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Well, praise the Lord if you
would take your Bibles and turn with me to John chapter 15 John chapter number 15, it is
a joy to see each and every one of you here. I know that there
are several that are sick and need our prayers. And, uh, and
I, you know, a reason why there's a few out this morning and then
others, uh, the snow kept them out, uh, yesterday. And, uh,
but, uh, it's a joy to see each and every one of you. John chapter
15. It's been a while since we have preached out of the series
that we've been preaching from for some time. I think it's been
since November that we have preached out of the Gospel of John. But
as many of you know, if you've been attending here for some
time, we have been preaching through this particular gospel.
And we started in January of 2017. And we're just now in the 15th
chapter. But as you know, we've taken some breaks along the way. And I can say for myself, it
has helped me preaching through this tremendous gospel, the gospel
of John. John chapter 15 and verse number
one. Jesus says, I am the true vine,
and my father is the husbandman, or the vine dresser, the gardener.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And
every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring
forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me. and I in you as the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. No more
can you accept ye abide in me. I am the vine and you're the
branches. He that abided in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me. ye can do nothing. Let's pray
together. Our Father, Lord, we ask you,
Lord, during this time, as we have heard from you through your
word, we ask you, Lord, to teach us, Lord, what you are saying. Father, I pray that the things
that we learn, the truths that we behold, father, that they
would be applied to our heart. And Lord, help us to focus completely
upon you, Lord, during this time. May every distraction and the
thoughts, Lord, I pray that they would be removed and that we're
able to focus wholly and completely upon your word. We ask, Father,
all these things in Christ's name. Amen. I want to kind of
remind you as we think about lessons from the Lord's Vineyard
this morning, kind of remind you of the setting. Starting
in chapter 13 and going all the way through chapter 16 is what
we call the upper room discourse. We see that Jesus has gathered
his disciples into the upper room. They have celebrated Passover
on the night before Jesus would die. And they met together in
that upper room. And our Lord just spent some
wonderful one-on-one time with them as he discloses to them
some wonderful things. He gives them many wonderful
promises. And as the night moves on, we
know that in chapter 13, the Lord exposes Judas, the traitor,
and he dismisses him to do his dastardly deed. And by the time
we come to chapter 15, Judas is gone and only the 11 true
disciples remain. And so this is a very intimate
time with Jesus and his 11 remaining disciples. We know that Jesus,
His public ministry has come to an end. He's no longer preaching
to the crowds. He's only now investing in His
disciples in this private setting. We read in the last verse of
chapter 14 that Jesus says to His disciples, go or arise and
let us go up from here. Now many believe that at this
point that Jesus and his disciples, they leave that upper room and
they make their way to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus is
going to pray to the Father and where Jesus is eventually going
to be arrested. And it is quite possible that
as they are walking to the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus speaks
the words which make up chapters 15 and 16. Now, before we get into chapter
15, I want to kind of give you a general overview of the chapter
in this introductory sermon. Kind of give you an overview.
It seems to me that John here is, in chapter 15, is focusing
on three of the most important relationships we have as believers
in Jesus Christ. We see in verses 1 through 11,
that he focuses on our relationship with Christ. And we find that
the key word in those 11 verses, the key word is the word abide
or remain. That word appears some 10 times
in those 10 verses and it emphasizes our union with Christ Jesus,
that we are connected to him. The second section runs from
verses 12 through 17, where the focus is on our interpersonal
relationships with other believers. And we find in those verses that
love is the key word, for it's used some four times in those
six verses. And the point that John stresses
here is that of communion. And Jesus said, they will know
that you're my disciples and that you love one another. And
then the final section goes from verses 18 through 27, where John
highlights the believer's relationship with the world in which we live
in. And if you read those verses,
it's fairly obvious that the key word there is the word hate,
because it pops up some seven times in just those ten verses.
The lesson John underlines here is that of disunion. He mentions how Jesus told his
disciples, the world hates me, and because they hate me, they're
going to hate you. Now when it comes to chapter
15, the first thing we need to really look at and to understand
is that for the entire chapter, Jesus is only speaking to his
disciples, his true disciples. Jesus is talking one-on-one with
his disciples in the upper room. He is not addressing the multitude
here. Also, it's very important to
note that these verses, they revolve around a metaphor. This is a word picture. And here
Jesus talks about a vine. He talks about the vine dresser.
