Okay, we'll be continuing our
glorifying God series. This will be part 5. How can
we know we are glorifying God? And the verse I want to use is
John 15.8, which talks about us bearing fruit. bearing fruit. We know that this
narrative here in the scriptures is about the vine and the branches
and it pictures the union between the believer in Christ with our
head, with Christ, who is the vine here, pictured as the vine
and we're pictured as the branches. The verse I'd like to look at
though is, Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much
fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. Now God's people bear fruit.
because we are united with the vine. The scripture says that
without Christ we can do nothing. Now, I've mentioned this many
times too, we won't see our own fruit. But we do bear fruit as
we love God more and as we read the Scriptures and we just have
a deeper relationship with the Lord. And then we also bear the
fruit of the Spirit though. But we won't see that necessarily
in ourselves. But every Christian will bear
fruit because they're attached to the vine. They're attached
to the vine. So God's people bear fruit, but
it's the working of the Holy Spirit in us. It's not our doing. And now religion will try to
muster up all kinds of things. I know, I was there. And you
try to muster up these fruits, but they can't be mustered up.
They can't. The only way we grow in grace
is through the Holy Spirit. That's the only way. And it says
here, Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So when
we bear fruit, When we bear the fruit of the Spirit, we glorify
God. We glorify God. So shall ye be
my disciples. He's the vine and we're the branches.
And again, we bear fruit because we're in Him. And this shows
in the illustration here, this shows the beautiful union, the
beautiful union between Christ and His people. Look at this.
I am the vine and my Father is the husband. Every branch in
me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch
that beareth fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. Verse 3. Now you are clean through
the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me. Now this is a key verse right
here. Verse 4 is an absolute key verse when talking about
the union between the vine and the branches. Because look at
how clearly it's stated here. Abide in me, and I in you, as
the branch cannot bear fruit of itself. That's real clear. We cannot
bear fruit on our own. We can't bear fruit of ourselves,
no matter how much we try. But look at this. Accept and
abide in the vine. No more can ye accept you abide
in me. I am the vine. And look at this
key portion in verse 5 in the latter part. I am the vine, ye
are the branches. And remember what he said in
verse 4. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself. I am the vine, ye are the branches.
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit. Look at this. For without me
ye can do nothing. We can't bear it on our own,
right? We can't bear the fruit of the Spirit by our works or
by our doing. God works in us. It's amazing. It's just like when we're regenerated.
We can't make ourselves born again. God must do a will. God must do a work. And it's
marvelous. Again, it just builds upon the
whole premise of salvation is of the Lord. And even our walk
as we continue, it's all the Lord taking care of us and having
us to grow in the knowledge and truth of Him. And we cannot do
nothing without Him. Nothing. We're needy creatures. We're needy. And this picture
is the oneness. The oneness. The union of Christ
and His church. with the figure of the vine and
branches. And all our fruit is a result of being in Him. Being
in Him. We know from our study in Colossians,
turn if you would to Colossians 2.19. We know from our study
in Colossians, and now keep in mind, the vine and the branches.
So we know in our study in Colossians that the head, the head gets
all the preeminence. All the preeminence. And the
head, Look at verse 19, Colossians 2.19, "...and not holding the
head from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment,
ministered, and knit together, increases with the increase of
God." That ties right in with what we're looking at. The increase
of God. Without me, you can do nothing.
Isn't it marvelous? It's wonderful. So as we grow
in our love for Christ, it's the Spirit working in us. As
we grow in our love for the brethren, it's the Spirit working in us.
As we grow in our love for the Gospel, it's the Spirit working
in us. It's incredible. And we're being
prepared, right? We're being conformed to the
image of the Son. And one day we'll be glorified.
will be glorified, and we'll see Him face to face. Now, false
teachers and preachers we know do not have hold of the head.
That's what Colossians 2.19 is talking about. They're not in
a union with Christ. We as the branches are in a union
with Christ. Therefore, the false teachers
do not bear fruit. It's all the works of the flesh.
