Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. If you would you want to follow
along please turn to John chapter 15 And I'm going to read a little
bit about the vine and the branches John chapter 15 verse 1 I am
the true vine and My father is the husbandman Every branch in
me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. Every branch that
beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. Now ye are clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you. 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. 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. If a man abide 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. If ye abide
in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. And I'm gonna stop right there. I've stated it here, and I believe
both Walter and Paul have also stated this. You cannot preach Christ high
enough. And you cannot preach man too
low. Now I said it again, and I will
again later, I'm sure. But here's the thing, we are,
as human beings, even as believers, who know Christ, and know somewhat
of his doctrine. Somewhat of what's revealed in
the scriptures we know but we are incapable of truly comprehending
and much less relating to you his incredible incomprehensible
glory And we are actually incapable
of detailing the real depravity of a man We don't know how bad we are. Now we may know we're bad. We
may know we sin. And we may know we have sin within
us. We have and still. As a believer, you still have
an unbelief. We still doubt God. But we don't know us the way
God knows us. And we don't know Christ the
way he really is. We do the best we can with what
he's revealed in his scriptures. The truth, understand this, the
truth is hard for men. For Jesus Christ, it's natural.
For us, it's unnatural. And I want to start this sermon
with a hard saying. It's the truth, but it's hard. And it's hard for men to quite
lay hold of and to grasp hold of. And really, to be honest,
this is one of the reasons why people reject most of what the
scripture states. And here's the hard statement.
God doesn't need you. You need God. We have such an
opinion of ourselves. Even when we're, Even when we're
being humble. You know what we think? Boy,
that was pretty humble. I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good
at that. God doesn't need us. We need
him. We need him. I'm not here for
your self-esteem. I've got nothing against self-esteem
when one worm's comparing himself to another worm. But when you
start putting God in the mix, you ain't got no self-esteem.
You have nothing to be proud of yourself for before God. I'm here to tell you the truth
of God as revealed in his word here. Jesus Christ said, I am
the true vine. Now what does that mean? This
is an example he has given, an illustration he is using, and
he is saying, I am. the true vine, I am. I am the
good shepherd's, another one he said. Oh, the father is the
husbandman. So you understand, I'm gonna
be talking a little bit about vines and branches, not much,
but I'm gonna be talking a little bit, but what I'm talking about
is Christ, the father, and men. The life is in the vine and the
vine, the life is in you if you are a branch attached to that
vine. Now if you are unattached from
that vine, he's already said it. If a man abide not in me,
he is cast forth as a branch and not only that, is withered. Withered. Dried up, dried out
of no value except for the fire. And what? Men gather them and
cast them into the fire and they're burned. You know why? Because
that's what you do with dead branches. That's the purpose of a dead
branch is to be burned up in a fire. So what's he saying? The purpose is if you're not
in the vine, you're gonna be burned up. And that's the truth
of scripture. He is the true vine and if you're
not in the true vine, you're fit to be burnt. That's part
of the depravity of man. That's part of what we don't
want to tell ourselves and what we don't want to think about
our relatives or people we care about, but that's the truth of
God. But what I want to speak from
is verse five. I am the vine and ye are the
branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth
forth much fruit. And this last statement is my
title. For without me, ye can do nothing. Nothing, nothing. Now I know
to start with, I keep harping on this and I also know that
I will keep harping on this and keep repeating it and keep repeating
it because I have found out that I am far better at forgetting
important things than I am at remembering important things.
And I suspect you might be the same. Matter of fact, from talking
to some of you, I know you are, because you just do the same
thing. But here it is. There is only one true vine. You can stop looking for anything
else. There's the true vine, and there's nothing else. That's
what Christ said. I am the true vine. I'm not talking
about the garden. I'm not talking about the field.
I'm talking about one vine. One vine, there's only one vine.
Deuteronomy six and verse four says this. Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with
all thy might. That's Deuteronomy six and five.
