And the message's name is, The
Believer's Entire Dependence Upon Christ. John 15, verse 1, I am the true
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. 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." And this is our
main text right here at the very end. For without me, you can
do nothing. Now, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has just been discoursing on the close and vital union.
Remember last night when we saw in the text where Christ said
to Paul, Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me? And he was persecuting
Christians. There's a vital union between Christ and the body.
He's the head and we're the body. And right here it's illustrated
that with the vine and the branches, the branches can do nothing without
the vine. And he's illustrated this wonderful
figure before us by the vine and the branches. He has shown
us how the branch would wither and be utterly worthless when
separated from the vine. So that the disciples, he's showing
his people, he's showing his sheep, his disciples, that they
could do nothing without him. We have no hope without Him.
His life flows through the body. And the believer entirely depends
upon Christ. We entirely depend upon Him.
He's our only hope. He's our only rest. And as Paul
said, He's all in all to the believer. He's everything to
us. So let's look at some great truths that are illustrated in
the Scripture before us here. and how they apply to us as believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. So again, at the latter part
of John 15, verse 5, it says, for without Me, you can do nothing.
Nothing. And think of this. Without Christ.
That's where those of us who believe were before the Lord
saved us. And that's where His lost sheep
are right now. And that's where those around
us who are lost are right now, without Christ. So it makes us
want to be prayerful for those around us. Now, what are some things we
cannot know or obtain without Christ? Number one, we cannot
have saving knowledge without Christ. Now, man may learn a great many
things. We can go to school and we can do things and learn a
lot. Learn a lot of things about the
world and in the world. You go to university and you
learn about specific topics and specific things. But spiritual
knowledge is something that we can never learn unless it's revealed
to us. It has to be revealed. He is
the light of the world. He must unveil himself to us. I remember in some places they will catechize
their kids and try to teach their kids and thinking that that will
be the opportunity or the knowledge that they're giving them will
bring them to Christ. No, Christ must unveil himself
to our children and to ourselves. Now, is it good to teach our
children? Of course it is. Of course it
is. But we need to realize that we
can't make them believe. Only God can unveil Himself. He's the Morning Star. He's the
Son of Righteousness. Remember Joseph with his brothers?
They didn't know who he was. And it's the same as us. Before Christ unveils Himself. And then we know Him. We know
who He is. Luke 1. If you want to turn there
just quickly. Verses 76-79. And thou, child, shalt be called
the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the
face of the Lord to prepare His ways. Verse 77. And this is to
give knowledge of salvation unto His people. by the remission
of their sins. He must unveil himself to us.
Through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dayspring from
on high hath visited us. To give light. See? To give light. We're in darkness. We come into
this world in darkness. To give light for them that sit
in darkness in the shadow of death. To guide our feet into
the way of peace. Peace with God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. So without Christ, we can have
no saving knowledge. Back to our text again in verse
5. For without Me, you can do nothing. The second point is without Christ,
we cannot have faith. We cannot have faith. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the object, the author, and the finisher of our
fate. He's all in all. Hebrews 5. If you want to turn
there again. Verse 8. I won't have us turn
too many places here. But He's the object and the author. We look to Him and Him alone.
Hebrews 5, verse 8, Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience
by the things which He suffered. being made perfect. He's the
God-man meaning the perfect man. He became the author of eternal
salvation. See, without Christ, we have
no salvation. None at all. And unto them that obey Him,
called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
And then look at verse 12. And I'll read it here. Hebrews
12, 2 says this. Looking unto Jesus. See, we look
to Christ, don't we? We don't look anywhere else.
