Would you turn back to John chapter
15? While you're turning there, tonight
I'm going to be preaching upon the joy of the gospel. The joy of the gospel. And I've entitled the message
for this morning, Faith Alone is Never Alone. Faith alone is never alone. Now, what do I mean by that? Faith alone. If my faith is not alone, it's
not faith at all. It's never faith and. I love that scripture in Romans
chapter four, verse five, to him that worketh not, but believeth. Notice the absence of the word
and it doesn't say who believeth and is sincere or who believeth
and fill in the blank to him that worketh not, but believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. In John chapter six, verse 29,
what must we do that we might work the works of God? This is
the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent period. That's the work of God. Faith. that is not alone is not faith
at all. I love those statements, scriptures alone.
That's our only authority, scriptures alone. Christ alone is our only
ground to salvation. I love the scripture, Hebrews
1, 3, when he by himself purged our sins. I love that. by himself. That means you don't have anything
to do with it. He did it by himself. No help from you. When he had
by himself purged our sins. It is the scriptures alone. It is Christ alone. It is grace
alone. Salvation is by the saving grace
of God. Grace alone. Faith alone. Not faith and. Faith alone, the
glory of God alone is the only motive. May we die in this, never
giving up an inch. The faith that is alone is never
alone. Let me repeat that. The faith
that is alone is never alone. James tells us that faith without
works is dead being alone. Now here's why this is so. Where
there is faith, you listen to me very carefully, this is so
important, where there is faith there is life. Spiritual life having been born
of the Spirit and where there is spiritual life there will
be fruit. We just read about it, Galatians
5, verse 22, the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit,
the first three, is toward God, love, joy, and peace. Wherever there's life, there
will be fruit. It's the fruit of the Spirit,
not the fruit of your works, not the fruit of your efforts,
but the fruit of the Spirit. The second cluster, if you would
call it that, is toward men, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness. The third cluster, if you will,
is toward self, faith, meekness, and temperance. Where there is
life, there will be the fruit of the Spirit. Now, fruit, in
the Bible, the word is used for the fruit of plants. By their
fruits you shall know them. A tree is known by its fruit.
What kind of fruit does an apple tree produce? Apples. The fruit
of the loins, that's your children. The scripture uses it in that
way. Fruit is that which originates or comes from something. It's the effect. It's the result. That's what fruit has to do with.
It comes from something. For instance, when I walk over
there and turn on the light, what is the fruit of that electricity
coming through the light bulb? The fruit is light. The fruit's
light. That's the result of it. And
if no light comes on, what do we do with the light bulb? We
throw it away. It's no good. It's not real. It's not living. Now
wherever there is spiritual life, there will be fruit. Turn to John chapter 12 for a
moment. When the Lord spoke of his death, look what he says. Verse 23, and Jesus answered
them saying, the hour has come that the son of man should be
glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone. If you don't throw that corn
into the ground, it's gonna bite alone. It's not gonna bear any
fruit. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. And the Lord
is using this to illustrate his death. There's the fruit of his
death. What is the fruit of his death?
The salvation of all the elect. The salvation of everybody he
died for. If he die, he's gonna bring forth
much fruit. When people came to John the
Baptist to be baptized, he said to them, bring forth fruits,
meat for repentance. You see, if there's real repentance,
there's going to be some things that accompany it. If somebody
comes in proud, arrogant, haughty manner, that's not fruit for
repentance, is it? It's not real. I mean, there's
going to be fruits that come along with repentance, humility,
brokenness of heart, a need of Christ, a desire to walk with
him. These fruits come with repentance. And John the Baptist said, bring
forth fruits worthy of repentance, meet the repentance. And they
had come with some kind of attitude that John the Baptist evidently
saw through. And that's why he called them
what he did. When the Lord warned about false
prophets, what did he say? You shall know them by their
fruits. Now he meant several things by
that. First of all, you'll know them
by the doctrine. You'll know whether their doctrine is for
me, for my word. You'll know them by their doctrine.
You'll know them by their converts. You talk to somebody who listens
to a man who doesn't preach the gospel, it's obvious they don't
believe the gospel either. You want to know what a man believes,
talk to the people who listen to him preach. There you can
find out what they really believe. You'll know them by their converts.
And you have the fruits, you'll know them by their life. Somebody
that doesn't live what he believes is not real, is not genuine. You'll know them by their fruits.
And then what about the parable of the sower? Remember there
were four different grounds, the hardened path, the stony
ground here, the thorn choked here, and the good ground here.
