Is not every fruitless professor of Christianity in dreadful danger of becoming a withered fig tree? There can be no doubt of it.
So long as a man is content with the leaves of religion–with a name to live while he is dead, and a form of godliness without the power–so long his soul is in great peril. So long as he is satisfied with going to church or chapel, and receiving the Lord’s supper, and being called a Christian, while his heart is not changed, and his sins not forsaken–then he is daily provoking God to cut him off without remedy. Fruit, fruit–the fruit of the Spirit, is the only sure proof that we are savingly united to Christ, and on our way to heaven. May this sink down into our hearts, and never be forgotten!
~ J.C. Ryle
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 270, 271. {Matthew 21:23-32}
