May the Lord be pleased to bless
us this evening as we consider his word together. Let's turn
to the Gospel of John, chapter 15, and reading verse 8. The Gospel of John, chapter 15,
and reading verse 8. Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus speaking very directly and importantly to his disciples
as they were in that upper room on that Passover night. They
were wonderful words which He was speaking just very shortly
before he was to be taken from them and how relevant they were
to the disciples and how relevant they are and have been and will
be to the Church of God. And we realize that the great
purpose the Savior speaks about was that in all things his father
might be glorified. Glorified in that great and glorious
plan of salvation. Glorified as his children produced
that God-given fruit. And how important for us today
to realize that these words apply to us as much now as they did
those 2,000 or so years ago, when the Lord spoke them in the
upper room to his disciples. It's perhaps sometimes tempting
for us to think, well, of course, these words apply to the disciples,
but in actual fact, of course, they apply to us in exactly the
same way. And the Lord gave in this account
a wonderful illustration, an illustration that we're able
to understand today as clearly as they could understand it in
those days. And he gives us the picture of
a vine. Well I dare say most of us have
seen a vine growing. They don't grow perhaps quite
so freely in our countries, in some countries, but nonetheless
there are plenty of vineyards and people grow vines themselves. So it's an opportunity that we
have to observe the picture that the Lord Jesus gives to us in
this account. And it's through this picture
the Lord then draws the conclusion, herein is my Father glorified
that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. And again the inference really
is that the disciples of the Saviour, the disciples do actually
bear fruit. We need to recognise that and
be concerned about it. And not to just settle back and
say, well, I don't see very much fruit in my life and I'm not
very concerned perhaps about it. It is really the evidence
of the blessing of God in our souls to be fruitful so that
that fruit might bring forth honour and glory to Almighty
God. Well, the question of course
is, how are we to be fruitful? Well, first of all, We shall
not be fruitful at all unless we are found as part of this
great and glorious vine. And the Saviour tells us, he
says, I am the true vine. What does that mean? That means
that we must be part of that vine. And the Word of God speaks
to us about being grafted in, grafted in. to the vine, and
so that we become part of it. And as that graft then grows,
then we have the evidence that we possess part of this glorious
life, this life within, this life which the Saviour gives. And not only then to know that
we are graft in, but also to know that we are a partaker of
the goodness that comes from this vine. And of course, a vine
has a root, doesn't it? And it takes goodness from the
ground, goodness from the ground. Well, we know we have this wonderful
picture of the Saviour. And we know there is a fullness
which resides in Jesus, our Head, which ever abides to answer our
need. The true vine is full of goodness.
And therefore may we be found to be a partaker of that goodness. Now the picture that we have
is of the Father, our Father in heaven, who is the husbandman. He looks after this vine. And what are we told? Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit He taketh away. And that's a
very solemn statement, isn't it? It means that we weren't
really part of the vine. We just appeared to be. There
was no fruit. There was no goodness. There
was no benefit. And I think that this word is
true. He taketh away. And so we may ponder this and
recognise the relevance. and the important to our own
spiritual life. So there may be that fruitfulness
in our spiritual life. And that we're not barren. We're
not like a branch which only has leaves and no fruit. Remember the Lord Jesus came
to that fig tree and looked upon it and there was no fruit. and he said, cut it down, why
cummerith at the ground? There must be fruit. Without
fruit, there's no evidence of being blessed. It's just leaves. Now the truth is here, that if
we are in the true vine, then as we read, every branch that
beareth fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. That means it's cut back. It's cut back. It's not left
to just grow on. It's cut back and as it's cut