Now what did all three of the bad ground hearers have in common? You remember? None of them bore
fruit. Not one of them. What did the
good ground hearer do? The good ground hearer bore fruit. Now, everybody without exception
that looks to Christ alone. And when I say that, here's what
I mean. All I have is Christ. I'm not presenting my fruit. All I have is Christ. I look
nowhere else. The only hope that I have is
that Christ died for me. The only hope that I have is
that His righteousness is my righteousness. I am relying on
Him only. I don't have anything else to
recommend me to God. Now, all who do that have the
fruit of the Holy Spirit. Love. Love to God. You know, I love God the way
He is. I love His sovereignty. I love His holiness. I love His
righteousness. I love His power. I love His people. I love those
for whom Christ died. I love men. I want them to know
the gospel. Love. Joy. You know, it makes
me joyous that everything God requires of me, He looks to Christ
for. I mean, there's joy there. There's joy that salvation is
of the Lord. There's the joy of having His
righteousness as my righteousness. You can't love God and not be
joyous of Him. Aren't you glad He's on the throne?
Doesn't it give you joy to know that He controls everybody and
everything and everything is in His hands? He's the first
cause of all things. And peace! The peace of knowing
that Christ is my righteousness before God, that's the only thing
that gives me peace. Knowing that everything, I say this all
the time, I'm going to say it again, everything God requires
of me, He looks to His Son for. And I'm complete in Him. And
what peace I get, you give me any works to do, I got no peace.
I start thinking, uh-oh, something must be wrong with me. You know,
I listen to messages that I hate sermons that make you think,
what am I missing? What am I missing? I'm not missing
anything in Christ. That's my hope. That's what gives
me peace. And then long suffering. This is the fruit of the spirit.
You see how God is long suffering toward you. And you have patience. He's in control. You can be patient. You can be long suffering toward
others because of his long suffering toward you. And then there is
gentleness. That means kindness, graciousness. Goodness is a capacity for mercy.
That's God's goodness is his capacity for mercy. Faith. You really do believe the gospel.
It's a famed faith. You really do look to Christ
as your only hope. Meek. Meekness before God. Whatever
God does is right. Whatever he brings my way, is
best. It may be painful, I might not
completely understand it, but it's best. Temperance, self-control
by the work of the Holy Spirit within. Every believer has the
fruit of the Spirit. It's more developed in some than
others because they've grown more in grace. There's no denying
that. There's different levels of growth.
There's young men, there's children, there's fathers in the faith.
The scripture teaches that. But all believers have the fruit
of God the Holy Spirit. Now, what inspired this message
was just me reading John chapter 15 and that verse that said,
herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit. Don't you want to bear fruit
to his glory? Now, no believer believes they have, well, I've
got a big stalk of fruit. No believer feels that way about
themselves, but I do know this. Every believer wants to bear
fruit to the glory of God, not to their own glory. They're repelled
by that. They're repulsed by that because
they know that they have no glory coming to them. If you bear fruit,
who gets the glory for it? You or God? If you're a believer,
you know it's God only and not you in any measure to any degree. You understand that if you bear
fruit. Now verse 8 says, hearing is
my father glorified. John 15, hearing is my father
glorified that you bear much fruit. And then verse 16, the
reason for election. You have not chosen me, but I've
chosen you that you should go and bring forth fruit. Now that's
the reason for election. is God's glory, obviously, but
it's that you go and bring forth fruit. And the reason for your
fruit is not because of any goodness in you, it's because He chose
you to this. You didn't choose me, but I chose you and ordained
you that you should go and bring forth fruit. Now, John chapter
15, verse one. Now, before I read this, I want
to remind you that this is a parable. It's a parable that the Lord
Jesus gives, and it's given to teach one specific lesson. And you need to, and I need to
always remember this in all parables. Somebody once said you can't
make a parable stand on all four legs. Now, what that means is
there are parts of the parable that you can't establish doctrines
from. For instance, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, The man
is half-dead, that the Good Samaritan says. He's half-dead. Does that
mean sinners are only half-dead? No, obviously not. It's just
part of the story. Now, in verse 2, before I look
at this parable, the Lord says, well, verses 1 and 2, I'm the
true vine, and my father is the husband, and every branch in
me that beareth not fruit, he takes away. And every branch
that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. Every branch in me that bears not fruit, he takes away."
