Seeking to know the Lord's help
and your prayerful attention this evening, I direct your minds
once again to John's Gospel chapter 15 and verse 2. John's Gospel chapter 15 and
verse 2. John 15 and verse 2, 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. We spoke this morning of the
vine, and how that Jesus had said, I am the true vine, he
is the source and the supplier of all our needs. And that's
relatively easy to say, but the dealings of God with his people
are to bring them to a place where they walk out the reality
of truly depending on God as their source. It's one thing
to say that my source is from God. It's another thing to walk
consistently with that statement. What do I mean by that? Well,
if we turn to Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 4, 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 6 and
7. And these things brethren I have
in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes
that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which
is written that no one of you be puffed up One against another. For who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory or boast as if thou hadst not received
it? So Paul here is talking to the
Corinthian church, a very gifted church. They had many gifts and
really they were quite proud of the gifts that they had. And Paul needs to talk to them
very sternly that these gifts that they had, you see, they
were taking what God had given them and then were parading them
as if they were their own. So this is one way in which we
can act Contrary to the truth of this word, I am the true thine
and my father is the husbandman. If we walk in a way of pride,
if what God gives us we then claim as being what we have achieved,
what we have done by our own way and what we have achieved
through ourselves and parade it to give glory to ourselves,
you see, we're not walking out. this word that we should get
everything of our supply from this vine. We have everything
from it, but we're not acknowledging it. And the Corinthians weren't,
you see, they were puffed up, they were proud. For who maketh
thee to differ from another, Paul says. Why are you any different
than anybody else? And if you are any different,
who's to be praised? Who's to be thanked for the difference? This is why the Lord Jesus, and
indeed the Father as it's in our text, every branch that beareth
fruit, he purgeth it. that it may bring forth more
fruit. We did mention in the morning
regarding every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh
away. We dealt with that this morning,
the solemnity of not bearing fruit. If you are not a fruit-bearing
branch, then you have no evidence that you are part of the Church
of God. You might be part of a church,
in church membership perhaps, But you have no evidence that
you are part of the true church if you are not bearing this fruit
to God's honour and to God's glory. And we did read in Hebrews
how that fruit you see was holiness. It was to make us holy, to make
us like our saviour. And this is the work you see
of sanctification. God justified his church. at Calvary. But then the church,
you see, need to know what it is to be sanctified, to be set
apart for the worship of God. They're not to take the life
that God has given them and to use it to their own ends. They're
not their own, we read. We are not our own, you bought
with a price. And so how does God deal with
these people, you see, that walk in pride and say that that we've received it of ourselves.
Every branch that beareth fruit, they had some fruit, the Corinthians,
he purgeth it, he prunes it, he deals with it, so that it
may bring forth more fruit. You see, if there's pride, there'll
be no fruit, it'll ruin the fruit, there'll be no blessing. There'd
be no glory given to God because the one who is preaching or the
one who is in the limelight is trying to attract the glory for
himself. No, who make it thee to differ from another? You see,
so there's one way. We can receive things of this source,
but not acknowledge that they come from it. Not acknowledge
that they come from God. because we want the glory ourselves.
We want to do these things for ourselves, you see, and the branch
mustn't be doing that. The branch is to be bearing fruit
to God's glory, not to itself, not to be self-exalting. Another
thing with the vine is this, that you don't make, you don't
use vine wood to make things, I understand. It's so twisted
and it's not really good for making things out of. The only
thing that you can do with it is burn it. You can use it as
fuel. But you don't really make things
out of it. In other words, either it's a
branch that is used for the sap to go through, to go towards
the clusters of grapes, to produce that fruit, then it's useful. In itself, it's not useful. That's the point I'm making.
The branch itself is not beautiful. It's not precious in itself.
Its preciousness or its usefulness is in its fruit bearing. You
see, we are not to bring glory to ourselves. We are to bear
fruit. And if we're not bearing fruit,
then we are dishonouring God, and we are
not to be parading ourselves. Every branch that beareth fruit,
there is encouragement that there is a bearing of fruit, and yet
he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit. So one of the
ways that we can deny the source coming from Christ is by pretending
and taking glory to ourselves. And this is so common. This is
how the world is and this is how we are. You see, we live
and we live amongst the world and we take the way of the world's
thinking into our thinking and we glory in ourselves as if we
have done these things. We praise ourselves rather than
God. We don't acknowledge that we
are just a twisted wooden branch unable to do anything of itself
except connected to the vine, except connected to Christ, that
the sap may flow through us, that there may be fruit for his
honour and for his glory. There's a great need then for
humility. Be ye therefore clothed with humility. But there's an
opposite way of also walking wrongly in this respect. You
see, if Christ is the Source, if He truly is the Vine, I am
the true Vine, then are we acknowledging that everything comes from Him?