We saw that in our study, didn't we? It's all carnal works. It's
all carnal works. It's false humility. It's all
the works of the flesh. But God's people bear fruit.
But beloved, it's by the Holy Spirit. And we glorify God by
fruitfulness. Look, herein is my Father glorified,
verse 8, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples.
A fruitless tree, A fruitless tree is that which is not united
to the vine. In John 15, Christ again is contrasting
his people, who bear much fruit, with a barren fruit tree, which
bears no fruit. No fruit. And here before us
we have a professor and a possessor. A.W. Pink coined that, and I
like that. You have a professor and a possessor. The possessor
of Christ, the one who's in Christ will bear fruit. The professor
is a barren tree. A barren tree. I am the vine
and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit
he purchased it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye
are claimed 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. See, he's emphasizing this to
us. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing.
And again, those verses show the incredible union between
Christ and the believer. Look at verse 6. If a man abide
not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and he is withered.
And men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they
are burned. Here are the professors. Here are the professors. And
they may be many, and they appear as branches in the Lord's garden.
Yet they have no union with Him. No union with Him. So what fruit
they bear is not in Christ. They're barren. It's works of
the flesh. And their root is in themselves. They're self-righteous.
Their root is in themselves. And they're cast forth to be
burned. Look at verses 7. 7 to 12, 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
in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye
shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments,
and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto
you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might
be full. This is my commandment, that
you love one another as I have loved you. So we only bear fruit
if we are in the vine. And it comes from God. And He
receives all the glory for any fruitfulness in us. He receives
all the glory and all the honor and all the praise. It's not profession, but fruit
that He works in us. And this glorifies God. So you
get people who make a profession, and then it's just a false profession. There's no root. There's no fruit. But God's people, oh, He works
in us. We're fruitful, and it glorifies
God. And we are planted in the Lord's
gardens. Trees in the forest may be barren. Think of this.
We're in a garden, aren't we? We're called in Song of Psalm
in a garden. A garden. Now trees in the forest
can be barren, can't they? But trees in the garden are to
produce fruit. They're to produce... When we
plant... Think of vegetables. When you plant... When you guys
plant corn and tomatoes, you expect them to be fruitful. If
they're not, what do you do? You root them up. You root them up.
You get rid of them. They're gone. We're planted in
the Lord's garden, beloved. We're planted in the Lord's garden.
1 Corinthians 9, 7 says this, Who goeth to warfare any time
at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and
eateth not the fruit thereof? You don't plant a garden to not
eat the fruit. You plant a garden expecting
it to be fruitful. Beloved, the Lord's church, the
Lord's church is fruitful. Fruitful. And we know, now we
know, we gotta always emphasize this, we know from what we've
looked at, that it's not us who's producing the fruit, is it? That's
the amazing thing. He plants us, he waters us with
his word, right, through the preaching of the gospel, and
we grow in him. It's all the Lord. It's all the
Lord. That's why the text says it glorifies
God when we bear fruit. when we bear. Who planteth the vineyard, and
eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth the flock, and
eateth not the milk of the flock? 1 Corinthians 9.7. So who has
a flock of goats, even, if you want to get goat milk? And who
has a goat if he's not producing milk? Or a cow if he's not producing
milk? If you have those animals to produce that, you're going
to keep it. You're going to keep them. And let us remember this,
as the Lord gives the increase, we bring forth fruits of love
and good works. Now good works, everyone gets
freaked out when you say good works sometimes, right? Turn,
if you would, to Ephesians chapter 2. And put your finger in Matthew
25. Ephesians chapter 2, in Matthew
25. And I'll read a scripture in
Matthew 5, 16, which says this. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven. Now let me just say this quickly.