Now, does that mean that there are men in Christ united to him
that do not bear fruit? No, we know that that's not what
that means because it's just part of the story. Fruit is born
by every child of God. Everybody's got that has got
the Holy Spirit. Remember, it's the fruit of the
Spirit. It's not the fruit of works. It's the fruit of the
Spirit. Every believer possesses the fruit of the Spirit. Does
this mean that God can take somebody that's saved and just rip them
out and throw them away? No. All of God's people are saved
eternally. We know from the light of other
scriptures that that's not what is being taught. So remember
that as we look at this passage of scripture. It is a parable
and it's teaching this one lesson. Union with Christ and the fruit
that comes as a result. That's the teaching of this parable.
Union with the Lord Jesus Christ and the fruit that is a necessary
result of that union. Now let's begin in verse one.
And this is the last sermon of our Lord to his disciples shortly
before his death. And it could be that they were
passing a vineyard at this time. I don't know, but he says to
his disciples, I am the true vine. the only one from which
true fruit comes from. I am the true vine. You know, we read in the scriptures
of true riches. I like that, true riches. Somebody
says, I've got a million dollars in the bank. Well, that's good,
but you can lose a body quick. That's not true riches. The true
riches are the riches that come from his grace. We read of true
light as opposed to false lights. We read of true worshipers, true
bread, the only true God, the true tabernacle, which the Lord
pitched and not man, a true heart, a true witness, the true sayings
of God. And here we read of this true
vine. I am the true vine and my father
is the husband. Every branch in me that bears
not fruit. he takes away. And every branch
that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more
fruit." Look in verses four and five. 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 except
you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me, separate
from me, you can do nothing. Now, this illustration that our
Lord is giving is the closest union that can actually
be described. This union he's speaking of as
the vine and the branches, it's closer than a man and a woman. That's given to illustrate union. The two become one flesh. This
is closer than a man and a woman. This is closer than the relationship
of a mother with her baby in her. This is closer. We think,
well, what a close union. A mother and her child, that
child being completely dependent upon her and her womb. This is
closer. This is talking about the vine
and the branches. And here's the point. The same
stem that goes through the vine goes through the branches. There's
no point of connection. This is the reality of the union
of the believer with Christ. Both he that sanctifyeth and
they who are sanctified are all of one. That same, this is a
mystery. This is glorious, but what an
illustration, the same stem that goes through the vine. goes through
the branch. There's no connecting point.
There's no starting point. It's the same thing. The believer
has always been eternally united to the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
never been a time when I was not united. I've always been
in him. He's always been my personal
righteousness before God. He has always been my standing
before God. The believer is eternally united. to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
how glorious Christ is, is how glorious the believer is in Him.
How safe Christ is, is how safe the believer is in Him. And I
love the fact that there's no connecting point. That one, one,
the same stem that's in the vine is in the branch. And that's
what the Lord is teaching, this thing of union with Himself. I'm vitally united to Him. I've always been in Him. You know, hundreds of times in
the New Testament, we read of the phrase, in Christ, according
as he has chosen us in him, in Christ. That's what is referred
to as being united to him. This union is eternal. It always
was, is, and will be. And it's the very foundation
of our salvation. It's what is pictured in baptism. When a believer
confesses Christ in baptism, when he goes under the water
and comes back up, what I'm saying is I've always been in Christ.
When He lived, I lived. That's my righteousness. When
He died, I died right with Him. My sin was paid for. When He
was raised up, I was raised up. When we partake of the Lord's
table, We're not saying we're eating his flesh and drinking
his blood, but we're saying this wine, this bread, it goes into
me. It becomes part of me. It's my
food. It's my necessary. Christ crucified,
it becomes part of me. That's union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now that is what our Lord is
teaching when he's saying, I am the vine, you are the branches. Now, you can't be united to him
and not bring forth fruit. He says in verse two, every branch
in me that bears not fruit, he takes away. Now, whatever that
means, it sure doesn't sound good, does it? Look in verse
six. If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered and man gather them
and cast them into the fire and they are burned. Now, something
that doesn't bear fruit is useless. It's to be cast into the fire
and burned. But look what it says. Every branch that beareth fruit,
verse two. Every branch that beareth fruit,
he purges it, that it might bring forth more fruit. Now, have you
ever seen a vine pruned? It looks like it can't live.
It's cut down so much that it looks like it can't live. And
that's what the Lord does with his people. He sends trials.
He sends troubles. He sends tribulations. He's gonna
make it to where you don't think you even have life. You're so
cut up. That's what the Lord does to cause you to bring forth
more fruit. He's going to show you how weak
you are, how sinful you are, how you need Him. And in Him
doing that, you know what's going to happen? More fruit. You're
going to grow to love Him more. You're going to have more joy
in the gospel and not in circumstances. You're going to learn that peace
is only found in Him and not in you. You're going to become
long-suffering from this experience. It's going to make you more gracious.
