Turn to John, chapter 15. John 15. I picked up a little cough since
I've been down here. One of the greatest blessings that a believer can have while
journeying through this life is a continual communion with
Christ and his people. Gathering together here is one
of the greatest blessings you can have. And to be able to fellowship
with Christ, and to be able to come here together, kind of get
out of the world for just a little while, and hear of Christ, come
here in a common faith, hearing the gospel, rejoicing in it,
That's one of the greatest blessings God can give you, is to be able
to have that continually. To have it continually. To have
a sense of his love for you, and for you to have a sense of
your dependence upon him, is one of the greatest blessings
you can have. Our Lord said, without me, you can do nothing. We cannot worship him here tonight
without him, unless he enables us to do so. We can't do it.
He must enable us to do so. And don't ever get to the place
where you think that you don't need anyone, that you're strong
enough to go on alone. Don't ever get to that place.
We need Christ, and we need each other. We need each other. No man, you know, as the old
saying goes, no man's an island. We need each other. God said
this, it's not good that the man should be alone. So he created him a helpmate.
He created him a helpmate. And our Lord is telling us here
in John chapter 15, he's telling us here that we are to abide
in him, to abide, not visit once in a while. But we are to abide in him, to
stay in him, to dwell in him, to abide in him and to love one
another even as he has loved us, even as he has loved us,
and to continue in the faith. That's what he's teaching his
disciples here in John 15. Now, he starts in verse 1. He
says, I am the true vine. He doesn't say, I am a vine. You know, in one place he says,
1 Over 14, he says, in John 14, verse 6, Jesus saith unto him,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. I'm not just a way. I am the way. And here he's saying,
I am, I am the true vine. He is the real one of which all
others were types. In one place he says that he's
the true bread. The manna was not the true bread
from heaven. That was only a type of Christ.
And Christ comes and says, now I am the true bread. Another
place he says that he's the true tabernacle. He is the fulfilling
of all things. That's why when he hung on the
cross, he cried out, it's finished. The true one has come and finished
all things. He's the true vine. He's the
true vine through which all spiritual blessings flow. I've seen some
of these here Catholic priests, and the Pope, you'll see him
sprinkle stuff on them, and they'll try to bless people. All true
spiritual blessings come through the man Christ Jesus. It all
flows through him. He's the true vial through which
all spiritual blessings flow, and there is no other channels. There's no other channels. God
knows no other channels through which the Father works. He works
only through Christ. It says in the Scripture that
there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus. He's the one, Christ is the one,
through whom the Father communicates all blessings, all spiritual
blessings. He communicates his will to us
through Christ. It's through Christ. He's a true
vine through which spiritual life is given as sustained. Christ is that true vine to which
that divine life is given, and that divine life is sustained
through him. He sustains that life. He sustains
it. And it is the blood from this
vine that washes us from our sins. It's the blood from this
vine that washes us clean, cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
And the Father, he says here, is the husbandman. The Father
is active in salvation. You know, in one place He says,
My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. The Father is active
in salvation. When Christ became incarnate,
the Father washed over Him. He washed over Him as a tender
plant. He washed over Him as a tender
plant. He guided His path, and with His life, when His life
would have been taken prematurely, the Father prevented it. the
Father prevented. He's the husbandman. And what
he has done for the vine, he has done and will do for the
branches. What he has done for Christ,
he does for the branches. He does for those in Christ. We are so united to Christ that
what the Father does for Christ, he does for us in him. That's
how united to Christ we are. That's how united this union
is. Then he says in verse 2, every branch that bears not fruit,
he takes away. Now, he's talking about fruit
here. Over here in Galatians, let me
define what this fruit is. Over here in Galatians chapter
5, it says in verse 22, But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.
Now that's the fruit he's speaking of here in John chapter 15. And he says here, every branch
that bears not fruit, the things I just read, he takes away. He takes them away. Many people
profess Christ, but few people possess Christ. There are many
who make professions, and they say they're Christians, but there
are a few, there are a few who actually and literally possess
Christ. Christ possesses them. And if, listen here, a professional
only, A profession of Christ only will sooner or later reveal
itself by no fruit. No love for the brethren, no
love for the gospel, and no joy and no peace in these saints.
It'll show itself. It'll reveal by no fruit, which
is love, joy, and peace, and the things I just read to you.