He talks about the branches. And it's a great visual aid that
people could easily identify because it is a very familiar
image to the Jews. They could handle this metaphor,
this word picture with no problem at all. They could understand
every bit of it. We also see in this introductory
sermon, we see the four symbols. The four main symbols in John
15, and that is the vine, the vine dresser, the branches, and
the fruit. The first two we meet in verse
1. The third and fourth we see in
verse number 2. But we see the true vine is none
other than Jesus Christ himself. The vine dresser, or the gardener,
is our Heavenly Father. The branches are you and me,
those who have been saved by the grace of God. The fruit is
the product of Christ's likeness in our lives. Now, in verse 2,
there is a verse that I think we need to spend a little bit
of time to, time on, because it is a verse that has caused
some division and some contention amongst some believers. Verse
2 tells us this, every branch in me that does not bear fruit
he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he prunes that
it may bear more fruit. Now basically there are two lines
of thought here. One is that some claim that this
verse is proof that one can lose their salvation. And really their
argument is that the words takes away signifies loss of salvation. But this interpretation of that
verse is absolutely, it absolutely contradicts the very plain teachings
that are found in many, many other places in the word of God.
Scriptures such as Romans 8, where it talks about nothing
shall separate us from the love of God. Or Ephesians chapter
4 and verse 30, where it talks about that we're sealed until
the day of redemption. Or even Jesus speaking in John
chapter 10, that he is the good shepherd, and he gives his sheep
eternal life, and they shall never perish. And so the Bible
teaches that our eternal security is purchased by Jesus Christ,
is promised by God the Father, and it is sealed by the Holy
Spirit. And so this thought that this
verse speaks of, that we can fall away from grace and lose
our salvation, is false. The other argument is that Jesus
is speaking about a person here in verse 2, about a person who
is a professor and not a possessor. That is, he or she professes
that they are saved, but is not a believer at all. But I do not
believe that this is what Jesus is talking about. Now again,
we need to be reminded, we need to remember that Christ was not
talking to a mixed audience. He's not talking to a group of
people where there were both true believers and false believers. No, He is speaking to His 11
true disciples. So I believe in verse two, it
deals with the believer. He's dealing with the believer.
And the reason I believe that is found in verse two, where
you see that key phrase that Jesus said, in me, in me. He's telling us that he is speaking
here to a people who are in a vital life giving relationship to himself. He is speaking to those who are
saved. Because listen, friend, no one
can be considered a branch in the Lord's vine unless there
is unless there is a vital connection to him. Six times in these verses,
Jesus uses this phrase in me. How does one get to be in Jesus? How does one get to be in Christ? Well, listen, the only way this
can happen is for the new birth to take place. This occurs when
a person comes to see themselves as a sinner. And this, they become
convicted of their sin and they sense the Lord calling them unto
himself and then they respond to him by faith. There has to
be the new birth. before you are in Christ. Now
there are plenty of people today who are in religion, but that
does not mean that you are in Christ. There are a lot of people
today who are in church, but that does not mean that you are
in Christ. There are a lot of people who
are moral and upstanding people, but that does not mean that you
are in Christ. So you must be sure that you
are saved and that you have been grafted into the true vine, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now going back to the setting,
we may ask ourselves this question, why did Jesus give them this
teaching now? Why did Jesus teach them this
metaphor now? Well, I will say simply, it's
because they desperately needed it. They needed it. Remember, Jesus is speaking to
worried and desperately anxious men. I mean, they are absolutely
frightened. They are downhearted. They are
discouraged. Why? Because Jesus has just told
them their master, Jesus, is going to be leaving them. He
has already told them in the previous chapter. He said, let
not your heart be troubled. Jesus knew that they were men
that had troubled hearts. He also said in verse 18 of chapter
14, he said, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. Now, why
did he say that to them? Because he knew that that was
on their heart. They were afraid that they were
going to be left high and dry, you could say. And then he also
tells them, because I've said these things to you, because
I've said that I'm going to be leaving, you have sorrow. Sorrow has absolutely filled
your heart. And so here are grieving men,
here are sorrowful men who love the Lord and they absolutely
depend upon him greatly. And it is here we see Jesus comforting
these sorrowed men. So that's the context. Here are
these sorrowful, apprehensive, anxious men. And they're thinking,
what are we going to do? What's going to happen to us?