There's one Lord, love him with all your heart, your mind, and
your soul. All your strength. Hear all you believers. Hear
all you believers. There's only one vine. There's
only one vine. There's only one true vine, and
that is the Lord Jesus Christ. I know. Now I'm not gonna go into that. He
that abides in me, and I in him. There's only one vine. In that
vine, there's only one life. There's only one life. That's
why I harp on it. I mean, there's only one olive
tree, there's only one vine, there's only one good shepherd,
there's only one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. Our Lord is one Lord. And if
you're not in that vine, you have no life. But here's the
great thing. If you are in that vine, that
branch is alive. That branch is alive. You understand,
he didn't say, I'm the vine, you the branches, he that abides
in me and I am him. If he's a really, really good
branch, he's gonna bring forth much fruit. No, he says, if you're
alive in me and I'm in you, you're gonna bring forth fruit. You
understand? There's no doubt. You wanna know
why? The Father is the husbandman. And Jesus Christ is the vine. Now if you think there's gonna
be any sickly branches, no, there's not. There's not. If he abides in you and you abide
in him, you are going to bring forth fruit. And it's not gonna
be of your own work. I'm gonna tell you that here
in a minute. There is life in Christ. There is light in Christ. In him is no darkness. At all. At all. At all. I love that. You understand? Because in me,
I have both light and darkness. Still to this day. Been believing
Christ for 34 years or so, or 35 years, since 1982, whatever
that is. I don't know, I can't count.
Doesn't matter. But still in me, there is darkness. Still in me, where there is life,
there is also still my flesh. And in my flesh, what, dwells
no good thing. And that which is flesh is flesh. But thank God also that which
is spirit is spirit. Oh my. He that abides in me and I in
him, he's the light, he's the life, and if I have any light,
or life, and life, It's because of him. It's because of the true
vine. It's not because I'm such a good branch. And thank God
it's not because I'm a bad branch. I just wanna be his branch. That's
what I wanna be. I wanna be a branch in the true
vine. I wanna attach myself. No, I
can't do it. I wanna be attached to Christ. I want him to abide in me and
I in him. because he is the life. And it
says, bring forth much fruit. Now I know the first thing people
think about, they're not here, but I've been in other places,
thank God not for a few decades, but when they talk about fruit,
they talk about being a soul winner. No. Brings forth much fruit. What
do we know about fruit? Well the fruit of the spirit.
is love, joy, peace. Long suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance. And what do we know about those
things? Against such, there is no law. I like that. If you are abiding in the vine,
and the vine is abiding in you. You will have love, joy, and
peace. You will have, you will be long-suffering,
you'll have gentleness. And maybe you won't be very good
at it. I understand, that's the way I am. But goodness, faith,
meekness, and temperance. What does it mean to bring forth
much fruit? You love Jesus Christ, one another
One another You have joy in Christ. We rest in Christ in peace in
peace Because he is our peace and by his faith The fruit of
the Spirit the gift of God We believe him We believe Jesus
Christ We bow to him, we believe his word. In him abiding, living
in Christ, Jesus is much fruit. And because of him, because of
his love, because of his grace, because of his faith, oh my,
you will follow him, you will. You may not follow well, you
may follow haltingly, but you will follow him. And when you're
not following him, you want to. When you think you're not following
him, you want to. And when you think you're not
following him, you may be following him. Because that's how depraved
we still are. Oh my, you'll assemble with the
brethren when you can, when you can. You will preach his gospel
if you're a preacher. You will hear his gospel if you're
a believer. You'll even sing his songs, songs
of praise. And you must not forget, and
I don't think you will forget, that this is all because you
are a part of the true thy. It's because of him. It's because
of him. Abiding in him, living in him,
outside of him. Wait a minute. I'm starting to
say that. That's wrong. That's wrong. For without me, you can do nothing. This is something that I think
I've said it here before I know talked to Walter about it Some
time ago, and it's still there in my head There's a very real sense in
which No one and nothing is outside of Christ There's a very real
sense because if you look at the scriptures, here's what it
says for without me You understand you have you there's two states
Christ But it's not out of Christ. It's without Christ Because you
understand the father has given him power over all flesh Now
that's those in him and that's those without it He has power
over all flesh what to give eternal life to as many as the father
gave to him Do you really, I mean, I know it's a fine point, but