These things will be likely that sooner or later, sooner or later,
the so-called branch will be cast away. and he'll wither and
die. He'll leave. Sooner or later
he'll leave. But every branch, he says here,
but every branch that bears fruit, the Father purges it that it
may bear more fruit. He purges it that it may bring
forth more fruit. He prunes You've seen some people
who have fruit farms and trees. They prune those trees that they
may bring forth more fruit. The Father never leaves the true
branches alone. He never quits working on them. He never leaves us to ourselves.
He continually works on us. He always works on them by teaching
them out of His Word, by His Spirit, and He also does it by
sending trials. He sends trial, pruning. You
know, that's not something that would be enjoyable, but that's
what he does. He sends him trials to teach
him the nothingness of this world. You know, when God sends trials,
sometimes it can teach you that this life is so quick, so fragile. David said in one place, Lord,
teach me how frail I am. And when God sends these trials,
it makes us to see the frailty of this life, this body, and
makes us to look more to Christ. It takes our eyes more off of
this life and puts it on to that life, on to Him. We see the nothingness of this
world. We see its evils. We can see its evils, and it
makes us dependent on the true God. which is Christ, makes us
more and more dependent on Christ as we grow older. Then he says
in verse 3, he says, Now you are clean through the word. The
word of God here is used as a cleansing agent, and it's used in this
sense. First of all, it reveals the
dirt. You know how I found out I'm
a sinner? Through his word. through His Word, taking His
Word and reading that there is none righteous, no, not one. Hearing a man preach, there is
none good, no, not one. I learned through His Word that
I'm a vile sinner. I learned through His Word that
I am totally depraved. Listen, you cannot separate the
written Word of God, you cannot separate the written Word of
God and Christ the Word of God. You can't separate them. And
it's through His Word that we learn that we are dirty, we're
vile sinners, and it's through His Word that we learn how our
sins are washed away. Through the blood of the Lamb.
That's how I learned how my sins are washed away, through the
blood of the Lamb. So here he says, now you are
cleansed through the Word. That's what he's saying. The
person who believes on Christ through the hearing of the Word,
it says in the Scriptures, is cleansed from all unrighteousness. I mean cleansed, so cleansed,
as if I'd never sinned. As if I had never, ever sinned.
And then he says in verse 4, Abide in me. This is more than
just a visitation. This is more than going to church
on Christmas or Easter. This is an abiding, this is a
dwelling in Christ. This is walking with Christ.
This is Christ, as we have read this morning, is Christ in you.
The hope of glory is walking with Him. Me being with Him,
Him with me. It's an abiding thing. He says,
Abide in me. You cannot bear fruit except
you abide in me. The Word of God warns about drawing
back. It warns about drawing back after
having begun. And I tell you, these are awesome
warnings. They're awesome warnings. Demas hath forsaken me, having
loved this present world. Judas forsook him. These are
awesome warnings to those who say that they believe. And he
says that—here's why he says it. It is impossible. It is impossible
to love Christ It is impossible to love one another as we are
to love one another. It is impossible to be gracious
and to show mercy, except I abide in Christ, because that's where
it comes from. My love to the brethren is a
result of Christ. It's Christ. It's his love flowing
through me. Being able to be gracious and
merciful is Christ. It's Christ in me, in you. Except
we abide in the vine. The vine is where we draw our
strength from. That's where we draw our strength
and nourishment from, is the vine. I've never seen a branch
laid on the ground bear a good fruit. I've never seen a branch
broken off an apple tree, and when springtime comes, apples
grow on it. Nothing grows on it. It just
decays and rots and goes back into the dirt. He said, except
you abide in me, except you abide in me, you cannot bear fruit,
not in the spiritual sense, not in the true spiritual sense. A branch can only bear fruit
in proportion to its connection, its union to the vine. That's
why if the fruit is good on the branch, it's because the vine
is good and the connection is good. The union is good. There's no crack or break in
it. It's solid. If the tree is good, our Lord
said, more place. If the tree is good, so is the
fruit. So is the fruit. Then in verse
five, he says, I am divine. Once again, he expressed that
he is divine. He's making another expression
here. I am divine. All spiritual life and nourishment
comes through me. That's why he's saying to these
disciples, see, listen, he's getting ready to go away. You
see, he said in chapter 14, let not your heart be troubled. You
believe in God, do also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. He's getting ready to go away.
And he knows that these disciples would be perplexed. and that
they would be cast down, and that the evil one would come
in and try to scatter the flock. And he said, here, I'm going
away, but listen, you abide in me. You stay with me. You follow me. I'm divine, and
I always will be divine. Just because I may be going from
here to be with the Father and to represent you and to prepare
a place for you, that doesn't mean I'm not divine anymore.