If you do a work thinking you've done a good work, you didn't
do a good work. We're going to see that in the
scripture. It's amazing. We are ordained to good works. Do you
know that? But we're going to see in Matthew 25, we don't even
know when we do. This is amazing. And we bring
forth fruit when we do these. Look at Ephesians 2, verses 8-10. And look how clearly it's stated
that salvation is of the Lord, and then he talks about the good
works that we're ordained to. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship. We're
created in Him. Created in Christ Jesus unto
what? Good works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them. Okay. Now, as I say, if you think
you've done a good work, then it's not a good work. Look at
Matthew chapter 25. This is beautiful. I love this. I love this portion of scripture
here. And again, we see the union of
Christ and his people. Now, think of this. We see the
union of Christ and his people because Christ is going to tell
us that when you did it unto one of mine, you did it unto
me. And remember when Paul was persecuting Christians, and what
did our Lord say? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou?
The head and the body. See the union? It's beautiful.
It's absolutely beautiful. Look at this in Matthew 25, starting
in verse 34. We do not even know when we bear
fruit or do good works. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, Inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
That's just, we could sit right there. For I was hungered, and
ye gave me meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me
drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Naked, and ye
clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited me.
I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous
answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungered, and fed
thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When did we do it? They
don't have a clue. They don't know when they've
done these things. Now, these are the good works that God has
ordained for them to do. And in no way does it justify
us before God, right? It's nothing to do with our salvation.
Do you know what good works do? They prove our faith. They prove
our faith. It's amazing. They don't justify
us at all. They prove our faith. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger, and fed thee,
or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger,
and took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we
thee sick or in prison and came unto thee? Look at here we see
again the vine and the branches, right? The head and the body.
And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto
you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me. But note that they have
no clue when they've done this. No idea at all. It's amazing. And it glorifies God because
He's working in us. He's working in us. Philippians
2.13 says this, For it is God which worketh in you, both to
will and to do of His good pleasure. Of His good pleasure. Isn't it
marvelous? We're sinners, aren't we? By
birth, nature, and choice, but the Scripture declares for God's
people, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do
of His good pleasure. Why? People talk about their
free will. The only free will is God's. He does whatever He's pleased,
whatever His pleasure is. And it's all by the power of
the Holy Spirit of God. Colossians 1.29 says this, Whereunto
I also labor, striving according to His working, which worketh
in me mightily. You see, without me, you can
do nothing. It's God working mightily in
us. And it's marvelous. It's absolutely
marvelous. And as a result of that, we glorify
God. We give Him all the praise and
all the glory. And thus His working in us bears
much fruit as we know that we can do nothing without Him. So
He gets all the glory then. He gets it all. All of it. And again, these works in no
way save us. They prove our faith measured
by sacrifice. Proved by our works, our love
to the Savior and to His people and our desire to see the Gospel
go forth and to gather in His sheep. And this is what we desire,
right? We desire to hear the Gospel.
We desire for others to hear the Gospel. We desire for God
to draw in His lost sheep and save them. Oh my. And He's worked all that in us
because I know before I was saved, I didn't care about anything.
Is it so with you? It's amazing. It's absolutely
amazing. It's God working in us. Let's
turn to Luke to see sacrificial love in action. Sacrificial love
in action. Here we see a poor woman making
a great and extravagant, in the eyes of man, sacrifice. Look
at this. Oh, she owed much. She'd been forgiven much, and
she loved much. Look at Luke 7, verse 36. We'll
read a large portion here. We'll go all the way to verse
50. And one of the Pharisees desired
him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet. Oh, and here comes the sinner.
Luke 7, verse 37. And behold, a woman in the city
which was a sinner. When she knew that Jesus sat
at meet in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
and stood at his feet behind him, weeping, and began to wash
his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her
head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Now when the Pharisees..." Oh, here comes the religious folks.
Here they are. See, this woman's a sinner. She
knows what she is. She's at the feet of Christ in
tears. And these self-righteous Pharisees,
they don't like it. Now when the Pharisees, because
she's a sinner. Now when the Pharisees which
had bidden him saw it, he spake within themselves, saying, This
man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner
of woman, that is, that touched him, for she is a sinner. Oh,
but beloved, we know that Christ came into this world, why? To
save sinners. To save His people from their
sins. This is one of the Lord's sheep.