Our Lord is going away. He's going to leave us. We're
going to be in trouble. And so that's the context that
he gives them this teaching. And it's a great, really a great
part of this teaching to his disciples. He is reassuring them. He's reassuring them. And I pray
that as we go through this lesson, this sermon this morning, that
the Lord reassures us that we are in Christ as well. First
thing I want you to notice with me this morning is this, the
true vine, the true vine. Jesus said in verse one, I am
the true vine. Again, Jesus uses the metaphor
of a vineyard and it was a metaphor that each and every disciple
was very familiar with. I mean vineyards in that land
was plentiful. It was a very common sight. As
a matter of fact, there was a huge golden vine on the gate of the
temple. And it's even possible that they
were standing near it as Jesus spoke to them this metaphor,
this word picture. But what does it mean that Jesus
is the true vine? Well, notice for one thing, it
means that Jesus is the answer. to the spoiled vine, Israel. Jesus is the answer to the spoiled
vine, Israel. You have to understand that the
vine was their national symbol. It was their bald eagle. It was
their stars and stripes. As a matter of fact, it was printed
on their coins, in their ancient coins. And so the vine was Israel. This was their national symbol.
This is who they are. And the Old Testament has many
references to the nation of Israel as the vine. For instance, in
Psalm 80 and verse number eight, it says this, you brought a vine
out of Egypt. Now listen, who did God bring
out of Egypt? He brought out of Egypt the people
of Israel, the children of Israel. They were the vine. We also see
in Isaiah chapter 5 verse 7, it says, The vineyard of the
LORD, of hosts, is the house of Israel. So the vine was the
nation of Israel. But as you study this out, you'll
find many, many Old Testament references how they often spoke
of the fruitlessness and the failure of the vine. The vine
of Israel was a great disappointment to the Lord. We see this in Jeremiah
chapter 2. In verse 21, God says, I planted
you a choice vine, a completely faithful seed. How then have
you turned degenerate and become a wild vine? So here, speaking
of Israel, is a spoiled vine. It is a fruitless vine. And again and again, we see how
Israel, the vine, how they disobeyed the Lord. They turned from the
Lord and now in Jerusalem, during Jesus' day, you have a godless,
cruel leaders and shallow, unbelieving people. And so at this point,
the Lord Jesus says, I am the true vine. And to say this was
a very shocking, very radical, loaded, political, religious
statement. But yet at the same time, it
was wonderful. And no doubt there was a silence
as Jesus made this statement because they knew what he was
saying. He was saying, you all know how Israel is pictured as
a vine that is meant to produce refreshing fruit. Well, I am
the fulfillment of all that that symbol suggests. Listen, what
national Israel failed to do, Jesus has come to do. All the promises and the blessings
of the covenant are now embodied in Christ. And you see, you have
to understand that the disciples had been thinking to themselves,
Israel has cast us out. Israel is against us. But Jesus
is saying to them, no, no, God has set Israel aside. I am the true vine. So the disciples
here can rest assured that it does not matter if the religious
leaders are against them. Why? Because the religious leaders
are false. It is in Jesus that there is
the truth and the blessings of God. And so here is reassurance. Reassurance to these disciples
that even though Israel has rejected them, Listen God has received
them and God has grafted them into Jesus the true vine. Oh How that speaks to us today
that many times it seemed as if that we are a tiny minority
in a losing battle But we must never never be intimidated Why
because here's the truth Jesus is the true vine you may feel
that you are a minority. Listen, here's the thing, we
are the master's minority. So he's saying to his disciples,
all these men are against you. All these great teachers, these
clever rabbis, these high officers are against you, but it does
not matter. I am the true vine. So Jesus says, I am the true
vine. And I think it's very important to notice And to point out that
he does not say, I am like a vine. Nor does he say, I want to be
a vine for you. And he does not say, I hope you
will take me as a vine. He just says, hey, I am the true
vine. Now what does that mean? Well,
it not only means that Jesus is the answer to the spoiled
vine, Israel, but it also means that he is a source of all spiritual
sustenance. He is a source of all spiritual
sustenance, just as the vine is the source of all that is
good for the branches, all that is needful for the branches.
So it is true of Jesus Christ, our true vine. Listen, Jesus,
our true vine, is the source of all spiritual grace. He is
the source of all spiritual life. He is the source of all spiritual
fruit. He is the source of it all. Everything that the branch receives
comes from the vine. And these glorious and divine
things that I have mentioned, these things of grace, this thing
of spiritual life and spiritual fruit, these things that I have
mentioned cannot come from us. They cannot be drawn from the
barren well of our own sinful humanity. We cannot produce spiritual
grace. We cannot produce spiritual life.