There was a time when we looked to ourselves. But now we look
to Christ. We look to Him alone. Looking
unto Christ, the Author and the Finisher. The Alpha and the Omega. The All in All. The Author and
the Finisher of our faith. And Scripture declares this,
who for the joy that was set before Him, that He would redeem His people
from their sins. Endured the cross. He must die. He must die in the sinner's room
instead. Endured the cross, despising
the shame. And is set down at the right
hand of the throne of God. He's seated at the right hand
of God in rules and reigns right now. This, beloved, is why it's
vital. Every time a man gets up to preach,
he must preach Christ. He must preach Christ and be
crucified. There's no other hope. There's no other way. Without
Christ, there's no salvation. There's no knowing Christ. There's
no knowing God without Christ. No gospel. No Christ means no
gospel. What then, notwithstanding every
way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and
I therein do rejoice, and yea, will rejoice." Faith is a laying
hold upon Christ. And our only hope before the
justice and law of God. It's running to Christ. It's
fleeing to Christ. And Him alone for the forgiveness
of all our sins. And Psalm 110.3 makes it very
clear, Thy people shall be made willing in the day of His power.
We naturally run away from God by nature and by choice and by
birth. But Scripture declares, Thy people shall be willing in
the day of Thy power. I remember when I heard Brother
Henry Mahan preach this and the light came on. It wasn't about what I was doing. I was made willing to come to
Christ. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. In the beauties of holiness,
from the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth.
Aren't you thankful God made you willing? And pray that He'd make our family
members who don't know Christ willing. We don't know who the
elect are. We have no idea. Therefore, we
lift up our family members. Brother Bruce Crabtree told me,
he says, I have hope for my family members until they breathe their
last breath. So let us be prayerful for our family members and those
we love and work with and that maybe God would grant them faith
to believe like he did for us. That he would maybe make them
to differ like he did for us. The third point is without Christ
we cannot be converted. We cannot be converted. Remember,
He said, without me, you can do nothing. There's a lot of
people trying to work their way into heaven, thinking their good
works are going to get them to heaven. They reform or they change,
but there's no hard work done. And we do not seek God on our
own. Scripture is really playing with that. There's none that
seek it after God. None. There's none that understand
it. There's none that seek it after God. Romans 3.11. None. That's a level playing field. We're all on the same level.
We all come into this world, Ephesians 2 says, dead in trespasses
and sins. Without hope. But verse 4 of
Ephesians 2, all but God. who is rich in mercy. He's rich
in mercy. Only the power of Christ can
turn men from darkness to light. There's no other way. And I said,
who art thou, Lord? Remember last night in another
text? And He said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise
and stand upon Thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for
this purpose, to make thee a minister and witness both of these things
which thou hast seen and of those things in which I will appear
unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles
unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes." And we know
it's only the Holy Spirit who can open our eyes. The Holy Spirit
won't talk of Himself. He will point us to Christ. He
will point us to His whole movements out there that are based upon
the Holy Spirit. No, Scripture declares that the Holy Spirit
will point us to Christ. To open their eyes and to turn
from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive. See, we don't seek it. That they
may receive. It's a gift of God. That they
may receive forgiveness of sins. How many? All your sins. There's the mercy of God. Everyone. And inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith that is in me. The Lord Jesus Christ
must open the eyes of the blind or we will never see. And every
one of us come into this world spiritually blind, spiritually
dead. The Holy Spirit will appoint
us to Christ by the preaching of the Gospel. And if He'd be pleased, He'd
grant us faith. And I love what Brother Henry
said years ago. And I've talked to many preachers
about this. We're on the trail of God's sheep. We're on the
trail of God's sheep. We preach the Word and pray that
God will just draw in His sheep. And He will. He'll get every
one of them. There won't be one of them here loose. Not one.
