This is where the parable gets very serious and very personal. It is a challenge to you. If you do not know the Lord and you have never been saved, never been converted; if you have never seen your sinfulness and repented and come to seek him and know him, then this is all you deserve. ‘Cut it down.’ If God were to deal with you as you deserve in the matter of your sin – as he has a perfect right to do according to his divine feelings – he would say, ‘Remove him; remove her. Why is she cumbering the ground? Why is he in the way?’ We are not accustomed to thinking of ourselves like this. We like to flatter ourselves in our conceit with a very different view of ourselves. It would shock us if somebody were to say to us, ‘You deserve to be removed from this life. If only you would just disappear, and be taken away! What good are you? You are useless.’ That would shock us beyond measure. We like to think we are rather fine and rather special. But as God looks upon us it is very different. He comes seeking fruit and he finds no prayer, no praise, no spiritual life, and he may rightfully say, ‘Take them away from the face of the earth. What is the use of this one? Why cumbereth it the ground?’ This is the spiritual truth: that if there is no fruit, no holiness, no spiritual life within us, then we may just as well be taken out of this world, because as far as God is concerned we are just useless and in the way.
When God looks to us for fruit, for praise, for prayer, for seeking after him, for spiritual feelings and desires, he not only finds absolutely none, but he finds something else instead is this. He finds we have totally rejected him. He finds we have snubbed him and we are living as though there were no God, no Creator. He finds us hostile to him, and living in utter selfishness. He finds us living carnally, sensually, shamelessly, for sin. He finds us stifling the voice of conscience, and turning away. He finds us encouraging every anti-God influence we can. If you are not a Christian and you do not love the Lord, it is no use thinking you live some kind of a neutral existence. If we had a chance to put your life under the spotlight, we would see all the antagonism, all the resistance, all the anti-God feelings, thoughts, words and acts. A teenager is converted to God and immediately their unconverted parents are against them, unless God in his mercy and in his grace converts them also. They show these anti-God tendencies, wanting to drag the child down again, and do anything to get him away from church going, get him away from the things of God and back into the world. All the bizarre schemes that some parents or relatives, husbands, or wives will follow in order to get the loved one or relative away from religion! Thanks be to God in his mercy, sometimes he takes the persecutor and he converts him or her too. The people of God rejoice in the power of salvation, but if you are not converted, you probably manifest all kinds of hostility and antagonism.
Now you may think that is unreasonable, but it is absolutely reasonable because God has looked for fruit for years. Actually it is quite a flattering illustration, because a fruitless tree – as Master Henry Smith said in a sermon several hundred years ago – may still be kept for its beauty as an ornament. But God can't even say that of us. He comes and he sees no holiness, no worship, no obedience, but he can't even see any beauty either. The condition of our hearts, and their deceitfulness, makes us highly unattractive to him. We are not any good even as ornaments in the sight of God, let alone as fruit bearing trees. So it is actually a very flattering illustration.
Is it true of you that in the last three years there hasn't even been a flicker of interest, the least indication that there would be fruit? You have got a tree in your garden and you say, it's blossoming this year, or there is some sign of life, or it's showing some vigour, some indication that it will be different this year. But with you there is nothing, not a spark. In this last three years, there hasn't been a single moment when your heart melted and you were ashamed of yourself, and you were touched by the love of Christ in dying for sinners, and you wanted to seek him. Has there not even been a flicker of concern about your sin? Not a spark of fear as to what will happen to you on the day of judgment? That is the truth about you: no seeking, no desire to find the Lord, no desire to go on your knees at all. Then this is what God would say to you: ‘Cut it down. What is the good of him? What is the good of her?’
There is another reason also. You may not understand this, but God has gone to great pains over you, keeping your conscience alive, speaking to you, making you feel every time sensitive to sin. What have you done? Turned away from it; rushed for the television found some entertainment. You are not going to consider God’s prompting for a moment. So you quickly drown your feelings of shame and remorse by distracting yourself. Maybe God has put friends along your way, friends who have persevered, invited you to services, tried to speak to you. Maybe you have insulted them, dealt with them badly, and yet God, through his servants, has continued to strive with you, and to reach out to you. He has already spent a lot of time and trouble over you.