Back: One Root, One Fruit, Many Expressions
In our first post, we explored the beauty of the Spirit’s fruit—how it’s not a list of goals but the natural overflow of a life surrendered to the Vine. That truth becomes even more sobering in the shadow of Matthew 7.
Because if the Spirit produces one fruit with many expressions…
Then the flesh, the world, and false religion also produce a kind of fruit—one that’s hollow, dangerous, and deadly.
One root leads to transformation. The other leads to deception.
You can fake gifts, fake ministry, and even fake yourself into thinking you’re healthy. But you can’t fake the fruit of the Spirit. Not the kind that lasts.
So the question isn’t just “What kind of fruit am I producing?”
The deeper question is, “What root is feeding me?”
Is it Jesus—or just a version of Him that’s been created to fit a place of comfort?
Because no matter how lush the leaves look, if the root is diseased… the fruit will betray it.
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All Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV), unless otherwise noted.
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