back you see then it has a benefit because it strengthens itself
and then it produces more shoots and then eventually more fruit. Now perhaps As we see that picture
and we think of ourselves, we're not very keen on finding that
the Lord comes and, as it were, cuts us back. It may be because
we're growing straggly. There's not very much life. It's a straggly growth, and it
needs to be trimmed back. And if we look at that, our own
life, we might see ourselves perhaps confident in our spiritual
knowledge, confident in that which we think we know, and perhaps
we may be proud of our knowledge. And because of that, what has
happened? Is God being glorified or are
we being glorified? We may be taking the glory to
ourselves. You see, if that is so, then the Lord comes, the
Father comes and prunes us, cuts back those straggly branches
as it were, so there may be that strength and that dependence
once again upon the whole vine and to be blessed with that spiritual
life. And we can imagine, can't we,
sometimes there are those branches which become straggly and sometimes
we see A branch is dying. There's no real life in them,
not vigorous growth at all. They're dying and they're removed
and they're cut off. They're just dead wood. Well,
what a terrible situation it is to just be dead wood in the
Church of God. We talk, don't we, sometimes
about people in business just being dead wood. And they're
often made redundant because they're no good. We don't want to be found dead
wood, do we? We don't want to be cut off and
cut out because there's no benefit. There's no fruit. There's any
evidence of the fruit at all. We're just dead wood. Well, how
evident it is then that we need to be careful in our spiritual
life today. There is a great lack of fruitfulness
in the Church of God. There's a lot of carnal religion
in the world today. A lot of people just go after
that which feeds the flesh and doesn't feed the soul. It doesn't
bring forth spiritual fruit. It's just of the world. It's
just worldliness. There's no true benefit from
it. And we're warned against that situation. And we're warned
to seek that we might find ourselves, therefore, not carrying on by
ourselves, not reliant upon our own food, our own spiritual life. but that which the Lord gives
us. Now, that would only come about, as we read here, if we
are found abiding in Christ. Abide in me and I in you. Well, are you and I abiding in
Christ? Are we walking with Christ? are being blessed with spiritual
communion with Christ. Do we understand anything of
that experience that those two disciples had when they were
journeying on that Emmaus road? It's a singular experience that
God grants to his people. And it's when there is then that
true fruitfulness And we know what the testimony of those two
were when the Lord spoke to them. They were walking with the Lord,
weren't they? They weren't wandering away. It wasn't a long distance,
they walked very closely. And you see, what were they doing
when they started on that road? Were they discussing the things
of the world? Were they discussing the weather?
Were they discussing their bank balance? Were they discussing
the sporting events of the day? No. They were speaking about
the things which had occurred. They were speaking about the
things that had occurred to the Lord Jesus Christ. The things
which were important to them. The things which were touching
their heart. That's what they were speaking about. You see
the importance then. And what happened? Jesus himself drew near and went
with them. What a blessed time, wasn't it?
My friend, you and I need to covet such situations. We need
to remember the day and age in which we live. It is a very evil
day. And Satan goes about as an angel
of light. And he pretends that you can
get away with this and get away with that and you can speak that
and you can speak that. My friends, does it lead us to
Christ? Does it lead us to closer communion
with Christ? Closer union with Christ? Or
does it draw us, does it take us nearer to the world? Well
those two on that Emmaus road, they knew what the blessing was.
Because Jesus opened their understanding. He opened our understanding of
the Scriptures and He spoke about Himself. He spoke about Himself
throughout the Scriptures. What an effect it had. What was
their statement? Did not our heart burn within
us? It was the movement of the Holy
Spirit as they rejoiced in the conversation. They rejoiced in
what the Saviour was speaking to them about. speaking about
himself. They were being drawn to him.