We cannot produce spiritual fruit. He is the source of all spiritual
sustenance. If we have received anything
that is of any good to us spiritually, it can only come from him and
no one else or nothing else. Now, that's not preached too
often today. But that's the truth. You just go to the average Christian
bookstore. And you'll see all kinds of books
that I say, if you want this from God, you do this. You want to grow this way, you
just follow these five steps. You want this or that, you follow
these steps. But the only problem is those
steps will only lead you into frustration. Now, they will sell
books. But they will only lead you to
frustration. Why? Because he is the source. And listen, I could just spend
my entire message this morning just repeating that Jesus is
the source of all spiritual life and truth. That's what he's saying
here. When Jesus says that he is the
true vine, he is saying that he is what? He is essential. He's needful. He's indispensable. And apart from Him, you and I,
we are nothing. And we can do nothing. Being
the source of all spiritual sustenance means that He is absolutely essential. Listen, when Jesus says that
He is the true vine, He is saying that He is not an accessory. He is not something that needs
to be added onto and in your life. Jesus is life. Now today in contemporary Christianity,
people basically do evangelism much like this. And by saying
things like this, well, hey, you have a wonderful house. You've
got a wonderful job. You have a wonderful family.
You have a wonderful car. You just need to add one more
thing to that list. You need to add Jesus. But do
you see what's wrong with that picture? Listen, that is not
an essential Jesus. That is not an indispensable
Jesus. This is an accessory Jesus that
saves no one. Listen, you have no life if you
don't have Jesus Christ. He is essential. He is indispensable. He is not an accessory. He is
not something you add to your life to make your life sweeter.
He is the true vine, and if you are not grafted into Christ through
the new birth, you are spiritually dead. Jesus never commanded those
to whom He spoke to follow Him by adding Him to their list of
other needs. The apostles never preached In
the book of Acts, hey, just add Jesus to your life. No, they
preach that Jesus is essential. They preach that Jesus is needful,
that he is indispensable. And that's what Jesus means when
he says that I am the true vine. The second thing we look at this
morning and just this introductory message of John 15 is the vine
dresser. The vine dresser. Uh, verse one
again, it says, my father, Jesus said, my father is the vine dresser
in the King James. It says husbandman, but the word
means a gardener, a farmer. When Jesus says that his father
was a bind dresser, you need to make sure you understand that
Jesus was in no way implying that he was denying full equality
with the father. No, he was 100% God. But the point of the analogy
here is not to define the relationship of the father to the son, it's
really to emphasize the father's care for the vine, the son, and
the branches, his saints. But the vine dresser refers to
the one who tills the soil, who watches over and protects the
vine. Vineyards, they just do not grow
on their own, right? They do not produce as they should
without the work of a gardener or a vine dresser. And so the
vine dresser is involved in everything that has to do with the vine. And so the vine dresser in verse
one, as I said, is God, our father. And he is busy. He is active. He is on the job. He is a faithful
gardener. And in verse two, Jesus revealed
two actions which the gardener has to do from time to time.
One is that he does something with a branch that isn't bearing
any fruit. And the Bible tells us there
in verse two that he takes away. He takes away. Now, if you have
a new King James Bible, you'll have a little one by that word
away, which tells us that there is a alternative translation
there of that word. The phrase takes away comes from
one Greek word, airo. And this Greek word is oftentimes
translated elsewhere as lifted up. For example, in Luke, the
Bible says, and they lifted up their voices. That's the same
Greek word that is used here in John. John chapter 11, it
says, and Jesus lifted up his eyes. Same Greek word here in
verse number, or chapter 15 of John. And so I believe that this
is the best translation that fits the context here. As Jesus, as the vine dresser,
God the Father, he lifts it up. He picks up the branches, if
you will. And so he's speaking about the
branches that have gotten dirty. They have fallen into the dirt
and that dirt has hindered them from bearing fruit. And so when
the vine dresser finds these branches, he lifts them up. Those vine branches, those grapevine
branches, they have to be hanging free. They cannot bear fruit
if they're hanging on the ground, lying on the ground. They can
get diseased and they're not able to have the air or the sunshine. And so he lifts them up. And
we see the application to us is so obvious and so easy to
see that when we are, uh, beat down and we, when we have falling
into the dirt of this old sinful world, listen, our loving heavenly
father, he comes to us by his grace and he lifts us up. I wonder this morning, have you
ever experienced that when you're beaten down and discouraged?