I'm divine, and always will be. If you want to grow in faith
and love and joy, you want to grow in these things, abide in
the vine. Abide in the vine. Listen, get
into the Word. You want to grow in faith? You
want to grow in love to God, to one another? You want more
peace and joy? Get in the Word. Get in the Word. Call upon Him. Be where He's
preached. Continually be where He's preached,
and you will bring forth much fruit. It says you'll bring forth
much fruit. Our fruit bearing has to do with
our union to the vine. It's in direct proportion to
our union to the vine. Because he says here, without
me, without the vine, you can do nothing. You're not going
to grow. You can do nothing. Without me,
he says, you can do nothing. We cannot, we can't even take
the next breath without Christ. That's so. The very next breath
I take is given. It's given. What do you think
keeps that heart beating? I mean, it's not like there's
a spark plug somewhere. He's the one who keeps it beating.
And when he stops it, it stops. When he stops it, it stops. That's
why he said, without me, you can do nothing. Life doesn't
exist without me. Nothing goes on without me. Then
it says in verse 6, if a man does not abide in Christ, he'll
be cast forth, he'll be taken away. Notice that, if a man abides
not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and
men gather them and cast him into the fire, and they're burned.
That's all they're good for, kindling. That's all they're
good for is kindling. The father who is the husband,
will take away the fruitless professor. He'll take away the
fruitless professor from the vine, and he'll throw them away.
The false professors will be revealed for what they really
are—false. And they'll be withered, and
they'll wither. He'll take them, and he'll cast them out. He'll
drive them out. It's like the tears from among
the wheat. He'll drive them out. And as he'll be burned, he says,
with fire. Then he says in 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." Now, these so-called faith
healers, they take a verse like this, and they go completely
wild with it. They think, well, we can ask—this
is like a blank check. We can ask what we will. I tell
you what you will ask if you're healed. You'll ask what he wills.
That's what you'll ask. That's why he's not afraid to
say, ask what you will, because if you're his, you'll ask what
he wills. Your desire will be his will. Thy will be done. If we abide in Christ by regeneration,
if we abide in Christ by faith, if we abide in him by love, and
his words, his teaching abide in us, if we walk by faith, take
him at his word, we can ask what we will in a spiritual sense. And he says, it'll be done. You
can ask for forgiveness, and it'll happen. You can ask for
mercy, and it'll happen. You can ask for help, and it'll
happen. That's right. He's not talking about the wants
of this life. You see, but that which we need
for the spiritual life, the wants of this life will be added to
us as we seek the heavenly things. You know, the Lord said, Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these
things will be added to you. He, our Heavenly Father, in that
same chapter, He says, knows what you need. He clothes the
lilies of the field, He feeds the birds of the air, and you
don't see them fretting. He says, You ask what you will,
and it will be done for you. And here in verse eight, herein
is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, so shall
you be my disciples. The Father is glorified, listen,
when we love one another. When we love, that's when he's
glorified. When we love one another. I tell you, there's nothing like
having a family where the children love each other. They're not
fighting, bickering, but where they love each other. That's
why he's saying, herein is my Father glorified that ye bear
much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. He's glorified when
we walk by faith, when we love one another. He's glorified when
we preach the gospel and we send it throughout the land. That's
when He's glorified, when His children are following after
Him and they love one another. This is how the Father is glorified,
and when these things are present, when these things are present,
it's evident, it's evident, you're my disciples. You're my Father,
you're my people. He says, when these things are
present, it's present, it's evident, you're my disciples. That's what
he's saying. When it's lacking, it's evident
you're not my disciples. Then he says in verse 9, "...as
the Father hath loved me," now listen to this, "...as the Father,"
he says here in verse 9, "...as the Father hath loved me, so
hath I loved you." Now my, what kind of love is that? That's
a love beyond our understanding. "...as the Father hath loved,"
how do you think the Father loves Christ? He said, with that same
love, I love you. The Father has loved him, first
of all, eternally. There never was a time he didn't
love him. He loves Him eternally. He loves
Him fervently. And He loves Him constantly.