it's one of these things that is stuck in my head. There's
a really fine point where no one is outside of Christ. No
one is out of his control. No one is out of his power. But
here, what he's saying here, for without me, you can do nothing,
nothing. That's the serious truth. That's
the hard lesson. Without me, without Jesus Christ,
you can do absolutely nothing. And I'll put a word on the end
of that, good. Cuz you understand, granted,
we do many things. We do many things. But without
him, we can do nothing good. John Gill put it this way he
says that is of any spiritual good and That is exactly right We may do many things But without him we can do nothing
that is of any spiritual value Without me without Christ without
the true vine I You're a dead branch. You're
a dead branch, fit for the fire. You can do nothing. You can do
nothing. Now, am I talking about before
you're saved, or am I talking about after you're saved? That's
a good question. And there's one answer for it.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Before during and after
salvation without Christ You can do nothing He didn't put
any qualifier there, and I'm not going to put any qualifier
there He just says without me I can tell you this from the
scriptures You cannot come to Christ without
without God. John 6, 44 says this, no man
can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him and
I will raise him up at the last day. John 6, 65 says this, same chapter. And he said, therefore said I
unto you. I'm gonna reiterate what I just
said to you in verse 44. Therefore said I unto you that
no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my
father Now these two verses had a profound
effect on me when I first read But these two verses had a profound
effect on the people that Christ preached them to Says this, from that, many of
his disciples, his disciples went back, went back. And not only did they go back,
they walked no more with him. Understand? Don't be like those
to whom Christ preached this He asked the disciples he looked
at the disciples and asked them the 12 will you also go away? Understand Jesus Christ didn't
try to stop them Jesus Christ didn't say let me explain myself,
so you'll understand it better No Here's the thing about the scripture
And here's the thing about our Lord Jesus Christ that the world
doesn't wanna know. Jesus Christ said exactly what
he meant, and he meant exactly what he said. He was speaking to them, and they
left him because of what he said. I know there are those who might
hate this, that no man can come except it be given to him of
the Father. I did the first time I heard it. But I came to the
same conclusion, I was given the same answer, that God gave
to Peter. Because when Christ looked at
him and said, will you also go away, Peter said this. Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Do you know the true vine? Because if you do, you're a branch. And you're gonna wanna stay in
the true vine. And you know he's the only true
vine. He didn't try to explain to him.
He didn't try and stop him. He said what he meant, and he
meant what he said. And those that left, left because
he said what he meant, and he meant what he said. That's why
they left. They heard him, and they left
him. That's how depraved we are. God
himself, manifest in the flesh, preached a message and told these
men that it takes the power of God to save a soul. And they
didn't like it. They wouldn't have it, and they
walked away. You understand, this was not
a misunderstanding. They knew exactly what he said, and that's
why they got mad and he left. And he said what he said, knowing
full well they were gonna walk away from him. Understand, nobody
surprised Jesus Christ. He knew what was in Ben's heart.
He knows what's in our heart. But he also knows without him,
we can do nothing. Without him, we can do nothing.
And not only that, you know, I can tell you something else. I know you've heard this, but I'm going to put it this
way. No man can make a decision for Jesus. I've heard that. I've made my decision for Jesus.
What did Jesus Christ have to say about that? John 15, 16,
just a little further down. 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 and that whatsoever
ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
But what did Jesus Christ say there? You have not Chosen me. You can put a period right there. I have chosen you. I have chosen
you. Walter, you read that thing from
Pink about the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign in all things. And I'm gonna tell you this.
God is sovereign in salvation. I get tickled, what was it, Henry
said one time, I think it was Henry, he says, people will make
God sovereign with the weather, or whether or not you break a
leg, or whatever you want to, but the one thing they will not
have is the subject that's nearest and dearest to God's heart, the
work of His Son. The work of His Son. the sacrifice
and offering of his son. And what that sacrifice and offering
did, they won't have God's sovereign in that. You've got to leave
it up to me whether or not I'm gonna be saved. If it's up to
me, I wouldn't do it. Because I was blind and didn't
see the light.