It's going to make you more merciful. It's going to cause you to bear
this pruning of God. And this is what He does with
all of His people. Anybody that bears fruit, He's going to prune
you. He's going to send trouble, trial
your way. And it's going to be for your
benefit. It's going to be a blessing to you. It might not seem like,
so now it might seem very painful, but it, and indeed it is painful,
but it's the Lord's pruning. Wherever there's fruit, there's
going to be pruning that there might be brought forth more fruit. Verse three. Now you are clean
through the word. which I have spoken to you."
Now that person who believes the gospel is clean. That means
pure, spotless, perfect. It's what the Bible means by
justification. You're clean. You're without
sin. You hear the gospel, you're without
sin. You're clean. Now this is Christ
saying this. Somebody says, I'm clean. Well,
Christ says, yarr, yarr. And he says with regard to all
of his people, you are clean through the word which I've spoken
to you, the gospel. And you, you hold on this and
won't let go of this as your only cleanness before God, the
justifying work of Christ. You're clean through the word
that I've spoken to you. This is my righteousness before God.
And this is part of the joy and peace of believing. I'm clean
through the gospel. Now, are you clean through the
word that I've spoken unto you? Now look at verse four. Abide in me and I in you. Abide in me. I mean, stay in
me. Don't go anywhere else. 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 except you abide in me. Now, in Christ is a place, isn't
it? It's a location. When we say
something's in something, we're saying where it's at. In Christ
is a location. And if you abide, that means
you do not leave that place. You want to be in that place
and nowhere else. That's what that means. Abide
in me. I love what Paul said in Philippians chapter three,
verse eight. And this is something that I think this all the time. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in him. Is that your desire? Oh, then
I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness. I don't want to have anything
to do with that, but that which is through the faithfulness of
Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith. Now, I know
I've used this scripture to illustrate this many times, and I wish I
had a better one, but I don't. This is a good illustration. When God comes looking for me,
and He's going to, I don't want to be found reading the Bible
or praying or witnessing or trying to fight sin. Those are good
things, but that's not how I want Him to find me. I want Him to
find me in Christ, nowhere else. I don't want him to find me in
any other way but in Christ. Is that what you want? You don't want to be anywhere
else. To abide in Christ, you're totally conscious that I don't
want to be anywhere else. I don't want to be in my works.
I don't want to be seen in my sin. I don't want to be seen
in my good works. I don't want to be seen in my
efforts to suppress sin. I want to simply be found in
Christ. Now, what's the key to fruit
bearing? Abiding in Christ. Give me something
to do. Would I bear more fruit? If I
read the Bible more, if I spend more time in prayer, if I spend
more time trying to suppress the flesh and be like obedient,
listen, I'm all for all that kind of stuff. But no, I'm not
going to know what's going to cause you to bear fruit. The
only thing that's going to cause you and I to bear fruit is by
abiding in Christ. And if I abide in Christ, I will
bear fruit. It's the necessary result of
abiding in Christ. He that abides in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Verse four, 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 except you abide in me." Now
if that branch is cut off from the vine, it can't bear fruit,
can it? The only way it can bear fruit is by being united to the
vine and being nowhere but the vine. Verse 5, I am the vine,
you are the branches, he that abideth in me and I in him The
same bringeth forth much fruit. Now where does the fruit come
from? Abiding in Him. And if you abide in Him, it's
because He's abiding in you and causing you to do that. And look
at this last statement in verse 5. For without me, severed from
me, apart from me. You're gonna have a real hard
time. There's only a few things you can do. And it's only with
great difficulty that you'll be able to do them without me.
No, without me, what you can do, what? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. You can see it. But that's it. Without me, You can do nothing. Oh, I know that so. Don't you? I know that so. Without me, severed
from me, without being simply found in me, you can do nothing. Let's go on reading. Verse six, if a man abide not in me, He's
cast forth as a branch and is withered. And men gather them
and cast them into the fire and they're burned. Now there are
some people who seem to abide in Christ, but they don't keep
abiding in Christ. They want to be seen somehow.
They want to be seen in their works. They start thinking about
their works and their fruit and their efforts, and they no longer
want to simply be found in Christ. They don't abide in Christ. They
can't say with Paul, oh, that I'm going to win Christ and be
found in him. That becomes not real to them. They want to be
found somewhere else. And what about that person? That
person is going to be thrown in the fire. They never really
abided in Christ in the first place. A branch without fruit
is going to be thrown into the fire. And that's all it's good
for, is what the Lord tells us. Verse 7, if you abide in me and
my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will. and it shall
be done unto you. The only way your prayers will
be heard and answered is by abiding in Him. And the evidence that
I abide in Him, and let me remind you once again, I hope I understand
this, abiding in Christ is only wanting to be found in Him at
all times. No other way I want to be seen
but in Him. Abiding in Christ is the only
way anybody's gonna bear fruit. And the only evidence is that
his words will be abiding you. And it's only through that that
prayer will be answered. And then he says in verse eight,
herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit. And this is how God is glorified.