Oh my friends then, do we understand
that tonight? What is it really? Here it is. Abide in me and I
in you. Do we desire to be found in Christ? Christ in you? The hope of glory? outside of Christ, outside of
the vine, no hope of glory. My friends, if we're abiding
in Christ, if we're part of this true vine, and therefore if we
are benefiting from it, and that benefit means that by the blessed
spirit of God you and I are growing grace and in the knowledge of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We don't shrivel up, we're not
cut off. No, there's that fruitfulness,
because it's Christ in us, the hope of glory. And so we have such a statement
as this, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except
it abide in a vine, no more can ye. except ye abide in me. It means outside of Christ, there's
no true fruitfulness. It's just leaves. No true fruitfulness. But to be found abiding in Christ,
oh my friends, what a blessing that is. Remember, herein is
my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit. How concerned we
should be in the day and age in which we live. that we are
fruitful in the things of God, not to bring glory to ourselves. Be clear about that. Not to bring
glory to ourselves. But you know, it brings glory
to God as we can testify of what he's done for us. Those two on
that Emmaus road, what did they do? The Lord left them and what
was their, what did they do? Then they sit down and say, well,
this is a comfortable hotel, we're staying in, we'll rest
here. They got up and immediately returned to tell the disciples,
to tell the household of faith what had occurred, how they'd
been blessed, and to tell the disciples of the wonderful revelation
which they'd benefited from. It was a day of good news. It
was a time of fruitfulness. It was a time of blessing. They
didn't keep these things to themselves. Herein is my Father glorified
that ye bear much fruit. And oh, my friends, today God
is glorified by the evidence of that fruit. And the evidence
really is often set forth in two ways. First of all, by a
walk. Secondly, by a conversation. And they both go together. And
we should be desirous that our lives may bring God the glory. As I so often say, and how important
it is, our lives on this earth are for the honor and glory of
God. We're not born in this world
to just please ourselves, to just enjoy the things of this
life. Because we are bought with a
price. Because the Saviour has given his life, that's the price.
He's given his life that you and I might receive life. What
a great price it is. And therefore how important that
we should be concerned to be fruitful in our spiritual life. And the fruitfulness in our spiritual
life shows forth through our natural life. Is my Father glorified that ye
bear much fruit? Much fruit. May that word hang
upon our hearts. Much fruit. Let us not be satisfied
with a little fruit. Let us be thankful for a little
fruit. But my friends, let us be on
the stretch after more fruit. Because the more fruit there
is, the more Almighty God is honoured and glorified. And so there is this abiding
in Christ, the blessed Saviour. It's a great favour and it's
the wonderful evidence that you and I possess the life of God
in our souls as we are brought to that knowledge that we are
abiding in Christ because of what Christ reveals to us. He
reveals to us what we are and He reveals to us His great salvation. That, my friends, is abiding
in Christ. And what a blessing it is if
the Holy Spirit so works in our heart to reveal these things
to us, these things which are not of the flesh, they are of
the Spirit. And the Church of God, and you
and I will know whether this is so or not, Because it's the
evidence of something which we could not do for ourselves. You
cannot draw yourself to the Saviour. The Lord draws us. Draws us by
those cords of a man, those bands of love. We're drawn to the Saviour. We realise what a great and glorious
work it is to be found in the Vine, abiding in Him. And so
the Lord comes and says, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself
except ye abide in me. No more can ye except ye abide
in me. Let us remember those words. And then the Lord says, I am
the vine and ye are the branches. Well, today, as we look at ourselves
and my friends, it's good to examine ourselves. The scriptures
encourage us as to whether we are in the faith or not. And
the evidence of whether we are in a faith or not is that we
are one of these branches. What does it come down to? You
and I are feeding upon Christ. That's what it comes down to.
Naturally, you see, a vine cannot bear fruit, it cannot really
grow well, unless it has that sap, unless they're feeding from
that sap. And it's exactly the same in
a spiritual sense, that you and I are found feeding upon Christ. And so perhaps the question is,
what think ye of Christ? Is the test to try all our works
and our scheme. We cannot be right in the rest
unless we think rightly of Him. What do we think of Christ? What
do you think of Christ? What do I think of Christ? Do
we think of Him? as that true vine. Do we think
of him as that glorious one from whom we receive all our spiritual
strength? Outside of Christ there's no
spiritual living, there's no spiritual life. It's death, it's
shriveled up, nothing of any value. And so the Lord comes
and says, I am the vine, ye are the branches, He that abideth
in me and I in him. What does that mean? It means
union. And what does union mean? It
means communion. That means our soul on the stretch
after the knowledge of Christ. That knowledge of Christ which
is more precious than gold, The value of Christ is far exceeds
anything that this world can offer because the things that
the world offers pass away. The things that the Lord gives
are eternal. You see the great difference
and the great value of eternal things. And so may our souls
be on the stretch after Christ. May our cry be, give me Christ
or else I die. We are shriveled away, we'll
be cast out if we're not part of this vine. And the evidence
that we are part of this vine, that we possess the spiritual
life of God within, is that we, our spiritual life, our soul,
is fruitful in the things of God. If a man abides not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them,
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. Those who have pretended to be
Christians. Those who have a name to live
and yet are dead. There are today many people in
the world just like that. There are people in our chapels
who are just like that. A name to live and yet are dead. A great important question for
us is, is as to whether you and I are fruitful in the things
of God, and that we're not just living a lie, that we're not
just pretending to be what we're not. My friends, you know, you
and I may fool people, but you and I can never fool God, because
God looks into our heart, and he sees whether his life is within
or not. And men gather them, and cast
them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me,
and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it
shall be done unto you. This is a significant statement.
