May I please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word let's turn to the
Gospel of John chapter 15 and we'll read the fifth verse the
Gospel of John chapter 15 and reading verse 5 I am the vine ye are the branches
he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much
fruit for without me ye can do nothing the words that Jesus spoke on
that Passover night in the upper room before his eleven disciples
Judas of course having gone out our most wonderful and encouraging
and instructive for us and of course it's only really recorded
in the detail in the Gospel of John but we are so thankful that
we have a record of these words and this particular chapter directs
us very clearly to the picture the Lord Jesus Christ described
to those disciples about himself being typical of a vine and his
people those branches which are part of the vine and he tells
us how necessary it is that there is that abiding in the vine and
it's pretty obvious isn't it naturally that if we see a vine
and of course a vine is generally that which has grapes on it and
if there's no branches of course there's no spreading and it's
only the branches which are part of the vine which will in fact
bear fruit. So the picture is very clear
and it means that if we are God's people then we are part of that
vine And if we are part of that vine, then because we are part
of the true vine, the Lord Jesus Christ, there will be that fruit
in our lives. And if there is no fruit, do
we not have to discover that in fact we are not part of the
vine? And so we should not pass over
the situation with a concern about whether we are fruitful
in the things of God or not, and perhaps consider it of little
relevance. Well, it is really very relevant. in our lives because the Lord
tells us in the prophecy of Isaiah, ye are my witnesses. And that means that the fruit
in our lives sets forth the witness that we are indeed part of this
heavenly vine. So it is very important in our
lives. And I'm sure the true church
of God are concerned about being fruitful in the things of God. To bring honour and glory to
His great and holy name, not for our own gratitude, but in
true thankfulness for the Lord's goodness and mercy toward us,
that our lives may be that which sets forth His goodness toward
us, His favour toward us, His work within us, Evidencing that
we are in Christ and that Christ is in him indeed Christ in you
the hope of glory What does that mean? It means simply if Christ
is not in us and we're not in Christ. There's no hope of glory
And if there's no hope of glory, what does that mean? That means
we shall perish in our sins and we shall end up in Eternal hell. It's a terrible, terrible thought,
isn't it? Something beyond our natural
comprehension. To think of spending eternity
in total misery and darkness, where the worm dies not, and
there's gnashing of teeth, and there's fire. Never ending. Frightful, isn't it? Terrifying,
isn't it? Well, it should be. And if so,
should we therefore not be very concerned that in our lives we
are fruitful in the things of God? And so the Blessed Lord
sets it very clearly before us when he says, every branch in
me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. It's cut off. It's
of no value. No value. Because there's no
fruit. And every branch that beareth
fruit, we might think, well that's fine and that's a good condition,
that should be all right. The Lord says, every branch that
beareth fruit, he purges it, that means he prunes it. That
means he cuts it back, that it may bring forth more fruit. And in real terms, that means
that we should not therefore just be satisfied if we think
our lives perhaps produce a little fruit. We should be concerned
that our lives are really fruitful, so that God's name is really
honoured and glorified. And if we're honest, the day
and age in which we live, it's a sad day, isn't it? It's a sad
day in the Church of God, isn't it? There's not really very much
fruitfulness, is there? Well, there may be a lot of dead
branches. And that's a tragic situation.
And by that, it really means that someone who might pretend
to be part of this vine. There are many people today who
pretend to be part of this vine. And the Bible describes them.
And it describes them like this. Hypocrites in Zion. What does that mean? as people
who pretend to be what they're not. And that's a tragic scene. And I'm sure of this, the true
Church of God are very concerned that they are not hypocrites
in Zion, that they're not left to be unfruitful, but they desire
to walk before God in the right way, to bring honor and glory
to His great and holy name, and not to be left in an unfruitful
state. Well, may we pray against it
and earnestly seek that God will be with us and bless us. And
so the Lord goes on to tell us, now you are clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you. What glorious words. the
Lord spoke. And as you may read, the 14th,
15th, 16th chapters in John, and then of course the wonderful
prayer that the Lord prayed in the 17th John to his father.