Now, if the fruit you bear brings any glory to you, it's not the
fruit of the Holy Spirit. It's not real. It's just phony
religion. If any of the fruit you have
makes you feel good about yourself, I'm here, I'm bearing this, I'm
doing this, that's not the fruit of the Holy Spirit because the
fruit of the Holy Spirit glorifies God. And if you're a believer,
you know He only is to be glorified and you're actually repulsed
at the thought of any glory going to you because you know yourself.
You know how sinful you are. You know how evil you are. You
know how if you bear fruit, it's only because you're in the vine.
It doesn't have anything to do with you. So if the fruit you
bear makes you think, yeah, I'm bearing fruit. It's not the fruit
of the Holy Spirit. It's the fruit of your own evil
nature. And there's really nothing good
about it. Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much
fruit. Verse 9, as the Father hath loved
me so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love if you
keep my commandments you shall abide in my love even as I've
kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. Now these
things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you
and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that
you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,
and you're my friends. If you do whatsoever, I command
you. Henceforth, I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth
not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends. For
all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known
unto you." Now look what he says in verse 16. You've not chosen me, but I've
chosen you. And that's called election. God
chose who would be saved before the world began. And I've heard
people say, well, we choose him because he chose us. I think
it's interesting. The Lord said, you didn't choose
me. You didn't choose me. And that
resonates with every believer. You know that so. You would have
rejected him. You would have gone as far from
him as you could. You, the Lord says, did not choose me. But I chose you. I don't know of anything more
humbling than that. That the Lord would choose me. That he
would select me, that he would save me. Somebody says how can
it be fair for God to choose some and not choose others? You
just don't believe you're a sinner if you say that. You've never been given any light
if you say something like that. You don't understand who you
are because if you knew that you were a sinner you would never
say something like that. That's just the thought of somebody
who's self-righteous thinking God owes him something. But if
you're a believer, oh, the Lord says, you didn't choose me, but
I chose you. And what's he saying next? And
I ordained you. I purpose this for you, that
you should go and bring forth fruit. Now I've read where some people
say, well, they're speaking to the apostles and they were going
to bring forth a lot of fruit in their preaching down the road.
They were going to, I mean, Peter in just a few days is going to
be bringing a sermon because this is right before the Lord
was crucified. And in just within a few weeks,
Peter's going to be preaching a sermon where 3000 people be
converted in one sermon. That's a lot of fruit. And does
the Lord mean that? Yes. Well, but he also means
the fruit of the spirit. God says, Christ says, you've
not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained you that you
should go and bring forth fruit, love, joy, peace, long suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, the fruit
of God, the Holy Spirit. You've not chosen me, but I've
chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth
fruit and that your fruit should remain because it's real. That whatsoever whatsoever you
shall ask of the father in my name, there's the key in my name. You know, when I come into the
Father's presence through the Son, I only come in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't come in my own name.
I come in His name. That's what it means to abide
in Him. When you abide in Him, you come only in His name, no
other way. But I've chosen you and ordained
you that you should go and bring forth fruit that whatsoever you
shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you. Now, union with the Lord Jesus Christ, union with Christ as the vine
and the branches, the same steam that is in the vine is in the
branch. There's not a connecting point.
This is union with the Lord Jesus Christ, eternally united to him,
having the life sap of the stem that's in the vine flowing to
the branches. And where there is this life,
there is fruit. The necessary result of abiding
in the vine. And I love verse 16. The reason for election is fruit. And the reason for fruit is election. You've not chosen me, but I've
chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth
fruit and that your fruit should remain. Don't you want to bear
fruit to the glory of God? Well, if you do, let me remind
you, abide in Him. If you start trying to do things
to make you bear more fruit, all you'll do is become rotten
and die. Abide in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look only to Him. Desire to be found nowhere but
in Him. And you will bear fruit. Work to bear fruit. and you'll
die. You won't be living. May the
Lord enable us through abiding in divine, knowing that everything,
all of our salvation is founded in union with the Lord Jesus
Christ, this eternal union. Abide in divine and you will
bear much fruit. That's the promise of God. Let's
pray together.