In the sense that, you'll say, oh, I couldn't do
that. I couldn't walk in that way.
I couldn't follow the Lord in that way. You don't know what
I'm like. I can't do that. Whose strength
are you walking in? Let's analyse that statement.
You can't do something, but whose strength are you trying to do
it in? If you're trying to do it in your own strength, correct,
you can't do it. You can't do it of yourself.
You see, Jesus said that, but without me you can do nothing,
correct? You can't. In union with the vine, you can flourish and bear fruit. There's no reason why you should
not bear fruit. Of course there's many reasons
in your heart that come up, many impossibilities, many ifs, buts
and maybes. But when you analyse them, when
you really think about it, what you're saying is, it's not Christ
is not enough to make me fruitful. I've got all these barriers and
all these problems and they are to stop me being fruitful. And
really it's all to do with this branch and it's qualities or
lack of qualities that is all to do with the fruitfulness.
And you see in a sense it's the same. It's the same as Corinthians
were glorying because they were saying it's this branch that
is so wonderful and that's why we're fruitful. And they were
glorying in themselves. But one who says, well I'm such
a twisted branch, I couldn't do anything to glorify God. In
a sense, you're again putting too much emphasis in the branch. The branch is connected to the
vine. And if the branch is connected
to the vine, then when you say you cannot do something, when
God has asked you, commanded you to do it in his word, you
are basically saying that the source is not able to supply
your needs. You are saying to God that he
cannot supply your needs. He cannot make you a twisted,
ruined in the fall branch to bear fruit to his honour and
to his glory. Can you see you are In a way
you are dishonouring, you are downgrading, you are despising,
you are rejecting this vine. You are saying, this vine, yes,
this vine may be wonderful, but when I'm connected to it in Christ,
when I receive of His fullness, That fullness is not enough to
make a crooked branch like me to bear fruit. You're dishonouring
the vine. You see, you might think you're
being very, very humble. Oh, I have very lowly thoughts
of myself. Well, are they? Or are you dishonouring
the one who says, I am the vine? Are you really? honouring him, because he has
said, don't misunderstand me here, I'm not trying to say that
you are a wonderful branch and in and of yourselves you can
do wonderful things and bring much fruit to God's glory. You
can't. That's correct. But in Christ,
if we are in Christ, if we have that sap flowing through us,
How can we turn around and say, well those people over there,
they can do it because they've got this, this, this and this
on their behalf. That's why they can serve the
Lord, but I couldn't. What's wrong with the vine? What's
happened to Christ? Is Christ unable? Is he unable
to supply that sap through such a branch? So in a way there's
an encouragement here, isn't there? See, Isaiah picks this
same thing up in Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40, the last verses in
that lovely chapter. He giveth power to the faint,
and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the
youths shall faint and be weary. Youths are people that generally,
children run around don't they? You don't have to, unless the
child is ill, it likes to run around. They love to run, like
lambs skipping in the field. They don't go around slowly,
they run. That's their nature. Even the
youths. shall faint and be weary, those
which are naturally able to run. You say, now that's a person
who's fit, that's a person who's able, oh they're able to run,
they're able to do great exploits, you might think. Even the youth
shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall. But, and this is the but, and
this is what honours I am the true vine. This is what honours
it. But they that wait upon the Lord. That's the key. Not those that
are young and able to spring around and do great things. But
they that wait upon the Lord to renew their strength. Why? Not because they're great in
and of themselves. Not because they're boasting
like the Corinthians and saying, well it's really our greatness
that has made us useful in the things of God. It's because I've
got this, this and this qualification. That's why I'm useful to God.
No, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They
shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not
be weary. They shall walk and not faint. These are the people that are
connected to this true vine. This vine which is so fruitful. This vine which is the true vine. Every other vine is empty. Every other way and source of
nourishment will let you down. But the true Vine, even our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, in His finished work, in what He
has accomplished, that will be a source of strength which you
will daily be able to walk with. You see, this is walking by faith,
trusting that as you are abiding in the Vine, that means you are
connected to the Vine, you have a union with that Vine. and there
is sap flowing. The grace of God flows through
it and you are bringing forth fruit in due season. That's the
point. You are fruitful and that is
what being a true branch is. But the Lord, you see, he wants
you to be fruitful. It's his purpose. Just like any
farmer would want his vine to bear in fruit, wouldn't he? It's
no point having a vine if it doesn't bear any fruit. It's
interesting that when Israel went into captivity, that the
few people that were left behind were left of the poor of the
people. to be vine dressers. That was their job. They were
to dress the vines. It seems that even the heathen
kings realised the necessity of vine dressers. There was a
necessity that the vines were kept in good order otherwise
they were completely lost and of course vines can grow for
hundreds of years and so quickly you could destroy so much if
you did not attend them. So the vine is to be something
that is to be productive. And every branch that beareth
fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. We read in Hosea's prophecy regarding
Ephraim. Now if you remember the background
to Ephraim, Ephraim was the son born to Joseph when he was in
captivity. He was born to Joseph when he
was risen to great authority, the second leader in the land
of Egypt. And Manasseh was the first son
that was born to him, and Ephraim was the second. And Ephraim,
the name Ephraim means God has made me fruitful. And Ephraim,
you see, meant fruitfulness. And Joseph said that God has
made him fruitful in the land of his captivity, as he was in
Egypt. But we have here Ephraim and
Israel talking about the Lord's dealings with them. Talking,
if you like, about how my father is the husbandman, that husbandman
that is pruning and dealing with us. You see if you go back to
Hosea 14 that we read together, take with you words and turn
to the Lord and say unto him, take away all iniquity. That's
purging isn't it? To purge us, to take away all
iniquity and to receive us graciously so shall we render the calves
of our lips. Asher shall not save us, we will
not ride upon horses. Do you see the prophet here is
going through all these false refugees and saying I'm not going
to trust in them anymore, I'm not going to make them my boast,
I'm not going to make them my security. Neither will we say
anymore to the work of our hands, ye are our gods. This is the husbandman's job,
this is a father in heaven. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit. Ephraim, his name meant fruitfulness. But you see here, they had turned
to idols. Israel had turned to idols. They
had turned away to worship the host of heaven and the works
of their own hands. Ye are our gods, for in thee
the fatherless findeth mercy. And then God replies, I will
heal their backslidings, I will love them freely, for mine anger
is turned away from him. That is, we have that in Christ,
isn't it? How can the anger of God be turned
away from objects that utterly and completely deserve to be
burned away and to be burned into oblivion. No, you see Christ
is that one who took that punishment, that great sin of the church
and bore it away. I will be as the dew unto Israel.
He shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
Here we have pictures again of fruitfulness. His branches shall
spread and his beauty shall be as the olive tree and as Lebanon.
They shall dwell under the shadow and shall return and they shall
revive as the corn and grow as the vine and the scent thereof
shall be as the wine of Lebanon. And then we have this word, Ephraim
shall say, this one who means fruitfulness, that's what it
means. Ephraim shall say, what have I to do anymore with idols? This one who was meant to be
fruitful, his name suggests that he had been Full of idols, full
of idols. What are idols? Worshipping something
other than the true vine. I am the true vine. I want you to think in your life,
what is top in the things that you think are most important
in your life? If you have to put them in a list, what is the
number one priority in your life? What do you give the best of
your time to, day by day? What do you put the most effort
into? What is your number one desire?
When Ephraim, under God's pruning hand, purging hand, comes to
this, Ephraim says, what have I to do any more with idols?