They're chapters of such great, glorious instruction to the souls
of his people. It is his word which is being
spoken. And as the Spirit of God blesses
us to enter into the truth of these things so But we can recognize
that we are amongst those who have been cleansed, we've been
washed, not in anything that we've done, but we're washed
in the blood of the Lamb. Abide in me and I in you, as
the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine No more can ye except ye abide in me. Well, I'm sure
that's a very straightforward illustration, isn't it? That
we can understand and the great need there is for all of us to
have the evidence and to know that we are part of the heavenly
vine. Because if we are part of the
heavenly vine, we shall partake of the goodness of that vine. Now how do grapes grow? How do
grapes come into being? How do they grow? It's because
they are partaker of the sap that comes up through the vine,
the goodness of the vine. That's how naturally grapes grow
and it's just the same in our spiritual life as we partake
of the Lord Jesus Christ. How important it is that our
lives are indeed like that. The Apostle Peter, in his second
epistle, he gives us a little illustration of this in the first
chapter. And he speaks to us, just a few
verses I'll read. In the second verse he says,
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through The knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord. Now, this is not just a natural
knowledge. Many people today have a natural
knowledge. But this is a personal knowledge,
a knowledge of God in our heart, that the Holy Spirit has done
for us. According as his divine power,
and this is the truth, it's divine power, which is not natural,
it's divine power the power of Almighty God hath given unto
us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the
knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue it's a
very solemn condition, isn't it? to be brought into brought
into by the Holy Spirit of God whereby are given unto us, exceeding
great and precious promises. And as these promises of God
are applied to our souls, what does it do? It strengthens us,
it encourages us. And we're able to demonstrate
how we rely upon them. The word of God, the promises
of God, that by these, ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
and note the words, divine nature, their God-given nature, the nature
of the blessed Saviour himself, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust, and beside this giving
all diligence Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge,
and how important that is in the day and age in which we live,
to be diligent in the things of God. We can be so diligent,
can't we, in the things of time. Yeah, we can spend our energy
making sure that this and that's done, and everything perhaps
is in a perfect state, and by so doing, perhaps we neglect
the condition of our soul. which is far more important than
all the things of this life and therefore such words are directed
to us that we may be able to give all diligence and add to
your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance,
to temperance patience, to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly
kindness, to brotherly kindness, charity, or love. And there's
a list which the apostle directed by the Spirit of God to set before
us that we might be diligent in if we are to be fruitful in
the things of God. And then he concludes by saying
this, for if these things be in you and abound, and abound,
sometimes we just settle down thinking, well, that's I'm thankful
that's within us for we should be very thankful but may they
abound in this day and age in which we live how needful it
is that the Church of God abounds in these things that we are a
bright light in this dark world we're not a dim lamp we're a
bright light abound that they may make you that ye shall neither
be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, the concern must be,
therefore, that we have the wonderful evidence from Almighty God that
we are part of this heavenly vine. And he tells us, I am the
vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. That's a statement
of the Word of God. It doesn't say, I am the vine,
ye are the branches, he that abideth in me and I in him, the
same bringeth forth fruit. It says, if we are abiding, Truly,
there will be much fruit. And that should be a word, that
little word, much, should be a word which really concerns
us in the day and age in which we live. It's easy to come, as
the Word of God describes the case, settled on our knees, settled
down in a lukewarm condition, satisfied with it. not concerned
really about the spiritual side of our lives, the liveliness
of our soul. We may walk before the Lord in
the light of His countenance, much fruit, for without me ye
can do nothing. Now, the Lord sometimes brings
this about by purging. Purging and that purging means
to be pruned or to be cut back so there might be renewed strength
and renewed vigor that may indeed be produced by this work and
the Word of God when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he gave us
some idea of what this pruning would be And I'll tell you what
it is He says in verse 17 in the fourth chapter, the second
of Corinthians, for our light affliction. That means God brings
his people into times of affliction. And the purpose is to benefit
our souls. The Lord deals with us in love
to our soul. And in one way or another, And
the Lord has so many ways of dealing with us in this situation. But there will be those times
when God will bring us into affliction because we may have become into
a fairly offhand way and not really concerned greatly about
the things of God. They've been put in the background. We haven't put the things of
God first. And what's happened then? We
become lukewarm. And what a mercy when God deals
with us in love to our souls. And it may be like this, in this
pruning effect, this purging effect, our light affliction,
which is but for a moment. And you may say, well, it seems
to me my affliction's gone on for a long time. Just think in
the light of eternity. That's how you want to weigh
up a moment moment of time. It may go on for quite a few
days, perhaps years, but in the light of eternity it's just a
moment. It's gone. Flash by. For our
light affliction which is but for a moment. What does it do? Does it have a good effect? If
we're the people of God it will do. This is what the Apostle
tells us. It worketh for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And I like to think
of that verse in this way. On the one side, there's a light
affliction. You can think of it in a pair
of scales. On the one side, there's light affliction. And on the
other side, an eternal weight of glory. Well, what's going
to weigh down the eternal weight of glory? Well, the little light
affliction on the other side of the scales is going to have
virtually no effect. Mercy if God deals with our souls
like that. And then the Apostle says, while
we look not at the things which are seen. That's what we do,
don't we? We look at the things which are
seen. We're so concerned about the things which are seen. The things in our natural life.
The things that we deal with. We're so concerned about them.