Because it's based upon Him, not us. Not what we do, but what
He's done. He is the shepherd who goes into
the wilderness and finds that lost sheep and picks him up. I used to go to a place and they
would say, it was an extremely legalistic place, and they would
say, oh, he picks up that sheep and he breaks his legs. Well,
the sheep's laying there. And so I was studying for a message
on that passage. And I thought, I remember hearing
that. I've never seen it in any other place. And then I read
a dear brother of ours, Brother Moose Park. He's a missionary
to St. Croix. And he was saying, the Lord picks
up that sheep and He puts them on His shoulders. Why? So that sheep can lovingly gaze
in the Savior's face. And we're just gazing at Christ. Gazing at our Savior. And the
Word of God must be preached. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord. We are not afraid of the word,
whosoever. We know that God's elect will only come, but we're
not afraid of the word for whosoever. Because whosoever will. Well,
God will draw in His sheep. He'll make the elect willing.
And they will run. They will flee. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord. And I love this. Actually, turn
to Romans, Chapter 10. We'll look at this. Romans, Chapter
10, verses 13 and 14. This is this is we need to look
at this. This is wonderful. Romans, Chapter 10, verse 13
and 14, for whosoever Whosoever shall come or call
upon the name of the Lord. And look at this. Look at the
surety of this. Shall be saved. It's not maybe.
Shall. Shall be saved. Flee to Christ. Flee to Christ. You shall be
saved. Shall. How then shall they call
on Him of whom they have not believed? How shall they believe
in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear
without a preacher? God's Word must be fulfilled. We must proclaim
Christ and Him crucified. We must. We must. He is the only hope for sinners.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things
are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. See, He must convert us. The Holy Spirit must work in
us and convert us. And He will point us to Christ,
or we'll never be saved. So without Christ, we'll never
be converted. So folks who are trying to work
their way, and I was one of those before, trying to work their
way or trying to do certain things and keep myself, check, check,
check, okay, I got all my little boxes checked. I'm doing good.
No, no. I found out I was in a world
of trouble. And I went from Catholicism to landmark Baptist, which was
basically Baptist Catholicism. I went from the fire to the frying
pan. But it's okay. The Lord bought
me through that and revealed grace. Revealed grace in the mercy of
God in Christ Jesus in Him alone that it wasn't dependent upon
my doing or anything that I do, but all what He's done. All what
He's done. So, on to our next point, which
is, without Christ, we're all condemned. If there was no election, we'd
all go to hell. Every one of us. Romans 3.10 says, As it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. So again, Romans 3 is
an amazing portion of Scripture because it just lays it out for
us. We're our depravity when we come
into this world. And you know it's just the mercy
of God. It's God's mercy that He saves us. And that's why we
rejoice in the Savior. That's why we flee to Him. That's
why we love Him so dearly. Because after reading Romans
3 and other portions of the Scripture, you realize you can't do anything
on your own. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. Romans 3, 20. Actually, I'll
have you turn there again. Romans 3. I know, I got us bouncing
around. Outside of Christ, there's absolutely
no forgiveness of sins. None. None. If you're outside
of Christ, there's no forgiveness. None.
But in Christ, beloved, marvel at this. All your sins
are forgiven. All of them. We'll look at later on in the morning message.
Our sins are obliterated in Christ. They're gone. This is why God's people rejoice. He paid it all. Romans 3, verse
20, Therefore by the deed of the law there shall no flesh
be justified in His sight. So if you are trying to live
your life by the law, you cannot be justified. I used to try to
do that. No one can be justified by the
law. The law is a schoolmaster that points us to Christ. Points
us to Him. Therefore, by the deeds of the
Father shall no flesh be justified in His sight. For by the law
is the knowledge of sin that reveals to us our sinful nature."
Who and what we really are. We are sin. We sin in thought,
word, and deed. And we sin when we don't even
know it. But now, look at verse 21. But
now, the righteousness of God without the law. being witnessed by the Law and
the Prophets. And I'm not an antinomian. I believe that the
Law is still there. And I believe the Holy Spirit
will never lead you contrary to the Law of God. But the believer
is not under the Law. The Law is holy and just. And
it strips us and shows us our desperate need for Christ. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifest, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which by faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there
is no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God." And look at verse 24, being justified
how? Freely by His grace. Freely by
His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus in verse
25 and 26, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins. Remember, He's the sinless sacrifice.