If ye abide in me, then God's words will abide in our heart. That will be the words that God
has applied to our souls. The words that God has spoken
to us from his word, they rested in our hearts and it's the word
of God and that has placed them there. And it's the Word of God
which God, as it were, has riveted it there, He's fixed it there.
It's His Word which has been applied to our souls. And that Word which is applied
to our souls is the wonderful, blessed, glorious evidence of
that life which God has given. And the evidence that we are
one of the true branches, because we possess the Word of God which
He has given to us and applied to our soul. If ye abide in me
and my words abide in you. That's the confirmation, the
evidence of being found in Christ. as his words abide in our heart. Well, have you and I any word
that God has applied to our hearts? If you look back through your
life, has there been an occasion when God has applied a word,
perhaps a line of a hymn, perhaps a line of scripture, but a word
that has come from God? And it's riveted in your heart. And you hold it up. Why? It's treasure in heaven. It's the word of God. It's the
word of life to your soul. It's that which you're relying
upon. It's come from God. What a blessing it is then to
have such an evidence. If ye abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ye shall ask, ask what ye will, and it shall be
done unto you." Well of course here we have this great and glorious
encouragement to come to our God and to pray that we may be
fruitful, that he may indeed speak to our souls and that he
may indeed reveal himself unto us. as he does not unto the world. And there we see, then the true
fruitfulness. Because what occurs, we're feeding
upon Christ. And my friends, when you and
I feed on Christ, it will have an effect. We'll be a different person.
We'll have different values. We won't be so concerned about
the poor things of time. We will be concerned about eternal
realities. We will be concerned to know
that the Saviour died for us. We will desire to know that our
names are engraved in the palms of His hands, that our names
are written on His heart, that our names are written in the
Lamb's Book of Life. It will be a great question. It will
be a question which we will need to put out of question with the
evidence that we are amongst the chosen of God. What do we
read here later on in this same 15th chapter? Ye have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go
and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. You
see, spiritual fruit is not something which fades away. It's there
to remain because it's that which God has done for us all. And
that which God has done for our soul brings honour and glory
to his great and holy name. Well, tonight, my friends, have
we that wonderful evidence. And it's a great gift from God
if we can trace back our spiritual life and recognise these words
are true, true to us, yes. The Lord in his infinite love
and mercy has chosen me. You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you. And that goes back into eternity. What a glorious mystery that
is, isn't it? To think that the Lord loved us with an everlasting
love. And therefore we're loving kindness.
He's drawn us. He's drawn us to himself. He's
spoken to our hearts. We have the evidence that we're
abiding in Christ, the evidence that God has chosen us, the evidence
that the Lord has ordained us for a divine purpose, and that
purpose is that we should go and bring forth fruit, and that
fruit should remain. That's the purpose, my friends,
that God has called and chosen us. So remember, we're not our own.