The Apostle tells us why we look not at the things which are seen,
but at the things which are not seen. The reason? For the things which are seen
are temporal. They're on this earth. We understand
them. We see them. But the things which
are not seen are eternal. And that should be our great
concern that you and I found, therefore, in the right way. Because if we are in the right
way, we can believe that God is dealing with us as his children,
as his sons, and he speaks to us. The Apostle Paul directs
us when he wrote the Romans, a wonderful book of instruction
that is, and he tells us again, the spirit itself, beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if God is
dealing with us, and if he's purging us, and if he's pruning
us, it's wonderful if the Spirit of God directs us to see the
reason for it, and to realize it's the good hand of God upon
us. It's not evil, it's good. And the Word of God tells us,
Paul tells us, and we know that all things work together for
good, not to everyone, but to those who love God and to those
who are called according to his purpose. And he tells us also
that if we are the children of God, what will happen in our
life? He tells us this, and if children
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. That's almost unbelievable. If
you and I have some understanding of the evil of our own nature,
the sinfulness to think that here we have such a great and
glorious prospect to look forward to, to be an heir of God, and
to be a joint heir with the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him. That means that we should expect
to have suffering in this life in order to purge us, to cut
us back so there might be more fruit. The effect of affliction,
the effect of sufferings, is to bring us into a patient spirit,
a submissive spirit. We're brought down in our own
esteem, our own estimation, and Christ is raised up. What a blessing
that it is if you and I can trace out in our life the good hand
of God upon us to this effect. He said, if so be that we suffer
with him that we may be also glorified together. And then
he says, for I reckon. Reckoning is really a mathematical
term, isn't it? To work everything out and see
what it is. I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. So he sets before us very
clearly there the difference between the things of time and
the things of eternity. And so may we be concerned that
our lives demonstrate the great and glorious work of God in our
hearts to have the evidence through the Spirit of God that God is
dealing with us as sons and daughters We should think that if there's
no purging in our life, if there's no pruning, if there's no strengthening
our spiritual life, we have to question the reality of our true
religion before God. Because the pathway of the Church
of God is very clearly set before us in the examples of the Lord's
people. You follow it through. from Abraham
right through the Old Testament and New Testament. What was the
experience of the people of God? They were brought into times
of affliction, in times of opposition, times of difficulty, times of
trial. You only have to perhaps ponder
just some of them and see how difficult it was, but the great
glory is that they got home safely at last. They were blessed with
that living faith. And through that faith, which
we can so clearly read of in the 11th of Hebrews, we see that
that faith given to them brought honor and glory to their God.
What did it do? It showed the fruitfulness in
their lives. Yes, as they committed their
way unto the Lord, they were concerned for the honor and glory
of their God. They didn't count their lives
dear, did they? You think of Moses. You think, well, he was
willing to give up, choosing rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He was in the luxury of Pharaoh's
palace. What a change when he went to
the backside of the desert. What a change. But you see, he
esteemed it. A great blessing. Yes, and Joseph,
all those 17 years away from his father in prison and a hard
life he had, but God was with him. And God is with his people. God is with them in the times
of this pruning, in the times of this purging. God is with
them so that they become fruitful in the things of God. And they
don't look to themselves. You see, Joseph never looked
to himself. When he came and was able to give the meaning
of those dreams, it's God that gives the answers. It's not me,
it's God. Daniel the same it's God that
does these things not me You see that brings honor and glory
to God. What does that mean? It shows
fruitfulness in the lives of those men and fruitfulness in
the lives of his people today When we give God the glory and
confess it's his work It's his work that's done it and that's
precisely What we have here in this verse, when the Lord tells
us, without me, ye can do nothing. That's comprehensive, isn't it?
It doesn't say, well, without me, you can't do the big things
in life, you can't do some of the things that are difficult.
We're told, without me, ye can do nothing. Well, do we believe that? It's
good if we do. Because if we do, what does it
mean? It means we're utterly dependent
upon God. And we cry unto Him and we pray
unto Him. that He will help us, and He
will bless us, and He will grant us, therefore, the fruitfulness
in our lives, which is, of course, fellowship with the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the answer, isn't it?