He's absolutely sinless. But He's dying in the room instead
of His people. To declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God To declare, I say at this time, His righteousness. Do you
see? His righteousness. Our righteousness
is like filthy rags before the Lord. But His righteousness is
the perfect, spotless righteousness. It's the righteousness we need. Oh, this is good news. Good news
for the guilty. To declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness, that He might be just. He has to be just. He
has to uphold His law. He must. He must, that he might
be just and a justifier of Him. And here's the clause,
of him which believeth in Jesus. No Christ, no salvation, only
condemnation. And beloved, because the Lord
Jesus Christ paid all that God has demanded for the sins of
His people, There is now no condemnation
for them before God's law and justice. Look at Romans chapter
8, a couple chapters back over. And remember, this is all in
light of, without me you can do nothing. Without me you can
do nothing. And we can't. We can't muster
up salvation. We can't muster anything up,
can we? We can't. We can't pay for one sin. Look
at Romans chapter 8, verse 1. There, in beloved, Beloved of
God, rest in this. Rest in this. There is therefore now no condemnation. Why? Because He paid it all.
There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the
law of sin and death. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. All sin. He's our sanctification. He's our wisdom. He's our righteousness. He's our redemption. He's our
all in all. He's everything. The fifth point I'd like to look
at is we cannot bear fruit. Now, in the text that we looked
at in John chapter 15, it talked about how The branches can't
even, they can't bear fruit without the vine. There's no way. When
I was in religion, it was all about what I was doing and, oh,
I need to be more patient. I need to be more, I need, and
that's a good thing, desire. But, you know, when you try to
be patient, It doesn't work, does it? We have to let the Lord
work in us and make us more patient, and make us more loving, and
make us more... Look at Galatians chapter 5.
See, the fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit. We
can't muster it up. He must work in us. See, it's all Christ. It's
all God working. He's the author. He's the author
and the finisher. Galatians 5, 22-24. And in religions,
it's, I need to do this, I need to do this, I need to do this.
It is. I lived it. And it's horrible. There's no
peace. There's no peace. But look at Galatians 5, 22.
But the fruit of the Spirit. See, it's identified as the fruit
of the Spirit. And we know from our text that
we can have no fruit without the vine. So if we're trying
to do things in our own flesh, there will be no fruit. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love. Love. Joy. Peace. Long-suffering. Gentleness. Goodness. Faith. Meekness. temperance. Against such there
is no law. But they that are Christ have
crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts." See,
in Christ we're regenerated. And the Holy Spirit works in
us and gives us love, joy, peace, long-suffering. It's not natural
for us. It's natural for us to love our
family members Now that we're saved, we love
the brethren. But remember how you were before
the Lord saved you. So the Holy Spirit works in us.
He gives us and works in us the fruit of the Spirit. Without Christ, we can't muster
this up. Abide in Me." Look at John 15,
4 and 5 again. Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, it's plainly thought to us. And this is why we just
say, rest in Christ. Trust in Him. He is the One who has us grow
in grace. As the branch cannot bear fruit
except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except you abide
in me." And how do we abide in Christ? By trusting Him and resting
in Him. I think sometimes we complicate
things. I know with witnessing, folks
can get all bent out of shape about witnessing. Witnessing
is what the Lord told the demoniac. Remember the demoniac wanted
to go with the Lord? And he said, go and tell the great things
the Lord has done for you. That's what witnessing is. Just
tell Him the great things that Christ redeemed my soul, did
what I could never do. Oh, and then in verse 15, he
says, I'm the vine. You are the branches. And Jesus
told us we cannot have any fruit outside of Him. He that abideth
in me and I in Him, Bringeth forth much fruit, for without
me ye can do nothing." Nothing. Another point is, without Christ
we can't be made holy. In order to stand in God's presence,
we must be holy. We must be. We can't make ourselves
holy. It's impossible. For sin is by
nature, by birth, and by choice. And God is absolutely holy, and
we are unholy. There's the great divide. But in Christ, the believer is
sanctified. He's made holy. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. He is our sanctification. 1 Corinthians,
verses 1, 30 and 31 declares this, But of Him are ye in Christ
Jesus. Of Him. If you're a believer, of Him
are ye in Christ Jesus. Now, we don't always feel this
way, but this is what Scripture declares. We are in Christ. Who
of God has made unto us wisdom. He's all wisdom. And righteousness. See, we have our rags of righteousness,
but clothed in the righteousness of Christ. In sanctification. In redemption. That according
as it is written, And I love this. He that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord. See, we glory in the Lord. We
don't glory in ourselves. We did at one time, but not anymore.