And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have some what
to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. One owed 500 pence and the other
50. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them
both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon
answered and said, I suppose he to whom he forgave most. And
he said unto him, thou hast rightly judged. We know that, eh? We're sinners who've been forgiven
much. And he turned to the woman and said unto Simon, Seest thou
this woman? I have entered into thy house,
thou givest me no water from my feet. But she hath washed
my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Thou givest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in
hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not
anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with oil. And some say
that this box, this ointment was of high price. It probably
cost her an extravagant amount of money. Wherefore I say unto thee, her
sins which are many, look at this, her sins which are many
are forgiven, for she loved much. Now who's worked that in her? Who's worked it? The Holy Spirit's
been working on it. But to whom little is forgiven,
the same love of little. He said unto her, Thy sins are
forgiven. Wonderful words for sinners. Oh my, thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with
him began to say within themselves, who is this that forgiveth sins
also? And he said to the woman, thy
faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. Oh my. Now who brought that love in
her? God the Holy Spirit. Same as
he's done for we who believe. Without me you can do nothing. And note the sacrificial love
that she had too. To come with that alabaster box.
To give all. What a wonderful picture. But
I love the fact. I love the fact. that her sins
are forgiven. Look at verse 47. Wherefore I
say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. Gone. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us. That was contrary to us. He took it. Nailing it to his
cross. She's one of those he died. Wonderful. Wonderful grace. And she loves much, doesn't she?
She loves much. And I know we're in this flesh,
and I know our love wavers, and I know that. Oh, we who love
Christ, He keeps us. He keeps us. What a great God
we have. He says to her, thy sins are
forgiven. And when the Master says your
sins are forgiven, they're gone. They're gone. Turn, if you would,
over to Acts chapter 10. Our Lord glorified God in His
work. which God had given Him to do. Our Lord, our Master,
He glorified God in His very works. He glorified and honored
God's law in our place. He died before God's justice
in our place. He did that which was impossible
for us to do, and He did it in our room instead. Look at Acts
10, verses 34-43. Then Peter opened his mouth and
said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons,
but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness
is accepted with him. The Word which God sent unto
the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. There's only
peace for sinners in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved,
that scripture right there just declares He's Lord of all. We don't make Him Lord. He's
already Lord. He's already Lord. That word, I say, you know, which
was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee
after the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about
doing good. He did good. That's all He did.
Think of that. We do everything tainted with
sin. He's absolutely sinless. He's going about doing good. Perfect. He's the perfect, spotless
Lamb of God. And healing all that were oppressed
of the devil, for God was with Him. And all those things that
He's did, all those things that we read about in the Gospels,
it all glorifies God. It's all to glorify and magnify
God. And He's done all the work that
Christ did is to glorify God, to satisfy God. how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good
and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with
Him. And we are witnesses of all things
which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem,
whom they slew and hanged on a tree. And God raised Him up
the third day and showed Him openly. So Christ died upon Calvary's
cross. And God raised him up openly.
Openly. On the third day. Not to all the people. Now look
at that. He's not revealed to all, is
he? Just like he didn't die for all. He died for his people though. And who does he reveal himself
to? His people. He reveals himself to his people.
Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen. Look at this.
Chosen before God. When were they chosen? In eternity. They were chosen in eternity,
beloved. Chosen before God, even to us who did eat and drink with
Him after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach
unto the people and to testify that it is He which ordained
of God to be the judge of the quick and dead. To Him give all the prophets
witness. So all the Old Testament prophets. Now note that right
there. These folks who say that they
preach history, but don't preach Christ in the Old Testament. Well, they don't know the Scriptures.
They don't know the Christ in the Scriptures, because look
what that Scripture says right there. That Scripture very clearly tells
us, to Him give all the prophets witness. They pointed to Him.