And then comes your heavenly father by his grace and he uses
different means to lift you up. And that's the word. Of God,
the scriptures. Maybe he uses some other believer
encouraging you, maybe it's some gospel song, but whatever, he
comes along and he lifts you up, encourages you. We also see
that the vine dresser, he does something with the branch that's
not bearing enough fruit. He prunes it. He cuts it back. And this can be very painful,
but it's always, always highly effective. He gets rid of those
things that takes away its vitality and takes away its strength.
And my dear friend, listen to me, God will do whatever He needs
to do in our lives so that we can be fruit-bearing Christians. But I think it's very important
for us to understand and notice that the gardener, the vine dresser,
our Heavenly Father, does what's best for the branches. He does
what is beneficial to the life of the vine. And we should never
forget That He is never closer to us when His ministering hand
is laid upon us. And this brings us, this brings
up the basic question, what is fruit? What is fruit? And no one would argue with the
statement that every Christian is to bear fruit, but what is
fruit? Well, first of all, I want to kind of give you a general
answer, and then I'll answer that question more specifically. Generally, fruit is the outflow
of Christ's life. The life of Christ, the vine,
flows through the branch, and the result is fruit that reflects
the life of the vine. You see, beloved, the Christian
life is Christ's life flowing through us to produce a fruit
that is Christ-like. I love what Philippians 1 and
verse 11 tells us. being filled with the fruits
of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and
praise of God. And that's what fruit is, generally
speaking, in the Christian's life. Now, to look at it more
specifically, we see that fruit is a one fruit that Christians
will bear upon their life is that a holy life. is fruit. A holy life is fruit. Romans
6.22 tells us, but now having been set free from sin and having
become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the
end everlasting life. Hey, listen, beloved, God has
called us to be holy as He is holy. Living a holy life is to
live a life that is a separated life. We choose to walk in a
way that is pleasing to our Lord as is revealed in Holy Scripture. So holy life is fruit. Good works. are fruit. Good works are fruit. Titus chapter
3 and verse 14 tells us, and let our people also learn to
maintain good works, to meet urgent needs that they may not
be unfruitful. And then Colossians chapter 1
verse 10 tells us that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully
pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing
in the knowledge of God. So good works we know cannot
earn salvation, but they are a fruit of our salvation. Titus 2.14 describes the Christians
as people who are zealous for good works. And so a fruit of
the life, of a Christian life, is not only a holy life and one
that is filled with good works, but also we see the third thing,
Holy Spirit-produced, Christ-like character is fruit. And we see
this in Galatians 5, verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. Now listen, if you had to pick
the nine qualities that described Christ's life, you couldn't do
any better than these nine qualities that's mentioned here in Galatians
5, verse 22. This is a nine-fold description of what Christ's
life flowing through us should look like. And each of these
qualities finds their ultimate manifestation in the person of
Jesus Christ. And so the purpose of the branches
is to do what? To bear fruit. The fruit of a
holy life, the fruit of good works, the fruit of the Spirit
of Christ who manifests Christ's life through us. Jesus is the
true vine. Listen, our prayer ought to be
that Jesus live through our lives so that we might bear fruit for
the glory of the heavenly father, the vine dresser. And that's
what verse eight tells us. Jesus said, by this, my father
is glorified. How that you bear much fruit. As we close this message this
morning, I ask you this morning, are you in the vine? Are you in the vine? Have you
been saved? Are you grafted in to Jesus? And if you are saved, are you
bearing fruit today? Are you bearing the fruit of
a holy life? Are you bearing the fruit of
good works? and showing forth his character
to those in our lives. Let's pray together. Lord, we
thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, for this
powerful metaphor, this word picture. Lord, that was so vivid
to those to whom you spoke. And I pray that through the Holy
Spirit, it would be vivid for us today. I pray you, Father,
that we would understand the truths that you have shown for
us here today and apply these truths to our heart. We ask you,
Lord, to bless each and every person that is here. And that
person who is here that has never trusted Christ, they've never
been connected to you through the new birth. Oh, our Father,
I pray that you would show them their lost condition and show
them that Jesus is absolutely essential and indispensable and
needful. Oh, Father, bring about Holy
Spirit conviction. And then, Lord, by faith that
they would call upon you to be the Lord and Savior. I pray,
Lord, for those that are here, that are saved, Lord, that we
would all bear much fruit for your glory. We ask all these
things in Christ's name. Amen. Preach the word. Preach the cross. Preach redemption
to the lost and dying. Lift your voice, I'm ashamed
Of the gospel of His name
Lessons From the Lord's Vineyard
Series That You May Believe
| Sermon ID | 12119042181266 |
| Duration | 40:56 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | John 15:1-5 |
| Language | English |
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