We glory in Christ. Oh, what He's done. He's made
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Again, He's all in all. He's everything. Without Me,
you can do nothing. Nothing. And the believer just bows his
knees. So we just bow our knees to Christ. And although believers are still
sinners, as we're in this world, they are clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. And one day, beloved, one day,
Sister Mary recently has saw this day. We will sin no more. No more. What a glorious day that'll be.
And we'll be made holy. Based upon nothing we have done.
And based upon nothing we will do here. But all what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done. It's all based... Without me,
you can do nothing. Without Christ, we have no peace
and no rest. No peace and no rest. In religion,
there's no peace at all. No peace at all. Always more to do. Always more
to do. It's a continuous labor. There's no rest. There's no peace. And comfort and peace cannot
be realized outside of Christ. A thousand voices may address
and try to comfort us, but only Christ can give rest to the weary,
weary soul. And only Christ can give peace
to the sinner. Only in Christ and Him alone
can we find true peace and true rest. This is one of my favorite portions
of Scripture in Matthew chapter 11, verses 28-29. And this is where I need to live. Jean-Claude and I were talking
about how we Scripture declares us to abide in the vine, but
we so many times want to take things on our own all the time.
It's our flesh, isn't it? Matthew 11, the Master declares,
Come unto me. Come unto me. All ye that are
labor. Are ye laboring in works? Come
unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden. Are ye weighed down by sin? And look what He says, and I
will. This is the Master. I will. I
will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn
of Me, for I am meek. Remember, think of the condescension. He's in glory before He comes. All of heaven is worshipping
Him. Meek and lowly. Meek and lowly. lowly and hard, and ye shall
find rest unto your souls." Salvation in Christ and Him alone. And
he says, for my yoke is easy. In religion, the yoke is not
easy. But oh, in Christ, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And we can only find true rest
and true peace when trusting and resting and reposing in the
Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Without Christ, we have no hope.
The next point is, something I've noticed is that the older
I get, with some of the younger generations, is there's a hopelessness. And I've noticed that. They have
no hope. And folks have different kinds
of hope. Some may hope in money, and some
may hope in their abilities, and some may hope in their strength,
and some may even hope in their good works, or their supposed
good works, to gain them merit and favor with God. But to hope in good works to
get you to heaven is deceiving. It's like filling sandbags that
have a bunch of holes in them. While you're filling the bags,
the sand is just pouring out. And eventually, They're empty. And they're hopeless and helpless.
They can't help you if you're going to stack sandbags and there's
no sand in them. And this is what happens when
a man or a woman faces God based upon their own works and trusting
in their own works. On the other hand, finishing
up, the believer's hope is in Christ and in Him alone. His
hope is not based upon his own merit, but what Christ has done
in his room instead. The believer in Christ looks
outside of himself, and he looks up to Christ. It's not based upon ability. For without Him, we can do nothing.
Nothing at all. Is Christ your Savior? Without
Him, there's no hope. There's no hope. But the believer
rests and depends on Him for everything. May God grant us the faith to
believe and trust and rest in Him.