They pointed to Christ. That through His name, and we
looked at that last week, right? There's only one name where we
can be saved by. The Lord Jesus Christ. That through
His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission
of sins. And that lady in Luke, when the
Lord said to her, thy sins are forgiven, she believed on Christ. She believed on Christ. How can
we know we are glorifying God? Ask yourself. Ask yourself. What is your motive for doing
what you do? What's your motive? What's your
motive? When we give and when we do things
for the church and we just do things for the Lord, we do it
from a grateful heart, don't we? We do. We love the Lord.
You don't have to tell God's people. I remember when I was
in religion, and the preacher used to, he'd get up there, he'd
just be hammering. And I left that place feeling
worse than when I went in. Feeling worse than when I went
in, because I felt like an absolute failure, because it was all about
what I was doing. See, but what does grace preaching
do? We point you to Christ. We point you to the one who's
done it all. You look away from yourself. Look to Christ. And
then as a result of that, we want to serve Him, don't we?
We desire to further His kingdom. Not that we can do anything like
that, but we desire to have the gospel go forth. We desire to
sit in the gospel preaching, don't we? That's what we desire. To glorify God in our lives. So when we are weak, let us rest
upon Christ and give Him all the glory for what He's done.
And let us seek to do things to glorify God, not for self-glory. Let us seek to serve to glorify
God, to glorify Him. Look at what Christ has done
for me. I'm like that woman. I've been forgiven much. Have
you? And I just marvel. And therefore,
as this Holy Spirit works in me and in you who believe, we
grow in our love for Christ, we grow in our knowledge for
Christ, and it's not so we'll be more boastful, is it? No. Have you ever just sat down after
you read some scripture or after you hear a message, and you're
just in awe of what Christ has done for you? You're just in absolute awe.
You just want to sit there and soak it up. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? Now think.
Think of this. Before you were saved, would
you ever have thought that way? See, that's God working in you. Giving you love for the Savior.
Oh, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. So when we're
weak, we rest upon Christ. And we give Him all the glory
for what He's done for us. When we're in sorrow, we look
to the Lord, don't we? We look to the Lord. And remember
this, when we're in sorrow and we're looking to the Lord? Remember,
He's a man of sorrows and a queen of grief. He knows. Think of
what He went through. He was despised and rejected
of men. The very nation who had been
given the oracles of God rejected Him. Why? He came unto His own, and
His own received Him not. But His people receive Him. His
people receive Him that way. The Israel of God, the true Israel
of God, we receive Him. So when we have sorrow, let us
look to Him. When we have health issues, let us remember that
we who believe that our souls are in the hand of the Great
Physician and He ever cares and watches over us. And when we
wander away in sin, let us remember that the Great Shepherd of our
souls will watch over us. Will watch over us. And he brings
us back. Remember the staff has a crook.
Right? You just put it around your neck
and bring us back maybe. The shepherd's staff always has
that hook. Oh, my. Or he picks us up like the lost
sheep and puts us upon his shoulders. And I like what one preacher
said, he puts us on there so we can gaze into his face. My,
my. We're prone to wander, aren't
we? But he always comes and brings us back. And he brings us back
to the green pastures of his world. And we feast. This is clover
for God's sheep right here. This is clover. And God's sheep
desire clover. We don't want goat food. We want
clover. And we want to glorify God. We
want to see God glorified in the preaching of the Gospel,
don't we? Oh my, what great love He has for us. Gracious Heavenly
Father, we come before Thy throne so grateful for Your goodness
and mercy and grace which is shed abroad upon us each and
every day. And we thank You for keeping
us, because we are prone to wander. We are. We're prone to wander.
And let us seek to glorify Thee, Lord. Let us just give You all
the glory and honor and praise for the things we have in our
lives, and the people in our lives, and our church family
here, and most of all, Lord Jesus, for Thee. for the fact that You've
forgiven we who believe that all our sins are forgiven, just
like that lady. Our sins are forgiven. And it's
not about anything we've done. It's about all what You've done
for us. Oh, we praise You and thank You
for Your goodness to us. In Jesus' name, Amen.