I have heard him say, and observed him, and then we have the Lord
Jesus saying, I and like a green fir tree from me is thy fruit
found. So we have here this name that
means fruitfulness Ephraim confessing that he became utterly fruitless,
utterly barren and yet that one coming to this true vine The
Lord Jesus, who supplies the needs of his people, who is able
to make the barren fruitful, able to make the wilderness into
a watered place, able to give back the years that the locust
have eaten. From me is thy fruit found. You see, this is an acknowledgement,
isn't it? of where true fruitfulness is
to be found. This is what the Lord is doing
when he is dealing with you and me. He is going to burn up every
refugee of lies, everything that you are trusting in, which will
not be of any real value when it comes to the end of the world,
when it comes to standing before the throne of God. When you come
in that last great day, what good will it do you? What help
will it be that you've trusted in your riches, in your wisdom,
in your abilities, in your own selves, or in some hero that
you have, some sports player. What will they do to you when
you come into the waters of Jordan? How can they help you? How can
they bring you through? How can they be a comfort to
you at that time? No, you see, the Lord Jesus,
that vine, is to be, we are to be united with. And
we are to receive daily sap from that vine. We are to do things,
not because we are wonderful branches and we have been made
in such a beautiful shape and we've got such gifts and abilities
to do great exploits for God. Paul the Apostle utterly speaks
against that in Corinthians, utterly speaks against it. Hymn writer picks it up, withered
and barren, should I be, is severed from the vine. Not connected
to the vine, then no fruit. Doesn't matter whether your name
is called Ephraim, that means fruitfulness, there'll be no
fruit. There'll be nothing lasting, nothing enduring, nothing that
you'll be able to look back and see that the Lord has blessed
you in this way, the Lord has enabled you. No, nothing but
barrenness. If we think of the other chapter
that we read in Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12 is picking up after the account
of those lists of the faithfuls, how those in the Old Testament
had living faith to believe in God, often with tremendous odds
against them, tremendous things which would point them in the
other direction. Moses, who had the riches of
the land of Egypt at his fingertips, and yet chose rather to suffer
affliction, with the people of God, ones who change their behaviour
so greatly because of their faith. And the writer to the Hebrews
then says, Wherefore, seeing ye also are compassed about with
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race which is set before us. It's easy when we
come into Christ's school. It's easy when the knife, we
can see the knife coming out of the Father as he's pruning
us, as he's keeping us, as he's shattering our earthly joys that
are founded on wrong foundations. It's easy. to faint, it's easy
to feel like giving up, it's easy to run away like Jonah and
to go in the opposite direction it's easy to be unchildlike it's easy to try
and kick against God but we are to have patience Let
us run with patience the race which is set before us. And how
are we going to be encouraged in these difficulties, in these
losses, in these sadnesses, in these disappointments, in these
things which we would have, in our way, would have liked it
to go a different way. But yet God has seen fit in his
wisdom to lead us forth by the right way. Well, it says in the
chapter that we read in Hebrews, verse 2, 12 verse 2, looking
unto Jesus, the author of the finisher of our faith, who for
the joy that was set before him, and we have a joy set before
us if we are true believers, to be with Christ which is far
better, what joy, what, what, who on this earth can offer you
anything of such eternal happiness as God has done in His Word. The joy that was set before Him,
the joy of the marriage supper with the Lamb, but what did He
endure? Endured the cross, despising
the shame, the tremendous shame, hanging naked before all those
people, being held up as the chief of
sinners, Cursed is everyone that hangeth
upon a tree. Made a curse for his people.
That's what he endured. And we're to look to him, despising
the shame. and is now set down at the right
hand of God. For, consider him. That's what
we're to do as we think of fainting, as we think of giving up, as
we think of trying to put in our resignation and say, I can't
go on with this any longer. This father is far too severe,
is far too ruthless with his pruning. I can't carry on in
this way. Consider him. that endured such
contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be weary and
faint in your mind. It's easy to become faint, easy
to feel like we can't go on, but consider him, what did he
do? You have not yet resisted under blood, you've not lost
your life striving against sin yet. You're still alive, so you
have not yet lost your life. You have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord. We're not to despise it, you
see. We're not to think that it's a bad place. We're to realize
that it's a privilege to have a Father in heaven that so cares
for his branches, that he wants them to be fruitful. He wants them to grow in holiness. And in our right mind surely
is not that our desire? If your desire deep down before
God is not to grow in holiness, you need to ask yourself, are
you a Christian? What evidence have you that you
are a child of God if you do not want to grow in holiness?