Even so, Christ loves us with that same eternal, fervent, constant
love. He loves us. He loves us. Then He says, Continue ye in
my love. Seek more of it. That's what
he says. Seek more of it. Live in the
sense of it. Live in the sense of it. Cherish
it, and guard against that which is contrary to it. Continue ye in my love. Walk
in it. And it says in verse 10, if you
keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love. This is the
opposite of those who continue for a while and then leave. You
see, this is the opposite of those who make a profession for
a while and then they leave, you see. He says, if you keep
my commandments, you shall abide in my love. We do persevere in
the faith, as I said this morning. We are kept by the power of God
through faith. We do persevere. We do continue
on in Christ, and his commandments are not grievous. His commandments
to his people are not grievous at all. They're not grievous
like those that men put upon us. And then he says here in
verse 11, these things I have spoken unto you. I have given
you words of encouragement and comfort. That's why he said,
I've given you words of encouragement and comfort, because trials are
going to come. And some of them, some of them
are going to be very hard. But if my words abide in you,
even so will my joy abide in you, even in these hours of trials
and temptations. He's saying, if my word abides
in you, even so my joy. Our joy and peace is in proportion
of our knowledge of him and his word. That's where it comes from. That's where it comes from. Study
his word, and in the hour that you need it, you study his word,
and in the hour that you need it, it'll come, and it'll comfort
you. That's where we find comfort.
We find them through the scriptures that speak of Christ. Then he says in verse 12, Here
is my commandment. Here is my commandment. This
is my commandment. Here it is. that you love one
another, as I have loved you, one of, just one commandment.
He didn't give a list of ten of them here, like he did on
Mount Sinai. He says, I have one commandment
for you, to love one another. That's all. Would that be all
you'd like to tell your children? Say, kids, children, I've got
one, as your father, I've got one commandment I want you to
live by. That's all I've got. That's all I have. I've just
got one commandment I want you to live by. I want you to love
one another. And you know if they did that, you'd never have
a problem in the home? You'd never have to even discipline
them if they loved one another. That's why he said, here's my
commandment that you love one another. If we love one another
as Christ has loved us, first of all, it will glorify God. God will be glorified, magnified. And if we can love like this,
we'll do good to each other. We'll seek each other's good.
And I'll tell you this, if we can love like this, we'll cover
a multitude of sins. You know the scripture said,
love covereth, hideth a multitude of sins. We won't go around saying,
did you hear what he did? No, we'll be quiet. We won't
bring the subject up if we love one another, if we love one another. And we will fulfill the very
spirit of the gospel if we love one another. And he gives in
verse 13, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay
down his life for his friends. He gives us the greatest example
of love ever given. Here's the greatest example of
love ever given. He laid down his life for his
friends. He died that I might live. He died that I might live. Now,
how much am I to love my brother? How much am I to love you, you
to love me? How much? To the point of laying down my
life for him? To put aside my life for him,
my ambitions, if it will help him to further advance in the
gospel, to know Christ, if it will keep from hindering him? Turn to 1 John. I want you to
look at this, 1 John chapter 3. How much am I to love my brother? 1 John chapter 3, it says in verse
16, "'Hereby proceed we the love of God, because he laid down
his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren.'" Ought to do the same thing. "'Hereby
proceed we the love of God, he laid down his life for us.'"
And he says, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Paul said in one place, I have
endured all things, I have suffered all things for the elect's sake. How much am I beloved to the
point of laying down my life for the brethren? But I'll tell
you this, it takes the grace of God to do that. That's not
natural. That's not natural. And then
he says in verse 14, and I'll close this, I'll start closing
this. He says in verse 14, you are my friends. If you do whatsoever
I command you, you're my friends. What a privilege. What a priceless
privilege to be called a friend of God. A friend of God. And it's evident that you're
my friend because you keep my commandments. You delight to
do my will." That's what he's saying. It's evident, he said,
you're my friends. Because you keep my commandments
and you do my will. You delight to do my will. Henceforth
I call you not servants, even though we are servants. He calls
us friends because he reveals the mystery of the gospel to
us. He says you're not servants. You're friends. You're sons. He said, I've revealed the mysteries
of the gospel to you. You're not servants. Servant
doesn't know what his master does. All the servant knows is
to do what he's told. He says, I've revealed the mystery
of the gospel to you. And remember this in verse 16.
Look at this. Remember this. You have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should
go and bring forth fruit. I have ordained. I settled this
matter, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your
fruit should remain, that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in
my name, he may give it to you." He may give it to you. We labor
not in vain. We don't labor in vain. And listen,
don't ever get to the point that you think because that you're
good is the reason God has saved you. He says, you've not chosen
me, I've chosen you. And don't ever get old of that.
I don't care if men are religious men, natural men, I do not care
if they hate the doctrine of election. I love it. He said,
I chose you. I chose you. Now you abide in
my love. And you love one another. And
you walk by faith. Terry, you have a closing song? Let's just sing the first stanza
of Amazing Grace. That's what we heard about tonight,
and it's amazing. I will watch as you're...