We're not our own, we're bought with a price, that price, the
blood of the Saviour. Oh, my friends, you see, this
is abiding in Christ, this is feeding upon Christ, feeding
from the vine. And as we feed upon Christ and
as these things are revealed to us that the Saviour has given
his life, died upon Calvary's cross, stood in our place, our
substitute. Yes, so that it is he that is
seen instead of us. What a wonderful blessing to
think that Almighty God was willing to be our substitute. willing
to bear the punishment instead. What a wonderful revelation to
our souls. What a glorious truth to think
of what Christ was so willing to do, Christ was so willing
to die, that we perishing sinners might live and live eternally. You see, if we are truly engrafted
into this vine, if it's the work of the Spirit
of God, if it's His great and glorious
work which is revealed, then my friends, we shall never be
cast out. We shall never be cut off. We may be pruned. We will be pruned. We have to realise that the Lord
deals with us in love and mercy so that we may bear more fruit. When the Lord deals with us and
prunes us and cuts off some of those bits which are stopping growth, restraining
it, then it is that we are able to discern God's goodness to
us. And the realisation is that we
haven't been left to wander on. The Lord is our husbandman and
he's dealing with us and he's strengthening our faith so that
our faith is firmer and it's stronger as God comes and makes
us more reliant upon him. So we find ourselves less and
less reliant upon ourselves. Bless God if he's given us the
glorious gift of eternal faith. See, faith is a wonderful fruit
which comes from the work of the Blessed Spirit, from abiding
in Christ. It's God-given faith. It's the
gift of God. We didn't obtain it ourselves. It's given. And as it's given,
therefore, it does show forth God's fruit. It's his fruit that
he gives to us. And you know, it will remain.
It won't be taken away. Bring forth fruit and that your
fruit should remain. Herein is my father glorified. that ye bear much fruit, so shall
ye be my disciples.' Do we desire to be a disciple of the Lord
Jesus Christ? What does that mean? It means to be a follower of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It means to be one who is willing
to serve Him. It means one to be willing to
lay before Him. Do you and I desire truly to
be His disciples? What a privilege it is, isn't
it? What a favour to be one of His disciples. Well, here is
the Word which directs us that ye bear much fruit, so shall
ye be My disciples. Because those who are true disciples,
they show forth the work of God in their lives. They show forth
what he's done for them in their walk and in their conversation. And they desire that Christ might
be lifted up. They desire that he might be
exalted as they consider what a great love he's had for their
souls. What a great blessing they've enjoyed. through his
love, through his mercy, through his favour. They might then desire
to honour their God. They might desire to be a true
disciple. Herein is my Father glorified
that ye bear much fruit, so should ye be my disciples. The Lord spoke on, he said, as
the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye
in my love. Now, the love of Christ to our
soul is a moving influence. Remember those words of John,
not that we loved God, but that he loved us. That's the moving influence.
His love. As we see our condition, lost
and ruined in the fall, yet Jesus loved us, notwithstanding all. Now you see the outworking of
that is fruitfulness. in the things of God. And we're
moved by His love, to love Him in return. No doubt our love
seems to be so very poor and very faint. But my friends, as
we think, loved with this everlasting love. As the Father loved me,
so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. Yes, walking with the Saviour,
united to the Saviour. If ye keep my commandments, ye
shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments,
and I abide in his love. This is an example the Lord Jesus
gives us. Following the Lord, his commandments
are not grievous. They're not grievous, my friends,
but they are indeed joyous as we read these things I have spoken
unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might
be full. There's a blessed joy in observing
the fruit that the Lord gives to us so that we bear this fruit
and it testifies of his great love and mercy toward us and
are concerned what is then to show forth his fruit so that
his name might be honoured and his name might be glorified.
Oh, let us remember these gracious words of the Saviour and let's
not forget they were spoken a short time before he died. They were
the words of love to his church, to speak to his church and show
to them those things which shall come, and those things which
shall be enjoyed, and those evidences of the life within which are
set forward before us in such an emblem as this, as this true
vine. And my friends, to know that
you and I are part of this vine, united to Christ, oh my friends,
how important it is. The words, the hymn says, I could
from all things parted be, but never, never, Lord, from thee. And how true that is. If we're
not part of this vine, we're eternally lost. If we're part
of this vine, we're eternally saved. Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples, for may we
all be disciples of the Lord. May we all be true followers
of the Lord, and may we all bring forth much fruit for his honour
and glory. Amen.