What makes you think that you're going to be happy in glory, glorifying
God forever and ever, if you have no desire here below for
holiness? What evidence? No, the Lord's
people, their desire is to grow. If they're in healthy condition,
and if they're not in a healthy condition, They are in a backsliding
state. Then they need to be awakened
from that backsliding state. They need to lose their assurance. They need to lose all hope that
they will be saved so that they may come again and flee to Christ
and He will not deny them. No, they need to come back and
receive a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit, a fresh realisation
that He is their God. Not to go further and further,
far and further away from God, unconcerned about holiness. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If he
endure chastening, God dealeth with you. As with sons, for what
son is he whom the father chasteneth not? See, those that are not
your own children, they might do this and that, but it's not
really your place to tell them off, it's not your place to correct
them. As a father you have a jurisdiction
and a responsibility to speak to your own children if they're
misbehaving. But if another misbehaves, it's
not directly your responsibility to go and correct them, because
they're not yours. Although there are some responsibilities
with teachers and things, but directly in a parental setting,
the first place is the parents. If he endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons. And therefore it's an evidence,
you see, that the Lord, as he comes and prunes us, he's not
cutting us completely off the vine, but he's cutting off all
those things which are refugees of lies, things that we're trusting
in, things that we're setting our affections on, which are
not on Christ. He's going to frustrate all those
things. If you endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as sons. And then he says this, now no
chastening, and this is verse 11 of chapter 12, now no chastening
for the present seems to be joyous but grievous. He's acknowledging
that it's not pleasant. It's not pleasant to be pruned.
But if you have an eye to the beauty
of the fruit, If to be a fruit-bearing branch is your greatest desire
here below, and you realise that by this pruning you, by God's
grace, can be used to bear much fruit. Herein is my Father glorified
that ye bear much fruit. If that's your greatest aim,
then no chastening for the present seems to be joyous but grievous.
Nevertheless, Afterwards. This is not the end. The end
is not the winter time with the pruning. The end is the fruit
bearing, those bearing of fruit to God's glory. And to those which are exercised
thereby. God deals with his people. to make them fruit-bearing branches. You think of Moses. How long
did God deal with Moses to prepare him for the work that he was
to do? Eighty years. Forty years in Pharaoh's palace
approximately, and then forty years in the backside of the
desert looking after those sheep from his father-in-law. Eighty years of preparation. He thought that they would have
understood that he would have been used of God to redeem Israel,
but they understood not. Eighty years of age before the
Lord brought him out, as it were, of that particular training position,
so that he could do a mighty work of leading Israel out of
Egyptian slavery. Think of the Lord Jesus himself.
30 years, pretty much hidden. We read very little of the Lord
Jesus in those 30 years. A little account of his birth,
that one account when he's in the template, 12 years of age. He was so hidden. For 30 years,
being prepared, being growing in grace as it were, we read
that he grew in stature and favour with God and man. He was being
prepared for that great work of redemption that he was doing.
John the Baptist, 30 years in preparation too, again hidden
in the back side of the desert for those 6 months of ministry.
Christ was 3 years of ministry, Moses was 40 years of ministry,
and yet you think of the trials, you think of Joseph, 17 years
was it, away from his family before he came to a position
of authority. Every branch that beareth fruit,
he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. I ask you tonight, do you have
a true desire to be a fruit bearing branch? Do you see a beauty in
holiness? Do you see that But that is the
only way we can come, as it were, be accepted with God. It is when,
not our own holiness, this is holiness that God has worked
in us by sanctification. We are justified by faith in
Christ's redemption at Calvary. But we are to put on the new
man. We are to walk by faith, we are
to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. It says in Philippians, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that
worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. God's work goes on in the hearts
of his people so that fruit may be born. That, you see the fruit,
is what God loves to see. Christ-likeness in us. Humility,
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
all those beautiful virtues, none of which we have by nature,
but those which we have if we are connected to the vine, and
flourish, and bear fruit. So then, dear friends, every
branch that beareth fruit, he purges it, that it may bring
forth more fruit. Don't despise it. Don't despise
its chastening. It's painful, yes it is, but
the purpose of it is so that ye may bring forth much fruit.
And that is what Jesus says, herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. You see,
it's clear there. If you're not fruit bearing,
you're not his disciple. It's a clear link. And the fruit
bearing is not, we don't bear fruit and then become his disciple
because of that. We come into union with that
vine. And as in the union that we have with Christ, we bear
fruit under his husbandry. and that glorifies him and that's
then an evidence that we are a disciple. It's an evidence
that we have passed from death unto life because we bear fruit
and it then gives glory to God. Well may we each by God's grace
be fruit bearing branches and that we may not be discouraged
when we go through the cutting and the difficult things because
he does it with this end in view. that we might be blessed and
made fruitful in his kingdom. May the Lord add his blessing.