That's fruitfulness, isn't it? And dear old Paul, of course,
knew how necessary it was when he wrote to the Philippians and
described the situation That he desired When he he tells us
But what things were gained to me those I counted loss for Christ
Here's a man of God speaking Here's a man of God living near
to his God. Here's a man of God. It was fruitful
And this is what he goes on to say Yeah doubtless And I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord." Wow, what a wonderful statement. What a statement desiring
real fruitfulness. Yes, everything he counted but
loss on the one side. And the other side, the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For whom, he says, I have suffered
the loss of all things. Well, none of us have suffered
the loss of all things, have we? We may have suffered the
loss of a few things, that won't matter. The Apostle tells us,
I have suffered the loss of all things. And how much did he value
them? All the things that he had and
possessed, he lost them. What value were they? He tells
us. And he counted them, but done
that I may win Christ. They were of no value in comparison
with winning Christ. And being found in him, you see,
part of this vine, part of this heavenly vine, and found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith. An amazing blessing it is when
the Spirit of God directs us to see that all our righteousness
is as but filthy rags and how needful it is that we are clothed
to cover our nakedness with the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ and to desire it and to pray for it And he goes on to
say, that I may know him. Now, don't misunderstand the
apostle. He knew the Lord. He knew him
from that day on the Damascus road without any doubt. That
I may know him, he meant he wanted to know more of Christ, the living
soul. Desiring fruitfulness in the
things of God will desire to know more of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the apostle emphasizes how
that knowledge is to be realized and proved to be a blessing.
And he tells us, and he says, and the power of his resurrection
That means the power that brings dead to life, that means in our
own lives the power that brought us to life, spiritual life, and
that the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings
be made conformable unto his death. And really, I believe
this is the real wonderful favour and blessing of God when God
brings us into places perhaps of affliction. And they may not
be in a physical way. They may be in a mental way.
They may be when we face opposition and criticism and so on from
people. It may be like that. But nonetheless,
when it is, realizing that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered in
a similar way and unites us then to himself. And what is it then? Fellowship with his sufferings
and we can say it is good that I've been afflicted in whatever
way it was Because it brought me near to Christ. It brought
me into fellowship with him. That's why the Apostle sorted
the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable unto his
death. He said if by any means any means
I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Yes, He wanted to
be found amongst those who were raised from the dead, incorruptible
and undefiled. And what a mercy it is for us
today if the Holy Spirit brings us with these spiritual desires
to be fruitful in the things of God, because if that is so,
God will be lifted up and God will be honoured and glorified.
And we will recognise that we cannot do it ourselves. But thankfully
the Lord does do it. He can do it and He does do it.
And so may we be, relying totally upon our God, but not forgetting
to plead for the blessing. You see, the Word of God tells
us, I will be inquired of, by the House of Israel to do these
things for them. May we pour out our heart to
God, that he will bless our souls and grant them to be fruitful
in the things of God. And so here we have this great
statement, for without me ye can do nothing. What a clear
word that was. How important it is for you and
me to understand it and not to struggle on trying to improve
ourselves naturally. We want of course to have ourselves
improved. We want to be found living a
more holy life. We want to be found living a
more separated life unto God. We need to be found walking with
the Saviour. We need to know what it is to
be blessed with this fellowship in His sufferings. But let us
realise that no more can ye except ye abide in me. Unless we're
abiding in Christ, it never will happen. If we're wandering a
long way away, we cannot serve two masters. You can't serve
the world and serve the Lord. The Bible tells us that you cannot
serve God and mammon. Mammon, perhaps there, means
money. Well, you know, we can spend
our time trying to make money. We'll have to leave it all behind,
won't we? You cannot serve God and mammon.
What a mercy if the Lord produces in our hearts a desire to serve
the Lord. and to be found in Him. And to
know what it is in that great and blessed path of fellowship
with Him. You see, in that path, I'll tell
you where it leads you. It leads you to the cross. It
leads you to the cross. Yes, and when you behold the
suffering, Son of God suffering for you, that'll make a difference. That'll touch your heart, if
there's life in the soul. That'll move your spirit to think
that the great and blessed Saviour was willing to die for such an
unworthy wretch as you and me. How humbling it is. How God-glorifying
it is. to think that the Lord of life
and glory should have entered into this sinful world and died
that sin-atoning death, shedding his most precious blood upon
that cross of Calvary, in order that you and I might receive
the wonderful gift of eternal life. Now, blessed with this,
you see, this is being fruitful. This is a wonderful blessing
of God. This is a favor of God. And this is the evidence that
we are abiding in Christ and that we are one of His branches. Oh, friends tonight, may we each
have the evidence that we are a branch in Christ. And if we
do not have the evidence, may we plead and pray earnestly for
it. that God would show to us that
we are a branch in Christ. And therefore, that this word
is true, ye are the branches. We are part of Christ. We are
united to him. And therefore, he abideth in
me and I in him. And the same bringeth forth much
fruit, and may be the wonderful evidence in our lives, for his
honour and glory, that we bear much fruit. Remember, for without
me ye can do nothing. But remember what the Apostle
also said when he wrote to the Philippians, but I can do all
things through Christ that strengthens me. There's our secret. Rest in that. Rest in the Lord,
in what He does, the strength that He provides. I can do all
things through Christ that strengthens me. Amen.